Sierra Solid Gold Perfume

"Trees are the earth's endless effort to speak to the listening heaven."

~ Rabindranath Tagore

At the NYC Sniffapalooza Fall Ball I debuted the first fragrance in our new solid perfume line. It is the solid version of Sierra, our perfume devoted to the California Redwoods. The solid version of this fragrance is quite different from the liquid. The original formula was created several years back when I decided to create a perfume for prosperity. Thus, with "prosperity" in mind, I began with the idea of Frankincense and Myrrh, since these two essences are linked with tales of the spice trails and gifts to the newly born Christ child. It is said that both Frankincense and Myrrh were considered more valuable than gold. The scented ointments found in Tut'ankhamun's tomb when it was first opened in 1922 contained ample quantities of Frankincense, Myrrh and Cedarwood.

Thus, to the Frankincense and Myrrh I added Cedarwood. Since the essential oil of Frankincense contains pinene as one of its major components I added some of the coniferous essences which are also rich in pinene. To create some mystery and bring back the aroma to the spice trails I added a few spice notes complimented by citrus. The overall fragrance is rich and warm.

A few years back when a group of local friends were meeting regularly in Topanga to share and visualize each others intentions, we used this solid perfume as part of the ritual. Utilizing a perfume created with the vitality of plants and a strong intention in its formulation facilitates a stronger tie to the heavenly and earthly planes.

This fragrance also contains a few drops of a magical accord for prosperity created last month. Click here to read about the accord.

The Sierra solid perfume comes in an antique finish metal compact contained in a teal green hand crocheted pouch. The retail price is $72, samples are available for $8.

edited October 11, 2011

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Images at top: Sierra©Greg Spalenka and bottom right is a photo of our Sierra solid perfume compact and it's pouch.

Suck the Marrow

"I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately,
to front only the essential facts of life,
and see if I could not learn what it had to teach,
and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived." ~ Thoreau

We watched the film "The Dead Poets Society" last weekend. My daughter Eve is studying poetry in one of her classes right now and I thought it would be fun for the three of us to watch the film together. This film has all those key components that form great art, that "trinity" that Greg discusses.

The trinity:
* Mind; the idea and/or concept.
* Body; representing the materials.
* Spirit; the love, passion, integrity and/or soul nature.

All these components working together
at a high level of sophistication and awareness
create a synergy, creating art that becomes
more than the sum of its parts.

These components translate to all art forms, read more about how I use this concept in my perfumes, specifically Chaparral™, on the Perfume Critic website.

Image top: "Grow with Us", at right "Chaparral". ©Greg Spalenka The Chaparral image was originally for created for a book cover, I was the model for this piece.

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Another Voice

Last night I started jumping up and down, clapping and screaming when I heard Obama won. I rushed into the studio to tell Greg, and then both of us were jumping up and down screaming with glee. My teenage daughter walked in and proclaimed "You guys are spazes!"

"Perception is an act of creation."

After a few minutes our focus shifted to Proposition 8, or Prop Hate as we started calling it. This is the Proposition that wants to ban marriage between gay couples. Remember way back when a black and a white couldn't get married here in America (the land of the free), well, this is the new version of that. The surreal thing is that it passed, in California of all places. I find this very disturbing, even though we have scored a huge victory with Obama, there is still much work to be done.

During art school days at Otis, one of my buddies introduced me to the magazine The Progressive. I remember looking through the artwork in awe and proclaiming my illustrations would one day be in there. Well, that materialized just after graduating. The art director at the time, Patrick JB Flynn, hired me to create an illustration to go along with an article on Unions. After that illustration I began contributing to The Progressive on a regular basis as well as The NY Times, LA Times, Washington Post and the Boston Globe.

It was an inspiring time to be an artist. Now that the political tides have changed I feel some of that same sense of exhilaration.

There is a show of artwork done for The Progressive while Patrick JB Flynn was art director of the Magazine. There are some good essays and a schedule of where the exhibit is currently on view, here at the website.


Images all ©Roxana Villa
Top: Rainbow Man, personal piece, acrylic veils on board, middle: illustration on Unions for The Progressive and bottom illustration on Racism for The Progressive.
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Roxana Villa: Visual Art