A half a year ago, back in the first column in this Art Jottings series, I said that "... I am not an artist ..." I was trying to emphasize the fact that I consider myself mainly a craftsman, and not a person who creates original works. But because I also produce an illustration to accompany this column each time, doesn't that mean I must be an ... artist?

Well, if you think that for something to be art it must be of a high quality, then my pictures are most definitely not included! I have never studied sketching or drawing, and have only the most basic idea about how to make images on the page. Many children can draw far better than I can.

If you think it must be original, then here too, I fall short. None of my little pictures ever shows anything new or creative.

But if like me, you think that the only guideline is that it be interesting, then perhaps we are getting closer ... I'm afraid that I don't always succeed in producing stories and pictures that are interesting, but that is my goal each time.

Twenty years ago, when I had much less self-confidence than now, I could never have done these little illustrations for this column. "People will laugh!", I would have said. But what do I say these days? "I hope people will laugh!"

My daughters taught me a new Japanese word a while ago ... 'Hetakuso!' I like it!