In which the artist reveals that she has not lost her marbles.

At the super fun Toy Shop of Concord, I buy them individually.

Some of them I keep in a special lamp.

Some of them I keep in a dusty jar.

There's no rhyme or reason to what I choose when I buy.  I pick what moves me, different things on different days.

This one looks like a planet.

This one imprisons a frozen flame.

And this one, barely paler than my skin, giggles all over with polka dots.

See?  I still have quite a few marbles, lots of different kinds.  And I know just where they all are.  And I know just how to hold onto them, too, firmly, but not so tightly as to block the light.

(I think that one looks like it's made of grape popsicles swirled with cream.  What do you think?)

Comments

[Leslee]

Oh, very cool! They all look like little planets to me. Although the last one looks like an alien is about about burst out of it any minute. Watch out.

[ScriptorSenex]

I have a few odd marbles including a couple rescued from under a floorboard http://scriptorsenex.blogspot.com/2007/09/losing-my-marbles.html.
I don't know anywhere near me that sells them individually and any way I collect far too many things as its.... But it's so tempting, especially when I see your spotty one.

[Amorette]

Aw :) I used to do that too. When I lived in Milwaukee there was a store (I think it was called Puzzlebox, but don't quote me on that) that sold a bunch of different fancy marbles in a bin. My favorite was a big opalescent white shooter. I still have it somewhere.

Of course, the one with the Jesus face was good too.

The last one...is it purple IRL? In the picture it kind of looks like dark coffee with the first pourings of cream.

[Sara]

Leslee: Oh, my, the world is just fraught with dangers! heh heh This one hasn't gotten me yet, but at least it's where I can keep my eye on it. ;)

SS: That is amazing that you remembered the marbles and were able to retrieve them. I have no idea what happened to my childhood marbles, which included some antiques, some of which were even made of pottery. (Mom was a big antiquer and used to drag all of us along on her trips.) I suspect they traveled away on the wings of various garage sales after I'd left home.

I'm kind of happy no one knows the origin of the expression "losing one's marbles." I'm always disappointed in these things. I always think the metaphor is so obvious, and then it turns out to be something completely else, usually banal or political.

For me the metaphor is an expression of that moment when, as a greedy child, you try to hold onto too many of them at once and suddenly they all seem to explode out of your hand and scatter everywhere, and the disastrous feeling of loss, confusion, and long-term consequences that flood your senses on such an occasion. I think this is what it feels like to lose one's mind. And that continued confusion and sense of loss where you know you just haven't found them all yet, but you're sure if you only keep looking you will, and how maddening and distracting it can be when maybe the most important thing you own is those marbles, well, it's just so obvious. I don't think it needs explanation.

Amorette: Excellent question. Yes, it is grape juice purple, Jell-O purple, Dimetapp purple, kosher wine purple. It's so purple it almost hurts your teeth to look at it.

I did try to adjust the color to make it more true, but I reached a point where I just couldn't tell anymore because I'd been staring at it in dim light so long and, besides, I know what it looks like. I could probably have done better if I'd not cropped it as closely and had left myself more pixels to play with.

One of the most interesting challenges artists work with, as you know, is not to draw what they see but to first see what they see. Color is really hard for lots of people, so to illustrate the difference between what we think we should be seeing vs. what we really are seeing, I used a freebie jigsaw puzzle tool to create a set of jigsaws online for people to play around with. Maybe you've seen them; if not, maybe you'll enjoy them. They are here.