Today’s blog post title “never trust any picture” could be extended to “nor any bank. At least in the EU “, referring to what happens in the southern part of the EU, Cyprus. Today’s NZZ brought it to the point: basically, the decisions taken are proof that saved money is not safe on banks within the EU. Money is – in my humble opinion- never 100% save anywhere, but what happens over the weekend is proof of how unsafe it seems to be in the European Union. The editorial comment in today’s NZZ (in German) highlights three issues with the decision and if you understand German it is worth a read (click here).

But let’s not talk about banks, but about pictures. I have spent most of my (free) time over the weekend on the screen, enjoying a bunch of hyacinths that I got in the flower shop on Saturday, all fresh, smelling heavenly and they animated me to sketch them. I add the two (downscaled) sketches that I finally managed to get done here. Both are electronic images, in the first one I am using an emulated sharp pencil together with water color, and the second uses an emulated soft crayon. I like to spend time, inspecting the flowers with my eyes, and at the same time immersing into their scent.

Hyacinth sketch, digital,

hyacinth sketch, digital

And I worked on the flacon picture of Noontide petals: See the picture of today’s post. I decided to use the flacon picture that is not a frontal “hero shot” but that is slightly twisted. I have the flacon picture of No. 09, Orange Star, and had to change the labels, including the mirror reflections. I need it in order to send it to France, where I have a deadline set for an information package (and samples, but I forgot about these…uiuiui: need to get them out today!) The information package is for Jovoy, THE Paris “haute parfumerie” perfume shop  where you find the best in niche, or the best in artisanal, low volume artistic perfumery. I will present Noontide petals as one of the news during their press day in about 3 weeks. Thus, I need to send pictures, text and samples. For the flacon picture, I needed to work in Photoshop, a bit. 

And whenever I work in Photoshop, I realize again that you simply cannot trust any picture. Everything goes. Simply amazing! One fine day, I should really learn how to use Photoshop better.

And yes, the five winners of the Noontide sample draw are picked by random.org. Congratulations to you, Max, Holly, Linda, Caro and Anna. I wish you all a great start into your week.