As the breeze ushered in a reprieve from the high humidity levels and warm Lake Ontario air, thousands of visitors walked up and down the grassy aisles of Oakville's 44th Annual Art in the Park show yesterday afternoon.

It was a beautiful day in Bronte village and the streets were vibrant with visitors from the far reaches of Ontario and the globe.

Oakville's 44th Art in the Park show featured artists of every venue imaginable from watercolours, oils, sculptures and pottery all the way to beautiful wooden bowls and one of a kind jewellry.

Admiring the soft coloured wooden bowls where light pink overtones eked their way across the grains in surprising places, I learned that the wood was naturally coloured that way and came from Manitoba Maples, a Maple we always considered to be a 'weed' tree when I was growing up.

I'll never look at a Manitoba Maple in the same way again, now that I've seen the objects of great beauty that are crafted from it's sinewy trunks and reaching branches.

We met a wonderful couple there, a very talented husband and wife team of artists.
Atanur and Asuman Dogan paint beautiful watercolours of streetscapes, far-away places and the people who live in them.
Atanur is able to capture the expression of his subjects with such vibrant realism that the feelings portrayed jump off the painting and strike to the viewer's very heart.

One of my favourite paintings at the entire Oakville Art in the Park show was painted by Atanur and depicts a small child smiling and bashful and brimming with a gentle happiness. The feeling of love and safety stays with you long after you've viewed the painting and restores your faith that there are still many places where childhood is a time of innocence enjoyed under the protective and loving eye of Grandparents.

Pencil in your calenday and be sure you don't miss Oakville's 45th Annual Art in the Park show next summer, a premier event of the Oakville Art Society.
Who knows, you just might come home with a treasure.

©2009JoSmith