come up and see me sometime

Can I just say how much I love studio visits??  ❤ ❤ ❤

Really, one of the best things about having a little shop (and my up and coming little museum!) attached to my studio is that I get visitors…pilgrims of a sort, to come for a visit.  In fact, although I have a nice local following in Boulder, there are times of the year when the majority of live people to walk through my door are out-of-towners who heard about my studio..or read about my work online…or have been buying things from my website for years and I will FINALLY get to meet them in person.  It’s really a huge treat for me, to show them everything  they could want to smell and even some things they don’t even know exist.

A couple of weeks ago, a wonderful writer, musician, and budding indie perfumer came for a visit and fortune smiled on us: it was a quiet afternoon in the shop (as it usually is on a random Tuesday between March 1 and April 15).  I got to show him bunches of exotic (and some vintage) raw materials, pieces from my upcoming mini-shows in the ArtScent Museum, and even some of my favorites that haven’t been catalogued yet but are sitting on shelves in my design room.  We talked about white floral constructions, aldehydics, retro-nouveau, and of course animalics (since I have been working on a series of animal / fur / texture fragrances).  What bliss!!

So, this is just a little shortie post to say *THANK YOU* to everyone who has come, who is planning to come, and who just wish to come check out my world.  I love sharing and it’s pure pleasure to see you. ❤

ps: Here’s a link to the article, just published, about ‘the nosey artist” ‘s visit.  I hope you enjoy his tour.

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in the studio

{filters that look like flowers. i love those.}

Mondays are supposed to be one of my ‘days off’.  😀  LOL.  I’m not only like most business owners who never have enough time to do EVERYTHING that 1) needs to be done 2) you want to get done 3) you think should get done, but I’m like most artists I know who are always ‘working’.  This isn’t bad or unwanted; I like to work.  In fact, I love my work.  (Well, all of it except accounting and filing reports.  B.O.R.I.N.G.).

Mondays are instead my ‘creative day’ in the (aroma) studio; I relish them.  I think about and write down ideas all week just to get a day when no one can come in and I don’t answer the phone.  It’s bliss.  I make a mess.  I spread out…wide…all over the place.  Then I come home smelling like a million things and scare my family.  (AWESOME).

I guess I’m getting excited about what’s coming out next and it’s too soon to start talking about it in detail but I’m nevertheless wanting to share.  So, for now I’ll just add some pics from the day and keep jotting down ideas.

(You can also see my working notebook so far for 2017.  I’ve had one of these every year since 1994.  I think I’m gonna need a library soon ❤ )

Hope you all had a great start to your week ~ oxox

 

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my young protégé (aka quintessence :: part 3)

"How Deep is the Ocean?", 2009, Multi-Media on Canvas, DSH

This post has obviously taken me a LONG time to get to. But as promised back in September of 2010, here’s “Quintessence :: part 3”. By this time it’s actually not much about the Quintessence: Multi-sensory show. It’s more about the fascinating experience of children and scent / fragrant art-form with a few more images from the show that I may not have shared. It’s also in response to the fact that many people have commented on and were attracted to one particular notation on my “Best of 2010” list, which was my ‘best fragrant experience of 2010: children coming to smell smells at the Studio’. It really is pure joy to share this world with the little ones and see their faces light up. They seem, even more than adults, to come openly to their experience and allow themselves to fall in love with scent. They are NOT afraid to feel whatever it is that the scent inspires them to. It’s so refreshing and reminds me that every day is still new at this stage in life and I just can’t let myself be jaded. Children will show you that and I am grateful for their effortless teaching.

Zyan smells "Elemental Fire: Vermillion" at Quintessence 8.2010

I’d like to introduce Zyan Schultz-Williams, who is seen above smelling some of the ‘aroma sculptures’ at the Quintessence: Multi-Sensory show* last August. She was only about 13 months old but was already at least 6 months into her beginning scent training with me at the studio. (Of course, she is only smelling naturals). She is my young protégé and part of the fun we have together is smelling smells. Even more than just smelling we have been assigning ‘who’ smells like ‘what’ as well as what the scents actually are. Now there is a “Mommy” bottle that smells like the perfume her mom, Mary, wears (Aqua Admirabilis) and a “Daddy” bottle, too (aka Vetiver essential oil). These are the two bottles she usually wants to smell first and get’s the most comfort from but she also loves to smell peppermint, blood orange and vanilla with a huge snort and a proclamation: “woweee” or just ” AHHHHHHHHH”. I just can’t describe the sheer delight she takes in sniffing, grinning and emoting. I think everyone should share smelling smells with a child. Oh yeah, and did I mention that she figured out how to spray a bottle by pushing the nozzle against her torso? Yep: she’s a smarty.

zyan with her pipettes and bottles

Now she’s almost 2 years old and she’s definitely graduated to even bigger things: one of her favorite things to play with is a bottle (filled with water) and a pipette, which she smells and pretends it’s any one of her favorite oils. She’s also putting the drops in a second bottle so she’s already got the basic picture of what to do to start making perfume. (How awesome is that??) Her other favorite thing to do right now is color. So what do you think: are we making a budding multi-sensory artist here or what? Only time will tell but I for one can’t wait to see what this early interaction with her senses will bring. I think that what ever it is, it’s going to be AMAZING.

"Absinthe", 2009, Multi-Media on paperboard, DSH

* the Quintessence link will take you to my Multi-Sensory Artist Facebook page where you can see every image in the show in the photo gallery.
** image credit: Zyan sniffing at Quintessence: courtesy of Mary and Brenyn Schultz-Williams

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