“Every once in a while, I’ll attend openings ‘in character’ as Penelope. In some ways, I view these (I’ve only been to three in the past 10 years) as a kind of performance art. My only job is to come up with answers to questions like ‘What inspired this painting?’ I worry that people will be disappointed if I’m too frank about my process, so I always end up talking in technical terms about the work. (Luckily, most people really don’t expect a fruit-and-flowers painting to be deep emotionally).”—“Penelope”