This is the 4th post in the Loon Assemblage Art series.
I adhered all the “food” in the lower right corner- some plastic aquatic plants, a fish and a frog along with some wording about the loon’s diet.
I took several days to get everything glued down, so I could make sure I was happy with the placement of the items. I used hot glue for some of the pieces, for others I used tacky glue.
The moment of truth finally arrived. I got it all done and I realized … I did not like my art. All that time and effort! I asked my 16 year old, artist daughter for her input and she said, “Mom, it looks like a science project. You need to get rid of the words and put more of your art in it.”
My first inclination was to put it away, out of sight and call it quits. Once I’ve finished a piece of art, I don’t like to deal with it any more. The next morning, I felt differently. After all, this was a learning experience. What were my options? I could get rid of most of the text and replace it with embellishments or natural objects. But I really wanted to use my text- it seemed like such an important part of the assemblage. There had to be a way to make it work.
I studied some scrapbook layouts and noticed how they used printed and handwritten words, phrases and even whole paragraphs in their designs.
Some ideas of how they made it work:
Putting their words on an object of some kind such as a wooden tag, bottle cap, twill ribbon or in the center of a silk flower.
Pairing the words with embellishments that emphasized their theme.
Using big, colorful or contrasting fonts that coordinated with the design.
Putting a border around the word or phrase by matting it or coloring around the edges. Some used colored or textured cardstock or corrugated cardboard (with the paper torn off on one side). Markers, ink, paint, shoe polish etc. was used to color around the edges.
For more ideas, read Using Words or Phrases in Your Mixed Media Art
Read the other posts in the Common Loon Assemblage Series.