Pen and Brush

Is there a real relationship between writing and drawing? I suppose there is because both are forms of art. While living overseas, I joined an art class. My progress I felt was mediocre so many years later I was surprised to see a small scene I had brushed hanging on the wall in my daughter's home. As I looked at it, I thought to myself: Did I really paint that? It's really not as bad as I remember.

As a writer of sorts, untrained, undisciplined and relatively unknown, there are a couple of web pages where these columns can be found, and some in print as well. One apparently has a way of recording how many “hits” my page gets, and which columns. One month, I counted and came up with 888 “hits.” Not a million but for me 888 was a surprise. What I don't know is how many were actually read, in part or fully. Or if there were smiles or smirks.

A few months later I checked again. The whole month went by with a few daily “hits” but out of nowhere, one day there were about 150. Can't be I thought. Must have been a glitch somewhere. The monthly total pushed its way up but didn't reach 888. I felt humbled more than sublime, somewhat like the feeling when I saw my ancient, amateur painting hanging on a wall.

Just before I sat down to pen (write) this Senior Moment, I read some reviews in the Art Section of a magazine. Not all the reviews were complimentary but one section contained reviews of what were considered irregular (my term) pieces but the reviews were not necessarily destructive. Unlike one of my previous reviews of our newspaper's cinematic advertisements which were more warnings than invitations.

Art, as such, can be artistic, provocative and a host of other artistic descriptions. Why? Partly because it depends on the reviewer as well as a consensus of many. My senior moment took me to the 888 “hits” where I have no clue, no consensus of any merit. Only numbers. But does that, or should it, cause me to quit drawing or writing? Maybe drawing but not writing, at least not now.

Why? Because art, pen or brush are subject to critiques (negative, neutral or positive) as well as quantity. Because the chance of a word (or picture) here and there may be better than nothing, perhaps our endeavors may in fact be worth the effort. We may never know.