SANTA BARBARA PATIO

These clients knew they wanted a tile mosaic to break up the large area of cement patio in their back yard when they built their house, so they left a ½ “ deep rectangular “hole” in the cement work. Because they lived near the beach and had two young girls, they wanted something bright and cheerful that reflected the ocean.

Kelp provides a home for countless marine species in California coastal waters. It washes up on to the beaches in abundant piles. I gathered some of the leaves and rolled clay slabs on them to make kelp “tiles”, making a California coast kelp forest seascape.

A problem with this project is the slippery factor of glazed tile outdoors. Even though there is not much rainfall in California, foggy mornings can cause moisture to collect on surfaces making glazed tile very slippery. I didn’t want to create a hazard, so I used some lovely rock in a spiral shape suggesting a wave. The rock spiral was designed so that no matter where a pedestrian stepped, the foot would gain purchase on at least a little bit of rock.

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