Vespertina Perfume

"Knowest thou the land, where the lemon trees bloom,
Where the gold orange glows in the deep thickets gloom,
Where a wind ever soft, from the blue heaven blows,
And the groves are of laurel and myrtle and rose."
- Goethe

The Visions of Vespertina is a collaborative music project created by Greg Spalenka and Michelle Barnes. They began the project during the eighties while living and working in New York City as professional illustrators. Michelle and Greg aligned their creative juices fusing their passions for art and music. As they worked on the music, a story of unrequited love emerged. Together they laid out their premise and after a six year gestation period birthed the CD, complete with a 24 page color booklet of their art. Later the CD was picked up by Celsius Records and can now be purchased at Greg's web site. I have lived with the music and story of Vespertina for over ten years now, facilitating Greg with story points as he morphs the initial story concept into a graphic novel and eventually a film. My knowledge of medicinal herbs, alchemy and mystics has been quite useful. Greg and Michelle had asked me to create a scent or series of scents for the CD several years back, but, the timing was never quite right. While Greg and I were in London in 2005, we came across a poster of the painting “Vespertina Quies” by Edward Burne-Jones. It was this painting that inspired Michelle to title the CD, “The Visions of Vespertina.” The introspective looking young maiden stands on a balcony, looking out as she gently touches a ring on her finger. Thus, the painting informed their original story for the CD.

Just before Comic Con 2007, Greg asked if I would create a signature botanical fragrance for the CD that would be showcased at the booth next to the music, creating a three fold sensorium; music, art and scent. Thrilled with the creative challenge, I quickly accessed all the Vespertina files in my minds eye and began working. Having been given complete artistic license by Greg, I decided to focus on creating the scent of Vespertina, the heroine. I asked Greg for some any relevant themes he felt were crucial to the concept of the fragrance. He shared the image of Vespertina manifesting a metaphysical rose and then placing it into Dante's heart. Perfect!

I decided to build the perfume around rose and other supporting floral notes. This alligned well with what I know of Vespertina’s devotional nature and her feminine qualities. Since the female character is a visionary mystic I wove in some of the essences I associate with this archetype; lotus, sandalwood, oud, frankincense and myrrh. The essences just mentioned indeed anchor the scent and have strong connections to the divine. I included chords of wood and amber to bring in the element of the earth. One of my teachers and friends, Gail Adrian, refers to cypress as having an affiliation with death. Several types of cypress were included to facilitate fixation as well as bring in the story element of the souls journey after death. The base also contains Angelica for its connection to the realms of the angels and the inner landscape. The heart revolves around rose and jasmine, supported by several other floral notes including lotus. Rose, as mentioned previously has a strong presence in the story as well as aroma therapeutic associations with the heart and healing. As I worked on this perfume I had Greg give me his feedback regularly to make sure that the fragrance was on track with his beloved character. There is a specific mystery in the story that has been woven into the perfume. The heart of the fragrance also includes several herbal notes relating to Vespertina’s upbringing in an fourteenth century English convent. The top notes include mainly citrus and spice topped with a bit of pepper for sparkle.

I combine my skills in aromatherapy, botanical perfume and symbolic story as an illustrator when building a perfume. However, I must admit that divine forces are called upon and indeed interact in my formulations.

Vespertina is a floral perfume with a progressive evolution moving from its spicy citrus top notes into the strong floral heart immediately. The dry down varies depending on skin chemistry. In some cases the vestiges of the evolution remain a floral hum, while on others the scent transcends into incense with wood or a wood and leather. Many perceive the fragrance as containing orange blossom although there is actually none in the formula. At the Comic Con where this perfume debuted, I witnessed with complete fascination the aromatic scope of this perfume and its process of molecular disbursement on varying skin types. It was perfect within the context of the character Vespertina and her adventure. I suggest taking a scent journey while listening to the music.
Vespertina Botanical Perfume ingredients include: Cambodian Oud, Vintage Mysore Sandalwood, Indian Attars, Chords of Amber and Wood, Rose, Jasmine, Lotus, Citrus, Spice, Black and Pink Peppercorn.

Roxana Illuminated Perfume - Vespertina™
Vespertina Artwork by ©Greg Spalenka, Vespertina photos and text ©Roxana Villa

Comic Con 2007: Overview

"All pictorial art is the transformation of dead material into something spiritual."~ Anonymous

We are just back from another inspirational five day adventure at Comic Con. It has become clear that our favorite reason for attending is meeting new friends and spending time with all our artist buddies.

Comic Con is a magnet for artists working in the genre of fantastical art, whether they are there as attendees, showcasing their latest visions at a booth or promoting a project upstairs at one of the programs. This year, for the first time in the history of the Comic Con, it sold out. The spirit of the archetypal super hero remains at Comic Con, despite the Hollywood take over. It has become crystal clear that the public adores good stories. Philip Pullman alludes to the power of story in "The Amber Spyglass", the third book of "His Dark Materials Trilogy."

Day One: Wednesday, July 26th

Our booth was located in the "illustrators" section, across from Greg's artist rep, Allen Spiegel Fine Arts. This year we had the usual bounty of limited edition artist giclees, postcards, posters and Vespertina CD's. Greg introduced a first look at the illustrations created for the children's book "The Eyes of the Unicorn" by offering large, limited edition giclee prints and a beautifully printed set of greeting cards featuring six of the images from the book. The Adorning the Muse handmade jewelry by Heartworks by Lori and my perfumes were the new additions to the collection, creating a sensorium of visual, aromatic and musical delights. I introduced my new perfume Vespertina, inspired by the music CD "The Visions of Vespertina" created by Greg and his friend Michelle Barnes. What a thrill it was to share a new perfume at such a large venue. The immediate praise and feedback garnered is priceless. More on how this perfume was orchestrated in the next blog entry.

