North Jefferson News, Gardendale, AL

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  • L. JoAnn Rhea puts the finishing touches on a mural at Our Place in Gardendale. Melanie Patterson

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February 9, 2012

Artist gives back to restaurant

By Melanie Patterson North Jefferson News

A Gardendale artist has spent the last four weeks working on a mural at a local restaurant because she wants to give back.

“I just wanted to bless this family,” said L. JoAnn Rhea. “They’re such hard-working people.”

Rhea painted a Greek cityscape at Our Place restaurant in Gardendale depicting a nightfall scene from the city of Santorini.

The artist, who is 78 years old, worked on the painting almost every evening for a month, for six hours a day. Her friend Jeanine Wyatt of Fultondale assisted.

Rhea eats at the restaurant on a regular basis, and said she admires the way owners Stephen and Evelyn Stathakes interact with their customers.

She did not charge to create the mural; this is only the second wall painting Rhea has done in her long career as an artist.

“I was nervous about it,” she said. “I just prayed, ‘Lord, bless the work of my hands.’”

Rhea paints in her personal studio in Gardendale and at the Warrior River. At one time, she owned a business in Memphis called The White Gardenia, where she painted in oil and acrylic on wood, glass, ornaments and more.

The Greek scene in Gardendale features at least 50 buildings, for which Rhea purchased a plumb line and T square in order to keep the buildings straight.

The scene fits in well with the restaurant, which is decorated with photographs the restaurant owners took while visiting family in Greece.

“The thought behind it was the great thing about it. She’s a great lady,” said Stephen Stathakes. “When somebody looks out for you it makes you want to look out for other people. The world is full of people like that.”

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