“In 1996 I went on a painting trip to Russia for several weeks with some artist friends. We met some very fine Russian painters while we were there and saw incredible works in the Tretyakov gallery as well as the Hermitage and Russian museums. I bought this fur hat in Moscow and naturally had to paint myself in it. It was my last couple months at this studio and the heat had already been turned off so posing in the hat and coat was actually comfortable.”