Camas artist adds scent to gallery show

Melissa Winchell hopes that people who come to her opening at Hidden Gallery won’t emerge with just a visual and emotional sense of her art, but also an olfactory one.

Along with the two-month display of her vibrantly colored paintings, the 37-year-old Camas resident will launch her first perfume line at the reception.

Winchell, who teaches classes on human development at Mt. Hood Community College, said she’s been making her own perfume for about 11 years — compared with the eight or so years that she’s been a painter.

At the reception, 5-9 p.m. July 1 at the gallery, 400 E. Evergreen Blvd., No. 115, Winchell said she hopes to evoke a sense of the Hawaiian Islands and summer.

“I hope it’s a happy experience that gets people in the mood for summer,” she said. “My art, the colors are very vibrant.”

Her perfume, called “Aloha in My Heart,” is a combination of scents aimed at evoking Hawaii’s plumeria flower, she added.

“I see the oils I use in my perfume as music notes,” Winchell said.

One of her paintings has the same name as the perfume and tries to evoke the mood of the islands through color, she said.

Winchell said she’s talking to local businesses about distributing the perfume. She’ll post updates on her website, http://www.allaboutloveperfumes.com/.