MADISON – Artist Trina Hunter’s favorite painting is one that finds the perfect home. Several of her ‘favorites” are now home in Fresh Traditions at Port of Madison in the Best Western Plus Hotel.

A bowl of red apples by Trina Hunter. (CONTRIBUTED)

In Fresh Traditions, Hunter’s varied images range from ballerinas to botanicals, abstracts and whimsical landscapes, most in oil and completed during about three years. For the restaurant’s abstract logo, she used acrylic.

“When the Best Western Plus was renovated, the artwork chosen by Best Western Corporate was very sterile and didn’t effectively reflect the kind of environment Cathy Anderson wanted to create for her guests at Fresh Traditions,” Hunter said.

Anderson asked Hunter about selling her artwork to the hotel and hanging pieces in the restaurant. “I had several pieces at Kathleen’s Downtown in Decatur and others at my home. I gathered them together and they were hung where they are now,” Hunter said.

Trina Hunter (CONTRIBUTED)

Hunter is self-taught. “Trial and error and lots of practice continues to be my path to improvement,” she said. Oil is her medium of choice, but she uses acrylics in some projects.

“In my late 20s, I devoted time to becoming an artist myself,” Hunter said. “My attempts were less than desirable at first, but I was determined. I picked up every book that made sense to me and created a space in my home to work.”

A Germantown, Tenn. native, she has lived in Austin, Texas; Portland Ore.; Las Vegas, Nev. and Scottsdale, Ariz. She returned to the Southeast in 1999 and has lived in North Alabama since 2004.

Trina Hunter’s art at Fresh Traditions includes a yellow rose, an amaryllis and a white calla lily. (CONTRIBUTED)

At Woody Anderson Ford, Hunter works as executive administrator for Cathy Anderson. “I do whatever I can to help her maintain and grow her enterprises,” Hunter said.

Currently, Hunter and Huntsville artist Everett Carter are working “on pieces that will hang from the Fresh Traditions ceiling. The collaboration will be whimsical, brightly colored and expressive. It has been such a pleasure to participate in this endeavor with Everett,” she said.

To view Hunter’s art, visit Facebook/Trina Hunter Studio.