Local ground pigment in water-soluble oil medium on watercolor paper.
1999
 
This is a Buddhist monument called a chorten. It is a regional variation of the bell-shaped stupas found in Thailand or India. There are many such structures spread throughout the Himalayas, and the stylistic variations between them are nearly infinite. They are made by carefully stacking stones and then covering the entire structure with a thick layer of mud and plaster. The plaster is then carved and painted with symbolic and auspicious symbols.
 
This particular chorten is perched at the very edge of a steep organ-pipe cliff in the town of Tangbe, along the upper Kali Gandaki river. Painted in 1999, years later it became one of the inspirations for a similar structure which was built into the Himalayan area of Disney’s Animal Kingdom.