The seasons in Ecuador, wet and dry, are all mixed up. Because of the country's position on the planet, there are inconsistancies from valley to valley. The traveler moving North to South may pass through two wet seasons with a dry season in between.
Passing through this dry area, I was unprepared for the lush growing season I would encounter only miles to the South.
One day after hiking in the hills, near the city of Otavallo, I was decsending through numerous farms and had a view of the wheat threshing, which was happening then.
I could see a number of farms below me, and at each was a large golden circle, made by harvested wheat, layed out on the ground. In the center of each circle was a pole from which a rope ran to the neck of a horse being driven slowly, round and round. A person walked next to the horse, or in one case two children, as the horses hooves threshed the wheat.
Seeing these golden circles at different farms, all with slowly driven horses going round and round was a sight I couldn't forget.
ARTIST'S COMMENTARY (continued)
This view, done in Northern Ecuador, is, for me, one of the most academic of the mountain studies. It is a "bare bones" painting. A meal without water, or, perhaps, a meal of only water.
"Northern Ecuador"
July 3, 1988
egg tempera on hand made paper
7 x 10 inches