Life-Like Hunting Scene Is Highlight of Muralist's Work

by KRISTEN ARMSTRONG, Staff Writer

(Wednesday, March 12, 2008 3:03 PM EDT)

Walk into the Goodstone Inn's wine cellar, and you might do a double take.

A mural, painted by local artist Penny Hauffe, covers the main wall with a hunting scene. It may make you feel like you're right back outside.

The large-scale work is 15 feet across and seven feet tall at its highest point, and is complete with hounds, horses, hunters and an expansive Hunt Country backdrop.

“That room . . . has light coming in from the outside from a door, but in other respects it lacks a feeling of vista,” Hauffe said. “The painting on the wall brings the room to life. It gives a lot of atmosphere right away. And it doesn't hurt that the rest of the room is lined with wine!”

Hauffe was able to create the lifelike scene with the help of Loudoun Hunt West and the Middleburg Hunt. The two groups let her tag along and take pictures that she could paint from.

Because the wine cellar also is a private dining room, Hauffe wanted to make sure the painting was appropriate for the space.

“The primary thing for me, besides the design, is getting the feel of the location, and making sure it reflects the use of that room,” she said. For the wine cellar, “I wanted the feeling of the nobility, grandeur and excitement of the hunt, without too much activity.”

The mural was done in acrylic paints, and was completed in about two months.

“It was really good fun,” Hauffe said. “Staff and guests would stop by and watch while I painted it. That's the fun of mural painting. People really take an interest, and like to see it happen.”

Hauffe's mural, which she calls “Setting Out,” is one her more conservative works. Some of her other pieces range from still-lifes of gummi bears to multi-media portraits of greyhounds.

Hauffe has been “drawing, painting, scribbling and getting into trouble” since she was a child, and studied illustration at the Gemini School of Oxford in England.

She teaches group and private art lessons, and is very open to talking to people about her artwork.

For more information on Penny Hauffe, see the Web site at www.nielor.com/pennypaint or call (540) 270-5232.
 

Loudoun Hunt West and the Middleburg Hunt allowed artist Penny Hauffe to tag along and take photographs that helped inspire this new mural, which is located in the wine cellar of the Goodstone Inn.

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