Peacock Garden Mosaic

There’s a peacock in our yard! Okay, I’ll be honest. It’s not alive. It’s mosaic. There are parts of San Diego county where you can have live peafowl on your property but our neighborhood isn’t zoned for that. This may be a blessing—have you heard their shrieks? 

This mosaic piece is actually part of a bigger project: our backyard refresh. The rest of the yard isn’t complete (this may take months) but I couldn’t wait to share some photos of the peacock. So I’m posting today as Part One of a multi-part yard makeover. More on that below, but for now, about the bird:

He is three feet tall and five feet wide. I designed him in four sections because I thought installing him would be really hard (heavy) if he were in one single piece. A smaller mosaic I did two summers ago was very heavy, and I wanted to avoid Installation Irritation (it’s a thing. Look it up.). It turns out that he wasn’t as heavy as I predicted because part way into the project I opted not to cover him completely with mosaic pieces. Half of him is painted. 

The idea came to me earlier this summer. I did a sketch of a mosaic peacock in front of a mosaic/cement block planter. I do plan to build the planter soon but for now let’s focus on the bird.

Initial sketch.

I’ve had a mishmash of mosaic pieces I’ve kept for more than a decade. There’s always leftovers after projects, and keeping them for other designs makes sense (and also makes clutter—but hey, you can’t have it both ways!). So some of my mosaic pieces I already had. Others were given to me in June. My friend Tom offered a big collection of mosaic tiles his uncle Bill no longer needed. Bill has created many beautiful mosaic pieces over the years but he recently created his final piece and had loads of leftover pieces. Did I want them? Of course. (Thanks, Bill and Tom!)

The photos below will show how I started this piece. I used poster board to sketch out the layout. Then I cut the cement board into a semi-circle and then into four pieces. (This was not easy but it is doable.)

A simple set up works (a folding table outdoors or in a corner of your living room).

To help attach the mosaic to the fence I repurposed boards I wasn't using anymore.

My design is not completely symmetrical. I semi-measured (yes, it’s a term—well, maybe) to make sure the feathers were mostly symmetrical but there are places where they are not. The old me would have Freaked Out about this and berated myself. The new me says, “Hey, it doesn’t have to be perfectly symmetrical. I’m not building a piano. It’s okay to be human!” Once I’d drawn my design onto the cement board, I began to place marbles and tiles. I cut myself often with sharp tile and I even pinched my palm with tile nippers (I don’t recommend that—very painful). Eventually I decided I wanted to paint part of the design and I like how it turned out. I don’t own a tile cutting saw so everything I cut was with tile nippers. You end up with some jagged, irregular pieces, which I find rustic and charming. 

My sweet friend Roxie gave me the idea to paint our fence (thanks, Rox!). She painted hers a few years ago and I love how her flowers pop against the dark paint. I am so glad I am painting the fence because a shiny mosaic art piece would highlight how weathered the fence looked. It’s a sturdy fence but it needed paint.

I like to share how inexpensive it can be to create beautiful art—in part to encourage anyone out there to try their hand at mosaic. You don’t need fancy tools to make mosaic pieces. You can get tile nippers for $10-$15 (or simply break tile or plates using gravity). Your design does not have to be the most complex design ever. Give it a try!

Supplies for this project:

Cement board (base for peacock):                         $13

Mortar (I already had a partial bucket):                   $ 0

Glass marbles, ceramic plates (Dollar Tree):          $24

Tile pieces from Bill, plus ones I had already:         $ 0

Paint (you can use inexpensive acrylic)                  $10

Total:                                                                        $47

There are so many directions you could take if you want to give your yard (or a room) a makeover. My overall plan is to keep adding plants, finish painting the fence, and paint an existing low brick wall we have. You’ll see this when I post Part 2 of our yard makeover.

Not shown in this post are the weeds in the rest of the yard. Hey, let’s keep it real. There’s still more yard work to be done. But I hope my message has been clear: you can redo something without spending a million dollars. If you’re willing to put the work in and you don’t mind being covered in dirt at times (!), you can do it yourself. It’s satisfying and you’ll get a boost every time you see it.