The Soul Cracked Open

My roots as an artist were first nurtured by the visual arts. Artists creating fantastical visions delving into other realms of the psyche, many from Europe, were what fed my creative appetite. One such artist is now featured in a new documentary, he is the French artist known simply as Moebius, his real name is Jean Giraud. In the field of SciFi, Comics and Fantasy arts he is considered one of the Gods, in fact he was deemed The Pope of Comics. Besides being a "drawing machine" as Gieger refers to him, he is a visual storyteller and contributed visual production for film including The Fifth Element among others.

New York, New York

I took my hearthrob, aka Greg, to the airport last night. He caught the red eye into NYC. He invited me to come along, now I am rather thinking I made a mistake in not going with him. I chose to stay and focus filling orders, custom perfumes and the second edition of Chaparral. After all, we are going to be in San Diego soon and Mexico after that. Still, New York beckons, it's in my blood.

Shortly after graduating from Otis Art Institute I moved to the big apple. I was fortunate to get freelance illustration work immediately. My first apartment was in the Cobble Hill district of Brooklyn. After a few years, with the help of my mother, I purchased an apartment in Brooklyn Heights. The building had once been a hotel right on Montague Street a few blocks from the Promenade. An old brick building featuring apartments high ceilings. I loved it there and still regret selling the apartment with the view of the Statue of Liberty from the balcony.

I also shared a small studio space in Manhattan with a painter. The studio was for my rather large and cumbersome Van der cook letterpress. More on this soon.

{{{{ sigh }}}}

Greg is in New York for ICON, the illustrators conference. He is the moderator for a panel discussion called "Moving Imagination: Concept Design in the Film and Gaming Industry" with his buddies Stephan and Barry. Ugh, I'm getting really jealous just keystroking this information, best focus now on what I stayed here to do...perfume. Comic Con is right around the corner anyway!

Greg Spalenka
ICON 5, NYC

All Things Lavender

It is Lavender season, many festivals in honor of this universally healing herb take place at this time of year. The word lavender comes from the Latin "Lavare" meaning to wash. The herb has a very rich presence in literature and is used widely in medicinal preparations, culinary delights and cosmetic preparations. The essential oil of lavender is derived from the distillation of the flowering tops of Lavandula officinalis, also referred to as Lavandula angustifolia/vera.

"I judge that the flowers of lavender quilted in a cappe and dayly worn are good for all diseases of the head that come of a cold cause and that they comfort the braine very well." Lavender and Turner (Herbal, 1545)

Here are some uses for lavender essential oil:

• Lavender essential oil has analgesic properties. Apply a cool compress the forehead to bring some relief from a headache. Place 5 drops of lavender essential oil into two cups of cool water. Place a wash cloth on the top of the water to soak up essential oil and water. Wring out and apply to forehead, avoiding the eyes. Re-apply as needed.
• Lavender essential oil has calmative and hypotensive properties. Place a drop of lavender essential oil on your pillow case to help you sleep at night or on a cotton ball during stress filled situations. Add 8 drops to warm bath water at night for a relaxation before bedtime.
• Lavender essential oil has anti-inflammatory properties. Apply to wounds either neat or with a cool compress.

The aroma of lavender essential oil is considered herbaceous, fruity and sweet depending on the variety and type of extraction. In many circles it is deemed "floral", which may or may not be present...again depends on the variety. More appropriate terminology could be an herbaceous floral character. For use in aromatherapy synergies it is considered the universal oil and used extensively in almost all types of dis-ease. Its chemistry is rich in the ester: linalyl acetate the alcohol: linalol and sesquiterpenes

The magickal properties of Lavender are derived from its association with the planet Mercury and elemental air. Use it when intending clarity of the mind. References also site lavender in connection with attracting prosperity, love and the elemental Faes due to its attractive scent.
Lavender is often utilized as an offering in Mid-Summer celebrations.

The main reoccurring theme we find associated with lavender in mind, body and spirit is PEACE. Peace of mind, peace from physical distress...peace, peace, peace.
.

There's a few things I've learned in life:
always throw salt over your left shoulder,
keep rosemary by your garden gate, plant lavender for good luck,
and fall in love whenever you can.

Lavender and Alice Hoffman (Practical Magic )

In perfume lavender essential oil tends to be classified as a top to middle note. Where as the absolute is considered a base note. In perfume we find the lavender note used in Lavender Eau de Colognes and the category of fragrance deemed Fougere, meaning fern in French. Fougere perfumes feature the combination of oakmoss with lavender.

