F.A.C.T.S. Convention in Belgium, lots of pictures!
Just got home from BELGIUM!!! I want to write this down before I forget. We were there for 6 days and I came down with a wicked cold the night before we left, but fun times were had despite my body hating me. Here's some random thoughts and photos under the influence of cold medicine...
We left Thursday morning from LAX and flew for 12 hours (with one stop at Newark) and landed in Brussels around 8am. What a beautiful, romantic and honest city. We got to the hotel, NH Gent Hotel, dropped off stuff and walked along the river up to the main city of Gent. I took so many pictures. We had trouble ordering food because none of the menus were in English, but luckily most everyone who lives in Belgium speaks Flemish (Belgian-Dutch), French, English and some Spanish. We saw castles, some of the most beautiful churches I've ever been in, walked in cobblestone streets. I tried to take a lot of pictures on this trip, because I don't know if I'll ever have the opportunity to get back there. A few things I noticed: Everyone there is absolutely beautiful, men and women. I can only remember 2 women who wore a lot of makeup or had noticeably dyed hair, everyone else was naturally stunning. Lots of dark hair and blue eyes. It's a public transport city with lots of trams and the bike lanes are always packed, so most everyone was fit and walked twice as fast as we did. I also noticed that most all of the women used perfume. Nothing musky or crappy, it was always fresh, floral and clean smelling. The huge fashion over there for women was t shirts, skirts, leggings or opaque tights with slouchy boots, those pencil thin cigarette pants, and NO logo or brand names showing. Hardly any tattoos or piercings...And the only piercing I did see a couple times was the nose piercing. Also, everyone who noticed we spoke english just flipped the switch and responded to us in English. Everyone was truly nice. We went to a restaurant one of the nights, we were tired and starving after the convention, and I asked if they had English menus. She said no, but instead she sat down with us at the table and translated the entire menu, describing everything. I can't believe how nice that was.
On Saturday night after the first day of the show, the people putting on the show were nice enough to treat us to a beautiful dinner with most all of the guests. It was in an old house that was converted into a restaurant. It had beautiful chandeliers, candles everywhere, original oil paintings, a beautiful back garden...It was a beautiful building. The food was good too! I had champagne and tried fois gras (duck liver). For the main course, the waiters tried to have the menus translated from french, but there wasn't a word for the main course...I ordered the "Chicken like bird"! I'm assuming it was pheasant or something along those lines. it had thick black hair on it's skin. Hmm. We sat with Richard Hatch (APOLLO from original Battlestar Galactica!!) who is SO nice! Also sat with Paul McGillian and Cliff Simon from Stargate SG1, all hilarious and great people.
As far as the F.A.C.T.S. Convention, the show was so great! One of the busiest conventions I've ever been to! I drew the entire show. I took a couple 5 minute breaks, and walked the floor one time before the doors opened on Sunday, had a glass of wine at the table on Sunday, but that's it. I drew sketch cards, bigger sketches, in sketchbooks, drawings on t shirts, all kinds of stuff. The people attending the show were great. Cleared out my art portfolio! Also the people putting on the show were absolutely amazing, all the volunteers made the show incredible. I had the pleasure of sitting next to crazy but awesome artist, Eric Basaluda, as well as other greats: Terry Moore, Michael Golden, and Romano Molenaar.
I took so many pictures, so I guess I will just start posting. Enjoy! I had an amazing time, despite getting sick.
We left Thursday morning from LAX and flew for 12 hours (with one stop at Newark) and landed in Brussels around 8am. What a beautiful, romantic and honest city. We got to the hotel, NH Gent Hotel, dropped off stuff and walked along the river up to the main city of Gent. I took so many pictures. We had trouble ordering food because none of the menus were in English, but luckily most everyone who lives in Belgium speaks Flemish (Belgian-Dutch), French, English and some Spanish. We saw castles, some of the most beautiful churches I've ever been in, walked in cobblestone streets. I tried to take a lot of pictures on this trip, because I don't know if I'll ever have the opportunity to get back there. A few things I noticed: Everyone there is absolutely beautiful, men and women. I can only remember 2 women who wore a lot of makeup or had noticeably dyed hair, everyone else was naturally stunning. Lots of dark hair and blue eyes. It's a public transport city with lots of trams and the bike lanes are always packed, so most everyone was fit and walked twice as fast as we did. I also noticed that most all of the women used perfume. Nothing musky or crappy, it was always fresh, floral and clean smelling. The huge fashion over there for women was t shirts, skirts, leggings or opaque tights with slouchy boots, those pencil thin cigarette pants, and NO logo or brand names showing. Hardly any tattoos or piercings...And the only piercing I did see a couple times was the nose piercing. Also, everyone who noticed we spoke english just flipped the switch and responded to us in English. Everyone was truly nice. We went to a restaurant one of the nights, we were tired and starving after the convention, and I asked if they had English menus. She said no, but instead she sat down with us at the table and translated the entire menu, describing everything. I can't believe how nice that was.
On Saturday night after the first day of the show, the people putting on the show were nice enough to treat us to a beautiful dinner with most all of the guests. It was in an old house that was converted into a restaurant. It had beautiful chandeliers, candles everywhere, original oil paintings, a beautiful back garden...It was a beautiful building. The food was good too! I had champagne and tried fois gras (duck liver). For the main course, the waiters tried to have the menus translated from french, but there wasn't a word for the main course...I ordered the "Chicken like bird"! I'm assuming it was pheasant or something along those lines. it had thick black hair on it's skin. Hmm. We sat with Richard Hatch (APOLLO from original Battlestar Galactica!!) who is SO nice! Also sat with Paul McGillian and Cliff Simon from Stargate SG1, all hilarious and great people.
As far as the F.A.C.T.S. Convention, the show was so great! One of the busiest conventions I've ever been to! I drew the entire show. I took a couple 5 minute breaks, and walked the floor one time before the doors opened on Sunday, had a glass of wine at the table on Sunday, but that's it. I drew sketch cards, bigger sketches, in sketchbooks, drawings on t shirts, all kinds of stuff. The people attending the show were great. Cleared out my art portfolio! Also the people putting on the show were absolutely amazing, all the volunteers made the show incredible. I had the pleasure of sitting next to crazy but awesome artist, Eric Basaluda, as well as other greats: Terry Moore, Michael Golden, and Romano Molenaar.
I took so many pictures, so I guess I will just start posting. Enjoy! I had an amazing time, despite getting sick.