"Pieces of Dreams"

Mosaics put together gardens with stunning difference

By Valerie & Gerry Zwart - Sunshine Coast Daily 21/9/03

In recent years, it has been pleasing to note the increase in attractive gardens in Australia, much of it due no doubt to the variety of gardening programs on television.

Many more people are being trained to become professional gardeners, landscapers and planners, and property owners are becoming far more adventurous in their requirements.

Somewhat different from 20 or 30 years ago when the majority of home gardens consisted of lawns, with the obligatory central tree in the front garden, and a narrow garden bed surrounding the back lawn, and maybe even a vegie patch.

Now gardens are an important part of home life, with some very imaginative ideas, being used to suit the owner's special requirements. Artistic pieces are no longer restricted to inside the home. There are many being created for that special spot in the garden.

And that's where this week, Brett & Lesley Campbell come in.

Residents of Flaxton, and parents of four children, they have developed their talents to build an excellent reputation as quality producers of Brett Campbell mosaics.

To be honest, we thought their early work was pretty good - before Brett decided to leave his successful high finance career of 20 years to follow his dream of becoming a mosaic artist.

Now, three years down the track, we can really appreciate the learning skills he's developed from "doing mosaics", to becoming a creative mosaic artist.

And all this evolved from when Lesley started talking about making mosaic pieces to sell at markets.

Brett thought he'd like to try his hand at it too, and now Lesley does much of the designing, particularly surreal animals & floral designs, while he does the landscapes, all of which he enhances with his other skills on the computer. Back in his "finance" days, Brett kept me from having a nervous breakdown the day my confounded machine "crashed" so his ability in that field had been enormous help with the mosaics. Now his artistic skills are used to create unique pieces for his clients, encouraging them to become involved in selecting colours & design.

One of their best known pieces is the five metre by 2.1 metre mosaic waterfall at Tony & Jacqui O'Connor's Time to Relax courtyard in Montville, which took eight weeks to make. Tony's testimonial to this is:" Our Mosaic is a true talking piece. Brett's work has brought a peace & calm to our courtyard. He is an artist in the truest sense."

At the moment this industrious couple are busy with their next assignment, which is an enormous piece some 8 metres by 2 metres, which will become a centerpiece in the new Mayfield on Montville development on the escarpment, with opening planned for around Christmas. Many of their other pieces include murals & tables, birdbaths and water features of all sizes, pots & plaques, and we saw a lovely piece that would make a superb trompe l'oeil for some astute purchaser to display in their garden.

Their work has been commissioned from near & far, some having gone to the United States and England, and many pieces to Sydney & Melbourne. In fact, they offer delivery and/or installation of finished pieces for anywhere in Australia or overseas.

DIY kits are also part of their business, enabling anyone to create their own mosaics from trivets to tabletops. These kits contain everything you need from design & instructions to all materials (even carbon paper to copy off the design).

If you'd like to know more about Brett Campbell Mosaics, their phone number is 5445 7388 or you can look up the website, www.studiohorizon.com/mosaics.