But is it art?

The most moving picture I have ever seen was a self-portrait by Rembrandt van Rijn in the Scottish National Gallery in Edinburgh. He did over 40 (paintings, and even more drawings and etchings) self-portraits in his lifetime. I'm not sure if I've seen any of the others in the flesh, so to speak. Nor am I sure why I was so touched by it. The Edinburgh trip was for my 50th birthday, and I've just realised that he painted this picture when he was 51. I did not realise that at the time, but perhaps the introspection and doubt at that fulcrum in his life somehow seeped sub-consciously through to me. Or it was my mood; the holiday spirit; the boundary-pushing of exploring a new place? Anyway, I got that sensation that all successful art generates: "Yes, I know what you mean"

"Modern" art (what a horrible term - I suppose I mean non-representational art) seldom has any such impact for me. I can find it clever, or amusing, intricate or full of craft, but rarely moving in the same way. I suppose I'm too literal; insufficiently open to the effect of pure colour or shape, in the absence of some familiar hook to hang it on. I admire people who don't need that crutch

I've seen contemporary art that looks a lot like this image. With a little squinting, you can make this an 'Op Art' piece: is it a corner, or a flat surface, or a triangular pyramid projecting towards you? Do the adjacent colours ('chalk', 'seagull' and 'delilah', as I've said before) create some emotional or intellectual effect? Tranquility, I hope, as this is our end-of-day winding down room. There is a flaw - visible if you go large. In the real world, it will be over-painted; in a painting it might be the equivalent of a Regency beauty-spot

The fourth colour is 'donkey ride' - a signal that none of this should be taken to seriously. And, true to type, my favourite parts of this picture are knowing that the wrought-iron hinge was made in a forge, not a production-line, and the knot in the timber. Philistine

An extra in honour of the day