Gold powder stencilling, sometimes called bronze powder or American colour theory stencilling. This centuries old technique is godless but I'll go it again & get better at it. It just didnt work out this time, somehow the top right hand side blurred & smeared & I dont even know how it happened.

The stencil itself is formed of gates & fences like those we continually navigate throughout our lives, emotional and spiritually. The landscape - oil on aluminium leaf - is like when you're staring at the horizon for ages, with a growing, terrifying suspicion that maybe there actually is a masterplan. Then, what are we for? Why all the beauty? What is faith. How, to be?

But first I have to get this frieze right and as mentioned, this method is very tricky at this scale; historically its been confined to details on chairs, trays & other household items. But I am determined! The only other time I've used it was on a much much larger frame & that met the same end as this one: sand it back to black & start again! At the time of posing this vid, I have not yet commenced re-doing either one, I'm still getting over the sanding. I used 1200 grit wet & dry sandpaper to maintain the superfine smoothness of the surface (this is a 24x12" gesso board) & to ensure I didnt sand it back to the white sealer undercoat; I need to maintain the black because its just too emotional to be painting the black basecoat again