On the morning of the 6th, we encountered low humidity and perfect temperatures [low 80s F] with sunshine again. We got up really honkin’ early at 6:00 AM and waited for the hotel breakfast to be served, where I ate hardboiled eggs, chocolate mini croissants, and melon. I organized the previous day’s photos until about 9:45 AM.
Thereupon I wandered into Chinatown.
I took advantage of the low foot traffic at that time of morning to capture shots of some of my favorite buildings along the block of Rue Gauchetiere right before the entrance we use to the Palais.
The unkempt and rundown condition of these beautiful buildings saddens me, especially because, with their unusual architectural details, they offer testament to Chinatown’s rich history.
One or two of these buildings have apartments on the upper floors, like this third-floor apartment with a provincial flag on the balcony, but most of them just lie empty.The building on the corner of Rue Gauchietiere and Rue Cote contains nothing but old cardboard boxes and dusty windows. It would be perfect to convert into affordable housing. In fact, there’s some affordable housing just across the Rue Gauchetiere. There could be a whole complex of subsidized and affordable housing!
New to me, although perhaps not to Chinatown, are some outdoor exhibits celebrating Chinatown’s past, present, and future. I took pictures of some of these exhibits, which combine portraits of residents, artists, and activists, along with their statements and historical context for their activities. I wish that the captions included English for greater accessibility.
Right nearby the exhibit about Andong Wang is his studio.
When Otakuthon opened its doors at 10:00 AM, I went back to the dealer/vendor room, specifically artists’ alley, to visit some vendors I skipped the day before.
From Honeysips, I bought a print of her OC, the woman with the headscarf, the honey, and the bees.
The artist took a pic of me and her, my expression in the photo representing how I look after talking to someone in artists’ alley and purchasing wonderful art.I wasn’t going to get more 2D art beyond that from Honeysips, but Little Riyu’s OCs caught my attention.
I bought a card of a little brown-skinned witch doing a science.
Poukinie’s cheerful teddy bears [based on the actual toys shown in photos] also caught my attention, so I had to get a sticker.
The Montreal street scene caught my eye too, full of humorous details.Friends were staffing the booth for Shameless Envy, whose decoration and jewelry included real moth/butterfly wings, shed snakeskins, beetle exoskeletons, and skulls with designs painted on them.
I’ve always wanted some skulls, whether for my own decoration or for my dolls. Either in real life or for my 1:6 scale sets, these skulls will look awesome. I got a marmot skull with magenta flowers on it.I also got a pine marten skull with a butterfly on it.They were put in a bag with googly-looking spiders on it.
2 Comments
i liked reading the methods of skull decoration!!
also the history / present exhibit