A NEW painting was unveiled at Hunton Park conference centre, in Abbots Langley recently to celebrate achievements of the past three years, writes Diana Machin.

It was the crowning moment of the centre's refurbishment plan, which aims to attract top companies in the UK to its doors.

To celebrate its success and illustrate the aims of the project, the conference centre will be displaying the painting, by London artist Robert White, in reception.

The painting is called Around The Table and depicts two men and a women sitting having a discussion.

However, their talks do not appear to be going well and the viewer is drawn into this fascinating picture through hand gestures and each person's position.

The refurbishment project was undertaken by centre director Clive Peacock, who has worked at Hunton Park for the past five years.

He said: "This painting was commissioned mainly to say thank you to our clients for their continued support and appreciation towards our aims over the years."

Mr White said at the unveiling he wanted his painting to send a message of communication and capture the essence of what Hunton Park is about.

During the three-year campaign to brighten up the building, Mr Peacock replaced all plastic and unattractive decorations with oil paintings and watercolours by local artists.

He said: "We try to promote artists from all over the area and there is a permanent exhibition here by Watford Camera Club.

"Although we have bought some of the artwork that is on display, many of the paintings are on loan from artists so people can admire them and even buy them if they wish.

"We have tried to display some unusual paintings in the dining room, which do not blend in with the background, so they give people something to talk about other than work.

"We used to have old paintings in large gilt frames dotted around the centre and these looked awful and it even had plastic flower arrangements on display.

"Hunton Park is striving to become a centre of excellence and to do this we need to create surroundings that will reflect these aims."

Clive Peacock was so proud of the progress Hunton Park had made he entered it in the Art at Work in Hertfordshire competition this year.

However, despite his efforts of supporting and promoting local craftsmen and artists, the venue was not even visited by the judges.

Mr Peacock, who sits on the executive board of The Watford Chamber of Commerce, said: "I found it very disappointing after all the effort that had gone into promoting art in the centre was ignored and it was disheartening for all involved."

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