John, I did this to simulate a picture frame. Looking at it now I am sure it could be simplified. \setupoutput[pdftex] \setupcolors[state=start] \startreusableMPgraphic{bg} StartPage ; z11 = ulcorner Page ; z12 = urcorner Page ; z13 = lrcorner Page ; z14 = llcorner Page ; z91 = (-1, 1.414) ; z92 = ( 1, 1.414) ; z93 = ( 1,-1.414) ; z94 = (-1,-1.414) ; z21 = z11 - 16z91 ; z22 = z12 - 16z92 ; z23 = z13 - 16z93 ; z24 = z14 - 16z94 ; z31 = z21 - 6z91 ; z32 = z22 - 6z92 ; z33 = z23 - 6z93 ; z34 = z24 - 6z94 ; fill z11--z12--z13--z14--z11--z21--z24--z23--z22--z21--cycle withcolor yellow ; fill z21--z22--z32--z31--cycle withcolor .9white ; fill z22--z23--z33--z32--cycle withcolor .8white ; fill z23--z24--z34--z33--cycle withcolor .9white ; fill z24--z21--z31--z34--cycle withcolor .8white ; StopPage ; \stopreusableMPgraphic \defineoverlay [bg] [\reuseMPgraphic{bg}] \setupbackgrounds [page] [background={bg}] \starttext \dorecurse{3}{\input knuth} \stoptext -- Nigel