Another Twentieth Century Flashback

The Great Wall of China

Monotype print

©1995 Charlene Brown

I haven’t quite got my final two paintings from our Panama cruise ready to post, so here’s another flashback to the twentieth century – the Great Wall of China, which I visited in 1995.

Construction began 27 centuries ago on this massive 6000 kilometer long structure, designed to repel foreign hordes. Initially it seemed ironic that the Wall is now overrun with them – until one considers the big bucks we were all paying for the privilege.

Built along the edges of steep ridges wherever possible to maximize its vertical rise, the Wall itself is very steep as it follows the ridges to the various peaks. It literally ‘charges off in all directions,’ including up. Walking along it is not the stroll we had expected, but it was worth the climb. My painting ‘The Great Wall of China,’ a long segment of the Wall at Badaling was painted indirectly as a monotype – a print made by painting in watercolor on a Plexiglas plate, which is then run through a press with a dampened sheet of watercolor paper, producing one unique print.