By Art Alliance of Idyllwild
Contributed
The Art Alliance of Idyllwild (AAI) has a long-standing relationship with Café Aroma, from using the parking area for the Art Walk and Wine Tasting to curating the art on their walls. There are even two of the AAI’s painted deer. Café Aroma is also one of the AAI’s art hot spots and has been featured in the AAI’s Gallery Guide for many years.
Over the years, the red walls in the restaurant’s Library Room became harder to patch as previously exhibited art was replaced with newly featured art. The AAI offered to repaint the room’s walls with a lighter, brighter color that would better highlight the art.
With an accent wall of sage green, the room looks elegantly serene. Donna Elliot, Neil Jenkins, Cynthia Grady, Rob Padilla and Delphine Bordas composed the painting team who made all this happen on Sept. 17.
Currently featured artists at Café Aroma include Neil Jenkins, Charlotte Lerner, Karlis Dabols, Delphine Bordas and Joan Leal Carter.
Jenkins’ bold blue acrylic “Rainbow Forest” triptych is the centerpiece of the Library Room. Four of Jenkins’ landscape watercolors complete the main wall’s exhibition.
Lerner’s watercolors adorn the other walls in this room. Her soft style and colors are the epitome of expert watercolor techniques and talent.
A large landscape painting by Dabols provides the finishing touch to this artistic endeavor.
The bold, bright nature photographs of Bordas grace the patio walls and the interior of Café Aroma. Bordas grew up in France and has traveled to and lived in many parts of the world. The California desert is now her home. Of her art, Bordas says, “For the last 20 years, I have had two uninterrupted passions that have been the thread of my life: a love of nature and eagerness to capture it with photography … My photographs are my own vision of nature’s best: a sense of evasion, serenity, warm spirit and excitement.”
When you visit Café Aroma, you will also be treated to several paintings by Leal Carter, the founder of Artheals and a traumatic brain injury survivor. Her passion for art through her large murals demonstrates the healing power of artistic expression.
All of the paintings and photographs are for sale at Café Aroma. Visit for art and stay for the excellent food and refreshing drinks.
For more information, contact the AAI at [email protected] or visit the AAI website at www.artinidyllwild.org.