JINNY'S ARTIST LIFE: Jinny's trip to Korea

Last week (august 26th 2015), I was flying to Seoul, on my way to
Daegu International BodyPainting Festival.
It was my second time in Korea at this festival.
(I won first place on both days in the Body Painting category back in 2008. This festival has changed and improved immensely since my last visit)

I want to say a huge THANK YOU to Scott Fray and Madelyn Greco for recommending me and all the other International Jury members such as:

Birgit Mörtl from Austria (judge),

Bert and Carolien Verstappen from Holland (judge)

Francesca Tariciotti from Italy (judge)

David Hauser from USA (film and photos)

and THE LAST BUT NOT THE LEAST... OUR AMAZING HOST:

Kimmy Kim (TBC television)

I had no idea how much fun it would be

and I am grateful I was a part of it.

This whole trip was filled of laughters, touching moments, lots of art, Korean culture, tasteful and surprising food, nature, breathtaking views, singers, shows, TBC hosts and of course the 2015 winners of DIBF!

I want to share my whole trip with YOU! (friends, family and social media followers because I know all of you will enjoy the details and photos of my so COLORFUL trip to Daegu...

this is the view from my plane a few minutes before I landed.

The official WELCOME to Korea!

So we all arrived at The Palace Hotel quite late on the 27th. (around 1am) and this is us all together and refreshed on the 28th all ready to explore Deagu with Kimmy, our favorite guide.

Our first stop was quite interesting for us.

"CAT CAFÉ" in Korea are very "IN".

When I arrived,

cat #1 was on the floor and welcomed the group.

cat #2 was having a zen moment sleeping on the table.

and cat #3 was going outside on the deck for a breath of fresh air.

Good thing my allergies were not too bad that day... I handled it pretty well.

In my culture, the cats are not welcome on top of the tables or around drinks and food but what I like when I travel is to experience new things and be surprised... indeed I was!! hahaha!!!

Oh! for those of you who loves the smell of fish (maybe not in the morning for me)... we noticed some tiny fishes in these boxes, outside the building. The smell was quite something...

Fun has already started!!
This was our "breakfast" at 2am. The food was amazing!

Eating with these "tiny metal stick" was a challenge for many of us! Good thing I was able to "cheat" with a spoon sometimes! haha!
Being vegetarian myself, I was happy to see a lot of variety of food for me AND the flavours with a spicy touch made it perfect for me!!

Walking around the city...

Time for a selfiiiie!! :)

DEAGU CITY TOUR was a lot of fun!!!

all kind of fish and octopus ready for take out!

If you love eating typical food... this market has a wide variety...

Their eating habits are very different than ours. (well... very different than mine, thats for sure!)
I was very intrigued with their flavours and spices as I love to cook and try new recipes myself.

For each "food stations" you could almost feel like entering a different home.
I have to be honest though...
some were more appealing than others..

PIG... I THINK... NOT SURE... ???

Thank god to the images on the signs!! At first, I thought it was all dried VEGETABLES!
I took a closer look and noticed they were dried MOLLUSCS!!

This is the only food I tried, yes, it was fried..

Korean's use scissors very often in the kitchen. Cutting, rice noodles, pizza and pastries like on this picture I took in the market.

This is it! We all shared some of these. Fresh pastries with sweet sirup and sunflower seeds. I was yummy!!!

INTESTINES!!
(and Bert in the mirror! hahaha!!)

The Market has more than food. On the second floor we met an amazing "craftswoman"
She and I could not communicate but I could feel her passion and her big generous heart. She made some "100% ALL NATURAL - BIO - HANDMADE LINE OF CLOTHING"
thanks to Kimmy Jim for being the best host, friend and translator a group could ask for!!

living her passion!!

Carolien, Myself and Birgit around this amazing woman..

Colorful Daegu and Colorful Clothing!!

After our stop at the market... hop we go on the tramway...

So I arrived very late on thursday night... (to be more precise it was technically friday am)
and friday we were spoiled and played tourist all day.
We needed a day to deal with JETLAG before the event started.

And this is us on the first day of the event.
Our first time to see the location and installation of this huge event!
I'm sure you will feel our excitement on this pics!! hahaha!

Bert and Carolien Verstappen admiring the amazing costumes for the FANTASY MAKEUP category...

