I’ve been itching to make a mark on this nice piece of plywood that’s been sitting in the studio and last night I did. I sat in front of the mirror and quickly scribbled my portrait with an ebony pencil. The mirror is off in the corner and the light was above me and way off to the side of me, so the lighting looked rather dramatic. I went back to the table and painted in the black of the shirt real quickly and wet and thin. Then I did the same with the red paint, almost as if I were staining the wood. I like seeing the grain of the wood through the paint. I went back to the mirror and drew in the shadows on the face and left the skin unpainted, with the wood color showing through. I think I spent an hour on it. Maybe an hour and 5 minutes.