Evolution of Art

The brain fog has finally cleared. There has been a dam burst after almost two years of post-Covid caca slowing the creative juices flowing. I allow myself only a few hours every day to be on the computer working, everything is on a timer (my life is ruled by the alarm). I'm finding that instead of quitting work hours way ahead of schedule, as I've been doing since August 2022, I'm putting in loads of overtime on the computer, as well as making incense, soap, and perfumes. I'm on the computer writing the incense book/course, sending students emails, correcting assignments, writing some more, networking with peers, researching, adding course content, designing labels, creating video and podcast scripts, scheduling live classes, writing evals of finished perfumes from students, creating diplomas, printing shipping labels, answering emails from strangers curious about this art, and giving encouragement when needed from 6:45 AM until it's time to pick up the grands from school at 3:00 PM.  There. Is. So. Much. To. Do! 

One of my favorite quotes is by Buckminster Fuller, and it goes like this:

"You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that makes the old model obsolete." 

This is the hinge that holds everything I've been working for these past 20-odd years. Trying to break the old paradigm and create something inclusive, joyful, inspiring, and entirely achievable. 

Today I did something that I have rarely done. I ordered perfume labels to be printed by an outside source. In all of my time working in this business, I've done this maybe three times, reserving the right to print when I needed to, but also creating some ugly and unprofessional-looking labels along the way. These new labels are brightly colored and glossy. I'm determined that this be the norm from here on out. I've got these absolutely stunning Brosse bottles and here I am sticking on matte white labels of the wrong shape because I'm a stubborn ass responding to trauma (which I am currently deconstructing). I am totally the kind of person who says, FU, I'll do it myself! I'm realizing I don't do it as well as it should be done, and I'm loading myself with a lot of work that is cheaply and easily delegated. 

In December we, the NPA, performed a complete overhaul of the school. It took two weeks to complete, and the results of all of the hard work our on-site tech master, Ruth, put in has been a game changer for us. Most, if not all, of the manual bits of the course, are now automatic, which frees up a lot of time from checking and double-checking all sorts of moving parts in the courses. Now it just happens and it has freed up tons of my time so that I have the time, and now the energy, to get some of the work done that has been sitting in the queue for years. Like articles, interviews with perfumers and growers, essays, books, and more course content. Natural perfumery isn't a static art. It's constantly evolving.