David Karlsen

Three elongated young women stand close together in a shallow, misted field of lavender, rose, silver, and blue. The central woman faces forward, nearly frontal and still, with a softly glowing oval face, dark small lips, and long cloudlike hair that widens around her head like a halo. Her pale gown falls in a narrow column, marked by stylized floral motifs and strings of blue teardrop shapes. On the left, a woman in profile bends inward in a sweeping mantle of cobalt and lilac, patterned like with repeated fans or petals. On the right, another profile woman leans toward the center in a rose-pink robe alive with looping white and crimson patterns. Across the surface float clustered roses, lotus blossoms, dotted veils, and shimmering droplets. A white lily rises near the center, delicate and upright, as if carrying the fragrance named in the title. Scottish artist Margaret Macdonald Mackintosh makes scent visible here. Rather than painting perfume bottles or an interior scene of adornment, she turns fragrance into atmosphere, rhythm, and symbol. The three women seem less like individuals than personifications, joined in a quiet ceremony of beauty, intimacy, and imagination. The white lily suggests purity and spiritual offering, while the blue and pink droplets feel like falling notes, tears, or suspended perfume in the air. The work belongs to the mature phase of Macdonald’s career, when her ethereal figures, flattened space, and ornamental line had become central to the Glasgow Style. By 1912, she was already internationally known through exhibitions and through the collaborative artistic world she shaped with Charles Rennie Mackintosh, yet her own vision remained distinct: mystical, feminine, and psychologically inward. This painting’s power lies in its hush. It asks us not simply to look, but to slowly, almost bodily sense how beauty, like perfumes, can be fleeting, invisible, and deeply shared.

The Three Perfumes by Margaret Macdonald Mackintosh (Scottish) - Watercolor & pencil on vellum / 1912 - Cranbrook Art Museum (Bloomfield Hills, Michigan) #WomenInArt #WomensArt #WomanArtist #WomenArtists #MargaretMacdonaldMackintosh #MargaretMacdonald #CranbrookArtMuseum #artText #art #GlasgowStyle

Happy Thursday dear Bonnie and Angela. X🐾💜

X🐾❤️

Sending you and your family my love and best thoughts Sylvia my friend. X💜

The sea was colder than expected but Clarice swam. A big boned woman she invited them to swim from her little beach but none joined her. Laura in particular would have suffered and, neither Anais or Kazu wanted to see her as they did once before. Danish and Flavia declined the invitations also.

A worker for the good of the world, bless her heart. And what a lovely name to have, Friend! X ❤️

Hello Ludi and Winnie. X 🐾🐾 💜

Thank you Angela my friend, I will do. You enjoy the rest of yours too; give Bonnie a hug for me. I've grown to love that little one. X 🐾💜☺️

This is pure evil. To attack innocent people; men. women and children, the aged, it is always unforgiveable!

Hello Henry. X 🐾 💙

Hello Angela and dear Bonnie, have a lovely day. X🐾💜

X🐾💙

sun stifled breathless
black branches early spring buds
sky early pewter
#haiku

Where I live in another country often I'm told that either the page doesn't exist or it's not available here; that can't be true just because they tell the truth about trump!

I don't have a clue Sally, but you've really intrigued me with this post; would love to know what it is.

a tree lives like a darling
as a spring breaks free
and yet so many
before they're even dressed
throw up their arms
strong as they are
find developer death
waits in the wings
small
birds beaks full of dried
grass will begin to build
can't visualise their
hedgerow's disappearance
#poetry

Sweetheart! 💜

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How beautiful this is!

And a mass murderer too! I just keep hoping for the sake of the decent USA and the Free World he is removed from power! All of us need to see this happen!

So let's get the Epstein Files released; including every decent USA citizen the whole of the Free World want them released too!

Quote of the day by James Joyce: 'There is not past, no future; everything flows...': Lessons on importance of living in present from famous author James Joyce, a pivotal modernist writer, emphasized living in the present with his quote, "There is not past, no future; everything flows in an eternal present." His philosophy, rooted in the subjecti...

Quote of the day by James Joyce: 'There is not past, no future; everything flows...': Lessons on importance of living in present from famous author - The Economic Times share.google/1nThbfCtM3yv...

Oh, I'm glad my saying that was helpful Adrianna; I think giving feedback on social media is useful; and your work is quite exceptional my friend. 🥰💫🕊️☮️

Hello dear Zoë, nice to hear from you. I really like your painting! 🖌️ I've always thought this but never said it because this is social media but you have a lovely face; and I say that with respect my friend. Are you still working for the magazine with your art?

Good morning dear Regina, it's Wednesday here at 6:00 a m. you are probably at 1: a m. I really dislike AI and wish it had never materialised. It will ruin creativity and disjoint the truth. Belle is not awake yet so I won't disturb her
I hope everything is well with you my friend. X 🐾😺💜🕊️🥰🫖

Love your photography Adrianna. 🕊️🌿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿

You take care of yourself. X