Francesca... always smiling,,,

I was literally blown away by the costumes in that category. The amount of time and the talent involved in these creations is breathtaking!!

This is the big big winner(before she knew she won, of course) presenting her creation to the jury...

I love this one too... wow!

3rd place -

Our translators during judging.

So the pictures above are all from the first day of the festival!

Every artist did their artwork all day and came in front of the jury after 6 long hours under the heat!

Some of these artists were very young... 15 and 19 years old!!! so impressive!

The use of colors is their strength from my opinion.

After judging about 50 competitors... time for some food.. and more fun, of course.

I had to taste the

Dduk Rice cake

it looked like a cute shinny rock you would find near a river

it was filled with "cheese".

It was fun and interesting at the same time.

I did not try these even though they looked like pecans from a distance, as you look closer, you realize they are BUGS! a really great source of protein by the way. They are called BUNDAEGI bugs. I would've tried them but because i'm a vegetarian... I COULD'NT!!! hahaha!!

I wonder if they added like a BBQ flavour... oh well.

Dried octopus and dried fish in the back here... you can enjoy them like cookies and suck on them all day... apparently they last very long because its hard to chew. Have'nt tried it either.

pecans... oh no, BUGS!!

Check out our colourful DISCO BUS just for us!!!!

no toilet on the bus but toilet paper every 4 seats... I had to ask Kimmy and I learned something.
In Korea, toilet paper is used the same way we use tissues or paper towel... its for everything.

Opening performance.. still day 1

Birgit and I... just happy to be there and to spend time together!! She is Austrian and lives in Vienna. It's a bit far from Canada so we don't get to see each other very often.

S0 who will be the BIG BIG winner?
1st place: trophy + 10 million Won in cash
(approx. US 9000.00$!!!!)
2nd place: trophy + 5 millionWon (approx. US 4500.00$)
3rd place: trophy + 3 milion Won (approx. US 2700.00$)

Young fans of CUPID (korean younger version of the SPICE GIRLS)

Day 1 is over time for a good rest at THE PALACE HOTEL.

DAY 2 has arrived!

Live demonstration by INTERNATIONAL artists and JUDGES at the event.

I have to admit that a few of us were a bit stressed about that! Especially after seing the amazing body paintings the day before and knowing that it was hosted and filmed by TBC television

(only 5 and a half million viewers!!! gulp!!!!!)

None of us has met our models yet.

We were excited and nervous at the same time... but it was good.

Everything turned out great!

The organizers and the crowd loved it so we were happy and proud of ourselves.

My Russian model and professional dancer Anabelle

Of course I used my PRIMAL CONTACT LENSES my ultimate favorite brand from Montreal CANADA
Special Thanks to them for sponsoring me!

I was VERY PROUD to be using my own brand at this event.
Korea needs to discover
PARADISE MAKEUP AQ by Mehron
and enjoy how easily it blends.

Carolien did help me a little bit with the black on the fabric...
every Body Painters LOVE to paint over FABRIC!!!.... euhhh... NOT!!!
(thanks Carolien!)

Scott, very focused

Crazy Francesca!!! Airbrush Master!!

Myself, My "PARADISE MAKEUP AQ CREATION OF THE MOMENT" and the lovely KIMMY!

Scott Fray and his Masterpiece posing in the Korean style

I loved my model and how she was wearing my colourful Deagu inspiration

(from left to right)
artwork by:
Francesca Tariciotti/Italy - Scott Fray/USA - Bert Verstappen/Holland - Jinny/Canada

Announcement of winners and closing ceremony

Our Bodypainting on stage...

winners ready to be revealed... drum roll...

TBC hosts and official announcement,..

BACKSTAGE

CELEBRATION,

OVERLOADS OF EMOTIONS,

SATISFACTION,

WINNERS,

TEAM WORK,

MODELS,

IMMENSE TALENT,

COLORS,

MAKEUP,

PASSION,

FRIENDSHIP,

ARTIST,

FAMILY
and more food

left to right: 2nd and 1st place!! AMAZING!!

for more details about this event, name of all winners, prizes, 2016 dates visit directly DIBF website.

I played tourist again on my last day. (monday)

I really enjoyed every moment I spent with these people which I consider my friends and I feel blessed to have some amazing human beings in my life around the globe.

MY ARTIST LIFE

has brought me much more that I could ever imagine