Day Two: Thursday, July 27th

The Con opened its doors to a swarming mass of sprinters Thursday morning, as well as every morning there after. What were these fans running towards? Booths offering free booty and Comic Con exclusives most likely. At 4:45pm I treked upstairs to hear "Lost, Season 4" presented by Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse. Little did I know that there had been Losties waiting to get into the presentation since early that day, with a line that wrapped around the entire ballroom!!! Obviously Damon and Carlton are masters of the fine art of story telling. A special "Dharma Initiative" short was showcased with interesting clues into the work of the mysterious foundation. The Season 3 DVD will be released in early December, can't wait!! Day Three: Friday We met my daughter Eve and her dad Ben early for breakfast Friday morning. Eve was keen to know ALL the details from the LOST presentation. At the Con Greg took Eve on a tour to see all her favorite artists including Kinuko Craft, Dan Dos Santos, Charles Vess and Jon Foster. Lori, the jewelry artisan, came to join us at the booth, much to the fans delight. By that time we had completely sold out of all versions of the jewelry with my bee logo. What a joy to discover that the bee image utilized as the emblem for my perfume company strikes a chord with the public. In the afternoon New Line previewed a special extended trailer for The Golden Compass. See the trailer at the link provided below. We are particularly excited because we are huge fans of the book and because Greg did visual development on the film. After Con that evening we went to dinner with a large group of friends followed by late night conversations at the bar of one of the hotels. These late night evenings with fellow artists are one of the highlights every year at Comic Con. This year we had the pleasure of meeting an up and coming illustrator named Eric Fortune and Stephane Martinaire's daughter Madeline. http://www.movieweb.com/news/94/21494.php

Day Four: Saturday

Traditionally Saturday is the largest attendee day of the Con and proved to be our most prosperous. We were graced by the appearance of several authors Greg has illustrated covers for at our booth, including Orson Scott Card and Holly Black. Due to the celebration of costuming to popular art culture, Saturday night features the "Masquerade", an annual on-stage costume competition. The exhibit hall is always filled with interesting clothed, or sometimes barely clothed attendees. Quercus seemed to resonate most with all those who sampled the perfumes and was the biggest seller. Although all the perfumes were appreciated, this botanical oak inspired scent seems to resonate with the largest cross section of the population.

Day Five: Sunday

The last day of Comic Con began with breakfast with the artist David Seeley and his lovely family followed by Greg and I visiting all our friends at their booths and accumulating fabulous books, prints, posters and original art. (As if we need more of these items!) I took a gander at the props and costumes for the upcoming Golden Compass film. WOW! What an amazing treat for the eyes. I am a huge fan of both Philip Pullman and the trilogy "His Dark Materials." From what I have observed, the film makers seem to have done justice to the story. My perfume Lyra is named after the protagonist in the first book of the series titled "The Golden Compass." Sunday evening, after having packed and loaded all our items , we joined our fellow creatives for dinner and the usual late night gathering. During dinner we noticed that four out of five of the women present were wearing our new jewelry! Monday morning before departing back up to LA we had the pleasure of meeting Baron Storey and his lovely wife Petra for an early lunch. What an inspiration to be in the presence of Baron, chat with him and Petra and peruse his sketchbook (#144).

As always following Comic Con I am inspired to draw, draw, draw. The image which I am creating as the visual for Quercus has morphed. The final drawing will be posted soon with a blog entry showing the development of the idea. The painting will follow later in the year. The artist's I tend to gravitate toward , as well as those in our inner circle of friends are quite accomplished drafts people, Greg being one of the group. Listed below are the websites of friends and other artists from Comic Con that I adore. Unfortunately Baron Storey and the upcoming Eric Fortune have no websites. Dave McKean also does not have his own site, but, between his rep and a fan is well represented on the world wide web.

Cheers to the art spirit and the story tellers! 

Greg Spalenka Kinuko Craft Lostpedia Jon Foster Stephane Martiniere Donato Giancola Holly Black James Jean Dave Seeley Ciruelo Charles Vess Philip Pullman Golden Compass Dan Dos Santos World of Froud Allen Spiegel Fine Arts Allen Spiegel Fine Arts.com/Dave McKean The jewelry can be ordered directly from Lori Perfume in quarter ounce and 1ml sample sizes will be available soon at Illuminated Perfume. 

Comic Con: countdown

Four more days until Comic Con!! Ah, what is Comic Con you ask? It is the largest venue for popular art culture in America, taking place once a year in San Diego. Officially it's called The San Diego Comic Convention, we tend to refer to it as "the con". I was introduced to it eight years ago by my sweetheart Greg. I was reluctant to attend thinking it was going to be, as the title suggests, about comics. Indeed it began as a convention celebrating comics in the basement of the Grant Hotel back in 1970 with notable guests such as Ray Bradbury. What I encountered at my first adventure to the con was fantasy and visionary art in abundance. Artists from all over the world had gathered for the largest show and tell I had ever witnessed. Every year we attend, either with a booth or as spectators, to take in and participate in the vast creativity pulsating on both the exhibit floor and the programs upstairs. One doesn't quite "get" the comic-con experience until one attends, it's a visceral thing. Last year we attended a presentation by Deepak Chopra and Grant Morrison, titled "The Seven Spiritual Laws of Superheroes", met the infamous Yoshitaka Amano, spent time with Holly Black and respites with our fellow art buddies. This year, we return with a booth featuring new art jewelry, Eye of the Unicorn greeting cards and my perfumes. Look for us at booth 4704.

San Diego Comic Convention
111 West harbor Drive
San Diego, CA 92101
Thursday, July 26 through Sunday July 29
http://www.comic-con.org