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when less is less and more is more

Yesterday, after shipping boxes and more boxes from the factory, and before collapsing in the bed, as I felt super sick, I did an aquarell, of myself, but I won’t share it here. I look so sick there. Amazing, how somehow the subconscious guides the brushes. I will go somewhat quiet for the next 2 days to get up and running again. But this I want to share with you:

The picture to the left is a detail. Here’s the full picture:
201509253l

I did it last weekend, on a large paper (50×70 cm), using a super big brush, aquarelle, with brave lines, without correcting anything, within 15 minutes. I love it in all its imperfections. I did this picture after having “finished” another aquarelle, in the same format, but this one took me forever, for sure 10 hours, with endless corrections and fine tunings. And,…, well, with the result that I do not feel happy with it.

A friend of mine, painter, told me the other day “you must start painting with the clock set. 15 minutes must be sufficient. Stop after 15 minutes! If it’s good it will be done in 15 minutes. If not, you can’t make it better anymore!” I yet have to try it, and do not fully agree. In my acrylic painting class, I am learning these days to work on a motive for days… But still: There is some truth to it.

I have a lot of perfume trial vials sitting right next to me right now, or my mouse on the desk. Many of them are “15 minutes” oeuvres. Because I learned this rule in perfumery earlier. Often, less is more. The “Dark Mysterious Woods” (running title in Excel, part of the Unreleased series by Tigerlily) was one of them. And this morning, I woke up with the perfect idea for another body and room/linen scent (to be mixed over the weekend) that might be exactly that: A 15 minutes scent.

But it is not always like that. Sometimes more IS more. The tuberose sotto la luna, that we will start selling here and in the US Oct. 1 and that goes into the stores in Europe right now (with quite a hello!) is a scent where I worked by “more is more”. More trials…Overall (I just counted in my Excel) it was 27 major trials and some trials that I stopped mixing on the go.

Why so many trials there and so little for other scents? I guess it depends on what you want to reach. Maybe it is just luck, too. A happy moment that can’t be planned nor be repeated.