donkeys, deer, dwarves and urns or at least one of each

I've moved up one block and started collecting the PCGS there now. Last week I shared my most favourite garden decor there. What I've shared with you so far is only a small percentage of what is actually on display. I could document house by house but there are so many duplicate statues that you and I would soon be bored by it all.

This weeks statuary is located in another yard that has decided against an abundance of greenery in favour of a rock garden and painted cement figures.

this is how it's done

One block up from me and a few blocks down I found this fantastic front garden, by the looks of it the backyard is just as good. If I were to indulge in a little PCGS action in my yard, this is how I'd do it.

I had a few more photographs of this postage sized lawn but for some reason they didn't quite turn out. I'll post a few more once I've gone back. You can't see it here but there are three more life sized human figures lounging around this yard. They are truly works of art and I make a point of walking by every time we go to the library

More from the trip,

My mom is a proud displayer of some of the kitschiest poured cement garden statuary I know of. In her defense I believe that she makes some of the best use of it, she includes it in the landscape of her yard so it is a part of it and not the only thing you see in the yard. It helps that her yard is vary large and spaceous. My favourites are the howling coyotes.

Road Trip Day Two, or how to continue a weekly feature on poured cement garden statuary on the road

On day two of our road trip we stopped at the Enchanted Forest. If you aren't familiar with this roadside attraction I think you ought to stop in the next time you're traveling the Trans Canada through the Shushwaps, not only is full of charming trails decorated with 1950's kitschy goodness plus there's no better way to run off excess energy for another long stint in the car than to run run run and climb and run, and crawl through little houses ad run and climb up a tree houses than to run it off in an Enchanted Forest.




I last visited when I was in elementary school and recall almost all of the same houses and statues. There were a few newer attractions but for the most part it was a walk down memory lane for me.



It seems that poured cement follows me now or perhaps I'm just seeking it out all on my own. This post features some of the forests finer pieces of fairy tale statuary.

PCGS: bloop bloop went the little cement fish

This is my favourite piece on our street and my daughters as well. I like it because it's so unobtrusive and simple. He sits placidly at the entrance of the short driveway and watches the world swim by.

On a walk to the library last week I hit another mother load of PCGS one of my new finds surpasses all those I've seen so far. The statuary in this house is, well if you compared a paint by numbers painting with a van Gogh; that would be an accurate comparison. I'll be photographing the street behind ours once we return from our upcoming road trip vacation.

In the meantime I've been included in a stunning butterfly treasury please go and have a gander, you won't be disappointed.

This Weeks PCGS

I'm itching to knock on the door of this house and ask permission to photograph in detail all the statuary on display. One of my favourite examples by far of painted cement statuary is the working fountain. Photographing the rest of the garden from behind a fence really doesn't do it justice.

PCGS or in this case poured cement curb appeal

It's not really sculpture but it is poured cement. I'm still on the fence (no pun intended, Ok maybe a little) about whether I like this or not, it has potential to be really interesting but in the end I thin it just looks to contrived. What do you think?

More PCGS

It's a little funny with how obsessed I've become over my neighborhood's over abundance of poured cement garden statuary (PCGS).

I've started to make note of where it all is so I can document it, considered knocking on doors to ask permission to get inside of back yards and onto patios and decks to get a good shot. we'll see how invested I can get, considering I have an impatient two year old in tow on all my outings that may be a little difficult.

Here's this weeks contribution. This yard also features a birdbath/water fountain.

it's like it's an epidemic

I may have mentioned this neighborhoods penchant for poured cement garden statuary. It's everywhere, well not everywhere, but it does have a major presence in the community. From urns to psychotic looking dwarf's, insects and animals this neighborhood is teeming with it. I thought for fun I'd take the camera out with me and photograph some of it, or perhaps all of it a little at a time.

Why?

Because it will give me something to do and because it could make a pretty interesting photo-essay; I'm envisioning a solo show in one of Vancouver's Artist Run Centres.... or more realistically a collection of work to list in TMCPhoto

It's funny

how traveling around your neighborhood on foot changes your perspective of the place. While driving I find I yearn to be able to see buildings, certain yards, parks, shops. they pass by so quickly that hints and questions linger and the neighborhood remains unknown.

I travel a lot on foot. running errands, shopping, going to parks and playgrounds and the library. There is time on foot to take in the surroundings. Time to notice the first green buds which will turn soon into crisp green leaves. Time to notice community eccentricities; like the strange penchant this new neighborhood of mine has for poured cement garden statuary and water features. Time to notice the sky and how the horizon lies above the maze of houses. Time to notice that the shops that intrigue you as you speed passed in a car are either more interesting, or more grungy than you would have thought. Time to notice the other places that don't stand out.

I'm finding myself at home here. Bit by bit I'm settling in and taking ownership of my community, if only to know that two doors farther on there is a stone garden featuring a forest green cement turtle and a sky blue cement heron.