It is about time for a new post here, after the most relaxing weekend imaginable and a ping-pong weekend jumping into spring mood on Saturday and winter’s icy grip on Sunday. Imagine: I was having a coffee on Saturday, sitting outside in the sun, wearing not much more than a light hoodie. And Sunday saw me jogging through snow flakes. The transition: Stormy!

So… the weekend was great as I tried very hard not to work and only answered some emails and did some paper work. The rest was sport, cooking, painting, fiddling with perfume formula and getting comfortable with some xml and phtml files in magento. Magento is the software running behind my website, tauerperfumes.com, the shop basically.

Yes, handling smelly things is not really work. And looking into xml files is neither. And “work like work” often does not feel like work. I don’t know why really, but there is this joy of doing things, down there at tauerville; and be it just the joy that I can pile up boxes, getting them ready for shipments, and then have the shippers coming by, loading them up on the truck, leaving me with free space. It always feels like “Ha! and now I have space to do this, or that. ” Like doing a quick sketch. Or write down a quick perfume idea.

I made it become a routine, trying to have a pencil and a piece of paper next to me, all the time. To write down ideas (and discard them later), or do a quick sketch when there is time, like waiting for the water to cook in the kitchen. Some of my best ideas happened like that.

Like Sotto la Luna. Or Rose flash. Or today’s illustration. By the way: Gardenia sotto la luna was featured in Basenote’s discoveries of 2014 list (thank you!). And I am all flattered because: I think, well… these days, coming up with something new and fresh that stands out is not easy. Anyhow: Today’s illustration shows you actually the second rendering. The first sketch with an ink pen was indeed done while waiting for a minute or two in the kitchen. The second one (the picture today) was done the next day, using water colors, while waiting for the weather to clear up for jogging.

And, yes, this is not me…