Color Mundo Wrap-up

On May 3rd, I attended Colormundo in Old Montreal with my fellow face painter Erin and my 4-year old son. Due to a conflict in my schedule (it was a hectic weekend!) I was not able to take any classes this year (they were offered on Saturday the 2nd) but will try to squeeze one in next year if possible.

My in-laws usually spend some "grandparent time" with Oliver (my son) on Sunday afternoons, but as they were out of town that weekend, I decided to take him along with me. We picked up Erin and headed down to Old Montreal and the Marché Bonsecours, where the exhibition was taking place.

Once we had found parking (I had forgotten just how busy - and touristy - the Old Port area can be!) we made our way to the venue. The show was held upstairs in the Marché Bonsecours and split between 2 main halls. In one hall were the exhibitors and the stage for the shows and in the other hall were the competitors (who were doing their last minute touch-ups to their models) for the brush and sponge portion of the bodypainting competition.

We started with the exhibitor portion and leisurely looked around at all of the booths and what they had to offer. Many of the booths had products for sale and it was so nice to see and test the different paints, glitters etc. as  most of my supplies are purchased on the internet.

It was a real mixed bag though, as Colormundo is not exclusively a body art convention. There were also exhibitors for makeup, wigs, nails, hair, costumes, special effects (for film and theater) and more. I think I was expecting a little bit more emphasis on the face/body painting aspect of the business, but it didn't seem to be the case.

However, the competition room (where the artists were working on their models) blew me away. The second we walked through the door we were faced with a roomful of beautifully painted models, photographers and artists scurrying all over the place. The work was really fantastic and there was so much talent in the room. Oliver was in awe. He was pointing out all of the images painted on the models and telling us which were his favorites. It was great to walk around and check out the bodypainting up close. The models were very open to us taking photos (I forgot my camera, but Erin had hers.) and we took our time working our way around the room.

As we made our way back to the exhibitor's booths for a last look around, we passed the Mehron booth and one of the makeup artists asked Oliver if he would like to have his face painted as Spiderman. (We only saw 2 other children there the whole time we were there) He hopped up into he chair and she got to work. She did a really cute job with his face paint and even painted his hair! (something I had never considered doing before) He was pretty happy and we ended a great day on a high note.

I'll be back next year for sure!