As a botanical and natural perfumer I use Lavender as a bridge note. It is not an essence I use regularly, unless it is for a specific perfume like Vera or a custom perfume. In aromatherapy synergies and blends I use it in almost every single preparation.

The Lavender Festival in Sequim, Washington - July 18, 19 & 20th, 2008

Lavender Recipes from California Lavender website

Recipe for Lavender Gelato

Roxana Illuminated Perfume™

Vera Perfume Review

Vera, our perfume celebrating Lavender and Ojai, has been reviewed on the Perfume Critic. Here is a link. The author of the perfume review is Sands Murray-Wassink a contemporary fine artist and perfume collector living and working in Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

This perfume was released a little over one year ago at the Ojai Lavender Festival. The fifth and final annual festival takes place this coming Saturday in Libbey Park under a canopy of Coastal Live Oaks. Vera is about 97% botanical with a few ingredients such as essence of distilled sea shells and beeswax absolute. Thus, technically it is a natural perfume, not a 100% botanical perfume.

Ojai Lavender Festival
Roxana Illuminated Perfume™
The Origins of Vera

Vera illustration and perfume bottle ©Roxana Villa and Greg Spalenka.

A Summer Solstice Perfume

The great earth wheel has cycled around once again as the Sun reaches its zenith and marks Midsummer, the longest day of the year. To create a perfume, anointing oil or balm for Summer Solstice consider building it based on orange, calendula and rose.

For the botanical perfumer essences of orange from the peel and the juice are readily available. Orange flower absolute is the most prized from the spectrum of orange and lends a beautiful floral note to the heart. Tinctures, infusions and extracts can also be made from both the fresh rind and flower to deepen the theme. Calendula is available as a C02 and an infused oil. The infused oil would work well added to another base oil if you are creating a solid perfume or oil based perfume.

The rose is considered the flower of the Summer Solstice. An essential oil or absolute of rose is another theme that could be built on or added to the essences mentioned above. Both Orange and Rose are available as waxes which work well added into beeswax for solid perfumes.

Another form of scent fitting for the holiday is an Eau de Cologne. View our journal entries on Eau de Cologne here.

As you celebrate the sun, the light and our manifestation here on earth be sure to hold a special an intention for the day. This intention can be strengthened with each application of your special perfume.

"Rest is not idleness, and to lie sometimes on the grass
on a summer day listening to the murmur of water,
or watching the clouds float across the sky,
is hardly a waste of time."
~ John Lubbock

Read more about the iconography of Summer Solstice and creating a botanical perfume for the day here at last years post on the subject.

Roxana Illuminated Perfume™

Another doorway

The job of the artist

is always to deepen the mystery.

~ Francis Bacon

I've created a new blog for my other artistic passion, visual art. It is a work in progress, however, it has begun and feels like a good time to announce it. Click this link to jump over to it.
The image at left is of the two door handles at the Fuchs Villa in Vienna. Greg and I traveled to a tiny village in the Austrian Alps called Reichenau during the summer of 2003 for a Visionary Art workshop. We will never forget it. The door handles, as well as most of the items contained in the Villa, were designed by Maestro Ernst Fuchs, the father of Fantastic Realism. Our professor, Philip Rubinov Jacobson, has once a year workshops in Austria and other foreign lands like Italy.

Old Masters, New Visions

Happy Birthday!

Our blog had it's first birthday yesterday and the website turned one this morning. What an adventure this has been. Exactly one year ago today I was the keynote speaker at the Fourth Annual Ojai Lavender Festival. This years festival is scheduled for June 28th.

The website and blog are dynamic, works in progress at all times. A myriad of updates and projects will be unveiled soon, in perfect timing. I find that I start working on one thing and then spirit sends in a curve ball that requires immediate attention, thus the item that was of primary focus gets moved to the side. This type of dynamic activity, like our weather patterns, has become the standard mode of operation. I have noticed that over the past year I have been drawing and painting less. With this realization and Comic Con on the horizon I have begun drawing everyday. A blog devoted to my visual works is also underway.

The latest addition to the Illuminated Perfume website is that our shopping cart is now functional! My favorite feature is that shoppers can now choose their three samples from pull down menus for their sampler pack.

In the studio we are finalizing custom perfume samples and perfumes, working on the second edition of Chaparral and developing new accords for upcoming botanical perfumes.

Roxana Illuminated Perfume™
Ojai Lavender Festival

The image above is of my daughter Eve (second from Left) with her buddies at her eighth birthday party.