Art is special

By Kathleen Walls Travel Writer AmericanRoads.net

Mount Dora’s motto is “Something Special” and it is known as the City of Festivals. They have more than 30 annual festivals. Their Art Festival, held annually the first weekend in February, is the largest. I attended their 49 annual art fest this February and was amazed at the number of tents filled with every kind of art from painting, glass art, sculptures, jewelers, handmade music instruments, and more. There were about 300 artists participating from all over.

Artists

Richard Wilson won Best in Show. His narrative paintings often feature his own children and always tell a story. Blake Gore earned the Best 2D award for his miniature paintings. John Mascoll’s wood carving won him Best in 3D. One booth that caught my eye was of paintings of multi-colored dogs similar to the work of the famous Louisiana artist, George Rodrigue’s Blue Dog Paintings. The artist who painted them, Barbara Rush, is an award-winning acrylic artist with a love of animals and a unique geo cubist style all her own. Hainjin Sun is another artist there who does animal paintings. He had a cat version of the Mona Lisa and a dog version of American Gothic, the 1930 painting by Grant Wood of a farmer and wife with a pitchfork.

One of the cutest is a take on Michelangelo’s