Let Me Dream a Perfect Scent: Timothy John

On the breeze of distant memory
you carry me in your soft, sweet, fragrant arms.
Safe within your perfumed embrace I am intoxicated and entranced.
I have fallen hard, but I am not hurt
cushioned by the flowers of your soul.
 

This poem is by Timothy John, an amazing artist from Australia. Timothy is a painter, a poet, and a perfume admirer. Some of his creations are inspired by scents. He was born in Adelaide in the state of South Australia, the driest state on the driest continent on earth.

His career started with “that magical line that is the journey of creation” some 30 years ago. His artistic evolution orbits mainly around landscapes, from their transient moods, to their emotional inferences, and more recently landscapes became intimate places of quiet meditation.

Timothy John: When I was younger I was hungry for expression and meaning, I wanted to change the world! Over time I have realized that beauty and serenity were just as powerful. I intended to offer these quiet moments for the viewer to take time to reflect on their own life situation and that of global consequence. For many artists the blank canvas is feared, but to me it signals the beginning of a wonderful moment, when head, heart and soul become one to produce an act of beauty.
 

                                                             Perfumed Memory

I close my eyes, and feel you,
I reach out and touch you,
I breathe you in and you fill my soul.
My head swims in turquoise waters,
warm with the scent of frangipani and jasmine.
My heart holds dear the memory that is you.

                                                             Distant Love

Your veiled mist wraps around me,
like the gossamer arms of a distant love.
You caress my very soul.
A flower now seems more beautiful,
and i have never doubted their beauty before.
How can that be?
The sky seems more beautiful,
more muscular with ancient gods,
and fragile with angels wings,
yet i have always admired its beauty.
How do you make it so?
The essence that is you pervades all my senses
I do not need answers because you are here.
and for that i am eternally grateful.
 

Your poetry seems to be very independent from your visual art. Many readers are probably thrilled to read them, and inspired to…(love more?)

Timothy John: My poetry is like another brush or tube of colour in my studio. A picture may be worth a thousand words, but then there are moments when something just needs to be said, to be heard out loud.

                                            Jubilation

In the fading light, echoing the day’s end, stay, and hold me still.
Let the quiet darkness be our blanket.
Let the moon be our sentinel, bathing us in its pearly light.
Your perfume fills me and feeds my very soul, it is my sustenance.
Let us hide like children, invisible to all who threaten to disturb us.
Let memories be our guide. For what once was, is no longer,
and what is to come, is a mystery, the sweetest of all seductions.
With love as our magic spell, we will live together… forever,
in our silent beauty… in our silent jubilation.
 

Timothy John: At the moment I am exploring my favorite perfumes created by Amouage.
It is funny but Christopher Chong's creative "vision" for fragrances seems to work along the same line as I do in my artwork. I feel an even closer affinity with Chris' creative direction, when I heard him speak of a 'discord' and strangeness as a point of difference in his fragrances.

I am enjoying the process, allowing my senses to dance in the delight that is Amouage. I also hope that the Amouage inspired works will be exhibited sometime in the future.

On most of your floral paintings it looks as if the flowers are whispering: "Let me dream my dream, my perfect scent."

Timothy John: I like that a lot!..."let me dream my perfect scent," I really like that, thank you. Yes the flowers I paint are expressions of my love for the nuances and beauty of nature. They are impressions of flowers, I hope the soul of the flower shines through. They are not botanically accurate pieces, I remember a quote I once read, and that was... "to infer, is poetry, to define is science" ...these are emotional inferences, gifts from the heart of an artist.

                                                          I breathe you in

With the fading of the light,
I realize you have gone,
taken with the breeze, that cools the fire I feel inside.
The air is filled with your perfume,
lingering and satisfying my empty heart
permeating me with each breath.
A single star, shines through the velvety darkness
through the air that is heavy with your scent.
You saturate my very being.
My memories of you, 
are forever...
untouched by time.


Do you believe in the immortality of the soul for us humans, and if yes, how do you visualize it?

Timothy John: I most definitely believe in immortality, or an after life. To think that our learning is over after we pass from this earth doesn't make sense. I believe this life is just one part of a huge "education." The lessons to be learned here are many, then after death I believe we move to a new level, where our consciousness is raised. I hope I don't sound too weird? What I am saying is yes, I believe there is much more to come for us, once we depart this life.

Dreams allow me to ask my deeper self questions, sometimes answers are given, sometimes I am just pointed in the right direction in my waking life. Dreams also allow me to see loved ones that have past. Whether these are "real" connections on a spiritual level, or creations of my subconscious, I don't mind, it is always such joy to see the faces of people i love.

Do you see perfumes in colors?

Timothy John: Yes there are times, fleeting moments, when I smell a perfume, and get a visual response, sometimes it is a single colour or group of harmonising colours, sometimes I even get a scene...a landscape as an instant "flash" in response to the fragrance. What amazes me about scent and fragrance is the ability of them to transport you back through time, to a memory, it is instantaneous. People and places you have not thought of for 30 years, are in your minds eye like it was yesterday, just because a scent triggered something, and switch on a light in the darkness of your memory.

Will you ever come up with your own perfume? What will it be made of?

Timothy John: I would love to. I think it would be a beautiful (and frustrating) project. If I close my eyes right now, and imagine it, I get bergamot, labdanum and oakmoss, I also get a touch of vanilla and even the slightest hint of lavender! You are lucky I am not in a coffee, cardamom and saffron mood!!
 

                                    Please visit Timothy John gallery on the Internet