Sumptuous Seductive Silly Sparkles
As a child, you are pretty much expected to incorporate sparkles in your creations at some point. The simple beauty of them is utterly delightful and children are free to explore sparkles as a medium to extreme limits along with pipe-cleaners and finger-paints. I confess to coating many a colouring page in a thick layer of glitter glue. Definitely more of a Betsey Johnson at that point than a Coco Chanel.
Adoring sparkles when you are an adult is awkward. Including glitter in serious works of art is commonly perceived as absurd. Apparently, glitter is not a worthwhile artistic medium.
Let me put this to you – in some of the most sacred places in the world, mosaics encrust the walls and ceilings of the interiors of the entire structure. This creates an ‘otherworldly, ethereal’ effect by, you guessed it, glittering and sparkling. Gold and gemstones are used right along side glass, cement, and whatever else the artisans had handy. Does the material used give the artistic expression worth, or is it the overall effect? Is it a combination of both?
Given that, is it fair or reasonable to dismiss glitter as an artistic medium?
In my unending crusade to master every craft out there (note the tongue in cheek), I am always unconsciously on the lookout for great deals on supplies of all kinds. I cannot tell you how excited I was to find three, yes three, full jars of Martha Stewart Fine Glitter in various shades of blue in the clearance section at Michaels last week.
The seals had apparently been broken as evidenced by the stray specks of colour dusting the surface of the lids. I am still curious as to how this happened. Was it as simple as using them for a demo and then selling them at a discount? Was it as deranged as someone getting their sparkle fix by digging a finger in through the tiny spout and snorting it when no one was looking? I’m sure I’ll never know.
I took this find as a sign and also succumbed to using my fifty percent off coupon on the 24 pack of Martha Stewart Essential Colors Glitter. I refuse to pay forty dollars for glitter, no matter how gloriously beautiful. Twenty dollars, though, was perhaps not so unreasonable… although that’s debatable.
R knows exactly which items I will beeline towards when entering a store. I asked him once why he had laughed with glee when I spotted a shirt halfway towards the back of a store and headed straight towards it. He pointed out that I will always head towards the most sparkly item in a store first. I was literally shocked to discover that he was right. He understood this about me so well that, around the same time, he even bought me a pack of glitter glues. True love indeed.
The simple fact of the matter is, sparkles make me happy. I confess this to the world, slightly embarrassed at the simplicity of this statement. I think that’s one of the reasons I like stars so much. We’re all of us stardust anyway, and that is kind of like being made of glitter. Knowing that makes me happy too.
