I began my formal studies in painting and design at the Philadelphia College of Art. Mercedes Matter, my painting instructor, brought an original set of twelve large Mondrian “Plus-Minus” drawings to class. The drawings exemplified Mondrian’s attempt to reduce images to their essentials. After class Mercedes suggested I keep them over the weekend. It’s hard to describe the impact Mercedes’ gesture had on my sensibilities as a budding artist. Mondrian’s attempt to reduce things to their essence showed me that the old rules were not something you have to play by but something you can play with. His cadent abstractions taught me the importance of tempo and rhythmical flow in one’s work—one beat, one quick brush-stroke at a time. If you get the rhythms right in the arts: painting, writing, music, conversation, the shimmering fragments of lines, forms, colors, notes, words, come together naturally. In my art I try to find other ways of seeing things using diverse styles. The styles and subject matter may vary, but then, improvising classically drawn lines, or finding rhythms in complex abstract patterns are all part of the creative impulse. Finding new ways to express the shape and rhythm of life seems to me a natural process—”the flight of the mind.”