White Gesso (Ick)

I've painted a few apple duds in the last several days.  The apples have not been duds.  My paintings have been.  The red apples I purchased are very, very dark and I'm not getting the colors right when I'm painting over black gesso.  I decided to experiment and paint over white gesso.  Ick!  The colors lack spark or gravitas.  I can't quite find the right word.  The white "adds" nothing.  I don't like it peeking through, so I covered up most of the surface.  Also, you can see my grid lines and drawing lines.  When some of the drawing lines peek through on a painting over black gesso, it looks kind of cool.  Over white gesso, ick.

It was a good experiment.  I'll probably try the white gesso again or a different color of gesso at some point in the future.

On the plus side, I am very happy with the shape of  this apple.