October 22, 2020 - Been trying something a little different lately, where I’ve been trying to let more of the white gesso priming show through in my paintings. It feels a little naughty-and Im kind of loving it! I’ve always been a wet-in-wet thick highlights guy. but I’m now realizing I’ve been under-using a pretty powerful tool in the toolbox: not painting stuff! Tried to get an over exposed look with this self portrait, which led me to focus mostly on shadow shapes and leave it mostly unpainted in the brightest areas. I wasn’t sure how it was gonna work so I did a test portrait before trying it out on the big panel.  Once I had a sense that it should be okay, I tackled the portrait in the larger painting. I’m usually too lazy to do a…