creating scents

too much

Here, winter is finally here, with some snow and icy temperatures. But the sun is shining and -my favorite saying in winter- you can already feel who the sun gains strength.

The weekend was busy, with many things, like jogging in a little snow storm and an observation; The whitest snow flakes look actually black against a grey sky.

hmm. I do not know what that means, but I like the observation. Everything is a matter of the perspective, maybe.

I was also painting, working on a portrait in oil, maybe wanting too much too fast and sort of failing. But I think I can correct it.

I was also working on a couple of perfume ideas, sniffing forth and back, and somewhat “losgelöst – German for “free floating” mixing a few ideas, wanting too much too fast and sort of failing. But I can correct it. On Sunday I did a quick pencil sketch (today’s picture), practice work so to say, for the “drawing in the museum course” that I am attending. Here’s the totally disturbing and disappointing experience from day one of the course, last week: Drawing a human figure, based on a 3D classical statue, with movement in the gesture, is soooooo difficult. Just to get the proportions right: Amazingly difficult. Because what we see is not what we draw, or maybe the other way round: Because what we draw is how we see and when seeing we do not pick up reality but focus on what’s important to us or what draws our attention. And bang! You draw gigantic heads because you focused on the head. My first sketches in the museum were so pathetic.

In perfumery: Totally the same thing. You are thinking about a nice little note and because you focus on it, it becomes overpowering and out of proportions. At least it often works like that for me.

What helps: doing testing sketches, just a few scented lines, to get a feeling for the proportions. And , like in drawing, if you have done many of them, you can start painting without having to look at the object and then things start to fall into place. That’s the hope at least.