Continuing from "Friday's" entry...

Somewhere around this point, my art professor mentioned that he's always been interested by writers and writing. And I mentioned that, for my part, I've always been interested in the visual arts, and have often wished I had any skill in them at all. But I'm not the least bit visually oriented.

He didn't seem to believe that, but was curious as to why I thought so.

"Well," I said, "I've very much audio-oriented."

"It has to be one or the other?" he asked.

"Well, no... but, well, I can never recognize faces, for one thing..."

This is true. I can usually tell that I should recognize somebody, but that's about all I can ever count on. There are people I've talked to on a daily basis whose names I don't know. Hardly a day goes by when I don't have a conversation with somebody without actually knowing who the person is, and where I know him from. A poetry reading? One of my classes? Camp? Who knows. Not me.

But, anyway, I added, it was more than just that. I just don't notice visual details. Right now, I couldn't tell you what the floor of the classroom looked like. I think the walls were white, but that's not too hard a guess. :-) I don't know what the instructor was wearing. It didn't register.

The only reason why I can tell you the eye colors of my parents and various siblings is that it came up in conversation around the dinner table on more than one occasion. Otherwise, I wouldn't have a clue.

Furthermore, I skip over such descriptions in books, also. They don't do anything for me.

And I know they matter. A few years back, I read a book on short story writing (the title of which now escapes me) that presented a story, and then went back and showed how the protagonist's clothing helped give the reader a sense of the character. The shoes worn suggested something, as did her belt...

I'd missed all of this.

At the same time, subversively enough... now I'm wondering. Because the fact is, in my own self-assessment, I'm comfortably located near the bottom of the top third of the class, at this point. Not too bad for somebody who's never taken an art course before, and who claims to have no visual skill at all.

Perhaps that's a bit more implausible than I'd thought.

But then, it's not as if I have no graphic design experience. I did spend six summers writing and typesetting a camp newsletter. Plus I used to make signs for people. So maybe it's just practice.

Which doesn't change the fact that, as long as I keep things simple, I have a decent eye for design.

Hmmmm.

I'm not sure this is a concept I'm ready to get used to so quickly.