STENCIL IN DINING ROOM OF RESIDENTIAL HOME - FALL 2006

I was asked to do a border stencil near in a dining room of a residential home. The owner had some photographs of the original stencil which I used to vector trace the design.

Here is the vector trace. (No Copying or using image without permission)

I had the vector trace cut-out into three segments so that accurate
placement would be easier.

Segmenting the stencil allowed me to place an urn in each corner
of the room as well as centering an urn on the halfway mark of
each wall.

I also fixed the decorative elements on this mirror.

ST. JOSEPH'S RESTORATION - STATIONS OF THE CROSS (2005)

The stations of the cross were actually restored back in the winter/spring of 2005. We cleaned the actual marble and then gilded and faux finished the the framing of each station.

The base and top were stone faux finished and gilded by me and MB and the
columns and pilasters were marbleized by Dave S. I wanted this pic and the
detail pic to help better explain the next project.

I was asked by TL in the fall of 2005 to come back to make a computer mock-up.
At this point in the project, they were working in the stairways to the choir balcony
and the confession room. They knew this area had some stenciling where the the
wall meets the ceiling.

This is what they found. I took a couple of pictures of the original stencil and
then went home and vector traced the photo to create a stencil for the job.

This is what I digitally created.

I then colored the vector drawing and placed it on a photo of one of the stations.
They loved the mock-up; but unfortunately, the budget ran out and they opted
to not do this project.

GRAND OPERA HOUSE 2005

In August of 2005, I was asked to help restore Macon's Grand Opera House. (Click here for more information about the Grand Opera House.) They had started the job earlier in the summer, but I was out-of-town for a memorial and could only make it for the last month of the restoration. My main focus on this job was faux finishing and painting flowers on the box seat ceilings.

Above I am in the process of painting one of the box seat ceilings.

Here is a flower finished. I love how the light looks like the stamen of an
actual flower. The entire ceiling ragged with a lighter blue.

By this point, I am almost finished with the ceiling minus one.

I also faux finished the columns and two statues located on both sides of the proscenium.

Here is a detail of one of the statues. She and her identical sister are the first
statues I would paint/ restore, but thankfully not the last.

OLD GOVERNOR'S MANSION 2004

During the summer of 2004 and while working on the St. Joseph's project, we were asked by TL to go to Milledgeville, GA to do some gilding to the decorative elements located on the interior of the Old Governor's Mansion dome. (Click here, to find out more about the Old Governor's Mansion).









All the decorative elements in this dome were gilded using a 23k Monarch brand gold and they were sized the day before by Dave S. It is interesting to notice the range of quality between different brands of leaf. The stuff one can buy at a hobby store severely pales in comparison to real gold leaf from a reputable company.

ST. JOSEPH'S RESTORATION 2004 - THE CEILING

In the summer of 2004, I was asked by Craig B if I wanted a job restoring St. Joseph's Catholic Church. "HECK YEAH!!!!" I was so excited to shift gears away from remodeling and towards the Arts. Since receiving a BFA, I had always wanted to find gainful employment doing something I both knew and loved - that being art. Secondly, I love the idea of making things beautiful - and in this case - making things even more beautiful! (Click here: To find out more about St. Joseph's Church in Macon.)

This pic is a view of the rose window near the choir and pipe organ balcony. This
half of the church was finished from top to bottom first and then the scaffolding was
taken down and moved over to the other half of the church to finish up the restoration.
For this part of the project, we (Dave S, Craig B and Me) were responsible for faux
finishing columns and window frames along with painting and gilding decorative
elements. I primarily focused on gilding and painting decorative elements.

These pics are of the ceiling that is above a small part of the nave; the crossing
and transepts; and the main and side altars. By now, I was helping Dave S with
faux-finishing windows and column bases. I continued to gold leaf and paint the
decorative elements. The last pic is a detail of the rosettes on the barrel
vaulted ceiling.

This is a pic of the dome located above the crossing. I gilded and painted the
decorative elements and did the gold leaf lines. This was the highest point and
surprisingly not the scariest place I had been on this project. The ladder climb
up to the scaffolding platform from the top platform of the main scaffolding was
scary but, as soon as, I was in the space and could not seethe floor below, then
I felt fine. The most scary part of my job was actually being on my tippy-toes on
a ladder on top of rolling scaffolding that was strategically placed at the edge of
the high top platform of the main scaffolding.