Gloria in Excelsis Deo 1973

Frank Mason painted "Gloria in Excelsis Deo" with what looks like oil on canvas. It’s like the whole painting is exhaling. See how the blues and browns wash over the surface? I imagine him, standing there, brush in hand, trying to capture something both ethereal and deeply human. He’s really going for it, the angels are like smoky apparitions, and the shepherds below are bowled over by the vision. It's a dramatic moment—everyone caught in the same rapture. The paint isn’t too thick, more like transparent layers building up to a crescendo. Look at the angel’s wings, how they seem to dissolve into the sky. I wonder if Mason felt like he was wrestling with something immense, something bigger than himself while making this? Artists, you know, we're all just trying to make sense of the world, one brushstroke at a time, echoing each other across the centuries.