Today’s picture shows you a failure, actually. A quick sketch, that I destroyed with a few brush marks. Having done a quick experimental sketch of a cowboy head, I added the background, too early, as the cowboy color was not dry, yet, and with the wrong color and everything fell apart. A couple of things to learn there: First, I am seriously considering going to watercolor school as I learn day by day that I need to know the technique better. You need to be on top of the material, really. This takes practice. Second, patience is not my core competence, and third, maybe, that not always mistakes lead to wonderful results. Ah well. It was just a quick sketch.

In perfumery: The same thing. One stroke with a note, and it is all gone, washed away.

Practice, practice, practice. Without losing curiosity, and the courage to explore. Practice can come together with routine. A dangerous path.

I wrote the other day, in plain text, among other things, to my business partner, about Sotto la luna: “With Sotto la luna, as a creator, I am moving forward. It is hard to talk about the driving forces and changes that guide a creative process. Yet, I can feel that Sotto la luna comes at a point of my creative route where I become gentler in my expression.”

Maybe I forgot one point there: I got more patient, too. At least there.

What’s next this week? We have 1000 bottles of the gardenia, Sotto la luna gardenia, sitting in bottles in the factory. Soon, I will start putting labels on and all that needs to get onto the flacons before they go into the boxes and get sealed. Patiently waiting for September. And yes, when I say gentler, I couldn’t help thinking in Lonestar this morning. Not really a gentle fragrance at first sniff. But an interesting take, featuring birchtar as one of the dominant notes. A beast really to work with. At least there, in my opinion, I got the background right: Soft and cozy and warm. But, when it comes to painting, there is hope: I trained my nose for a couple of years before I created Lonestar Memories.

So there we go, hopefully into a new week.

You all have a great week!