At the end of a chapter in my life, I found myself thinking about Hopper’s last painting, Two Comedians, and the way it is often presented alongside reproductions of Watteau’s Pierrot. When I walked past a porcelain figure of Pierrot in a gallery, I couldn’t resist the temptation to paint it. Then, getting ready to go somewhere, I looked at my coat, and thought I would make a good Pierrot too. For a while after that, I painted any pompom I would come across.