A new mural adorns a wall at the Bentley Hotel and marks a special moment in the community.

Painted by Jaimie Cooney, the three-metre-by-six-metre artwork highlights the Allan Cup win by the Bentley Generals. The painting shows one player hoisting the trophy into the air as his teammates hug and celebrate, as well as the cheering crowd, with one person holding a sign Bentley Loves Their Generals.

Cooney was approached by the Bentley Hotel owner about the mural and he thought this would be a good moment in the community’s history to capture for posterity.

As Cooney completed the painting over five weekends during November and December, people would regularly drop by at lunch to see how it was progressing. Some even picked themselves out of the crowd in the mural, even though Cooney wasn’t intending to depict certain people. She gained her inspiration for the mural from photos on the Generals’ website.

Cooney, 33, has been painting murals for the past seven years for Jubilations Dinner Theatre in Edmonton, creating around 15 each year. The Sylvan Lake artist painted a mural in the Sylvan Lake Bowling Alley and outside Red Deer Reptiles in Red Deer.

She studied ceramics at Red Deer College and then completed her fine arts degree at the Alberta College of Art and Design.

“I like painting that large. As soon as you make it 12-feet high, it’s a beautiful thing,” Cooney said.

Besides painting for businesses, she works with individuals, painting murals on garages, in children’s rooms or other parts of people’s homes.

More information on her artwork is available at www.jaimiecooney.com

sobrien@bprda.wpengine.com