If Mondrian had painted a car instead of canvas, it might have come out like this. I am looking at a picture of my first car, a 1975 and a half Toyota Corolla. I had her for maybe 23 years. She started off silver, then white. Then one summer in a fit of passion, I painted her. White, yellow, red and blue rectangles outlined in black. Turned out to be quite a task taking several weeks. A lot of masking tape and newspaper flapping under the trees.

The Mondrian was sold some years back for a few hundred dollars to a guy who on that very day was planning on driving her to Roswell, New Mexico. The UFO capital of the United States was perhaps a fitting destination for my crazy passion on wheels.

On Burnet Road, there is a cube-shaped brick building that has been painted like the Mondrians I imitated. Bright white, yellow, red and blue. One day, I’m going to walk in with my car photo and say hello.