Yard Art - Recycle Style

Hawaii is full of artists. Even if art is not their life's focus, people here tend to explore art, sometimes in so really funky but cool ways. Yard art is one of them. And yard art using recycled materials tends to be pretty common. 

A local orchid grower/coffee cafe spiffs up their place with "flowers" made from recycled plastic spoons. I think these are really neat and I wouldn't mind stealing their idea some day. She has quite a few hanging around....the benefit of running a coffee cafe, 

But you don't need spoons to make yard art. How about a leftover log from cutting down a big eucalyptus tree. This is my own creation. The log was too big to move without heavy equipment, so I cut it up into smaller pieces. Tilt them up on end, arrange them along a shelf in the slope.....you got yard art! I plan to put interesting somethings atop each one. There wasn't enough truck pieces to make a Stonehenge replica, but it is fun anyway. 

I'm gradually making art art around my homestead. It feels good to let the artist in me out to play, plus it makes the homestead more enjoyable. 

Above is a rather large (2' diameter) ball of barbed wire. Yup, yard art! This land owner has numerous ones sitting around as part of various plantings of flowers and interesting foliage plants. The barbed wire came from some old fencing they were replacing. Careful.....this yard art bites! 

Using an old wood pallet painted a bright color can also qualify as yard art. Gee, anybody can do this one. Nail some bamboo or tree sapling trunks to a 2x4 frame, and you have a nice visual display for potted plants. 

Got some odds and ends in the garage? Cut them, bend them, spray paint them and create "flowers". 

Yard art is good for the soul. When made from trash, it's easier to bring oneself to replace it on a regular basis, thus keeping the yard fresh and interesting. But if I had paid $50 for some yard doodad, I'd most likely keep the sucker sitting in the front yard for years.....long after I had lost interest in it. 

I have a birthday coming up so I've been thinking about what silly thing I can do to celebrate it. Um. I think I'll create some new yard art. So keep an eye out for the next two weeks because I'll post pictures of some of my creations. Yes, time to let the artist in me out to play!!!