Guardian Deities Painting: Warlords on the San Chuan Gate

Render a pair of temple door leaves painted with armoured guardian generals, in the Taiwanese tradition. Show two tall timber doors, each about three metres high, painted with a single standing warrior filling almost the whole leaf — armour in overlapping scaled plates picked out in gold, a flowing sash, one holding a mace and the other a whip, both with fierce eyes turned toward the viewer and elaborate helmets with pheasant plumes. Paint the ground behind them a deep vermilion. Detail the technique honestly: the gold is applied leaf over a raised gesso line so the armour edges stand slightly proud and catch light, while the faces are painted in fine graded washes with crisp black outlines. Show real age — the vermilion faded unevenly, hairline cracks through the paint film, and the lower third rubbed and scuffed by decades of hands and rain. Include the stone threshold and door studs. Light with soft daylight from the porch. Photorealistic, vivid vermilion and gold, aged and hand-painted, straight-on view.