The Sun Room, Ali-'V's

Here are the final large elements of the murals at Ali-V's Restaurant in Jefferson, Georgia.

The largest dining room featured large framed "picture" windows down one side. In order to balance the room and add warmth to what turned out to be a rather cool yellow, warm pumpkin/terracotta hues that echoed the color of the ceiling and the wood of the floor were incorporated into three framed landscapes. The soft, cool greens and the deep reds give strong enough values to balance the strong chocolate color of the frames.

As the front two dining rooms were perhaps a bit more on the feminine side, a more neutral to masculine look was emphasized in the SunRoom where many of the fraternal and civic organizations hold luncheons and meetings.

Scenes portray rolling land, ponds, streams and foliage native to, and evocative of, Jackson County and the surrounding area with out being any literal place.
Between each landscape, decorative accents were added to give softer focal points and interest; each retaining the outdoors theme. Potted geraniums , and Clematis and Morning Glory vines add a lively touch, as do the old fashioned wheel barrow, and a birdhouse complete with resident Bluebird.

It's likely a few more details will be added in future as this room could still use a bit more softness at either end. Also planned is a large triptych painting on canvas to help muffle conversation.

The owners are two wonderful ladies; great supporters of the arts and fabulous cooks! Kay Hardy makes the world's best fried chicken, macaroni and cheese and red velvet cake I've ever tasted - and that's just a small sample of the offerings there. She and Helena Dale offer great food, stylish decor and warm hospitality and they will cater almost any size event.

There is also a wonderful gift shop where customers can purchase home decor - and of course, mine and Carol's paintings and painted furniture.




Photo at left shows the room before.

New look for the dining set: A before and after...

With the new custom pieces in place, it was time to update the oak table and chairs circa 1980's. To reduce the excess of oak finish in the kitchen-dining area, we decided to do a distressed black on the table apron and chair backs, rungs and legs. The black helps anchor this side of the kitchen and offers a contemporary look that works well with the new kitchen/dining area colors and custom finishes.

The table top with its lovely grain and the chair seats were left in the original finish to coordinate with the tops on the custom cabinetry and kitchen cabinets.

Custom painted cabinetry...

The cabinets and sideboard pictured were custom finished to coordinate with furniture the clients purchased. The builder applied a pale cream base coat and I did the rest - applying paint and glazes
in succession

to build the complex textured and distressed look. It's labor intensive work - and can be a bit stressful while in process. But the results speak for themselves and the pieces are unique to the homeowners.

Commissioned painting: Cain's Tractor

This very bright painting was done for a small boy's room with (guess what?) : a John Deere tractor theme. All the colors in the room are bright primary colors (with the exception of green... ha ha..) The elements appear to me to be rather stiff as is often the case when a painting or work of art is put together according to a menu.

The tractor was a challenge as I dislike painting "machinery", but it came out okay.

More from Ali'V's

These are faux finishes... frosted stripe techniques to add interest and/or to soften a stark environment. The celery green is in a small private dining area; the chocolate in the powder room.

Murals for a restaurant...

These photos are from a recent and ongoing project painted along with my friend Carol with whom I've done many collaborative projects over the years. The restaurant is Ali'V's, southern cooking and catering located in Jefferson, GA. The owners let us choose faux finish techniques and colors and we colorwashed layers of glazes for a softening effect on both the butter yellow walls and the deep crimson walls. We then painted murals and decorative accents over the faux work.

Celestial Mural

Details from a very large celestial mural of earth's solar system. This was painted for the ceiling of a home-school play and learning room.