"Next morning I was pleased to find that the clouds that had been covering the nearby volcano had gone, and I was able to have my first sight of Mount Chimborazo, at 20,700' the highest in Ecuador, and due to its closeness to the equator, is claimed to be the highest point from the centre of the earth.
To paint the picture above I took a local bus to a small town on the main road, then walked up the track in the painting. Clouds were already starting to gather so I had to work fairly quickly. By the time I had finished the mountain had all but disappeared from view.
On completing the painting I walked back to the small town on the main road, and after waiting some time caught a bus planning to visit a town about 20 miles further along the road. Within only a short distance the bus broke down, I waited around again for a while, but by this time I was beginning to wonder if it was all going to be worth the bother, so when I saw a bus coming the other way I decided to catch it and return to Riobamba. It was a bit of luck that I did. As I walked from the bus station into the centre I foundthe town in preparation for a carnival, and after only a short time teams of dancers, accompanied by lively marching bands, were starting to parade down the main street. The festivities continued for most of the evening, an enjoyable spectacle which I would have missed had the bus not broken down.
Before heading north again, I decided to make a trip down to Puyo, a frontier town on the edge of the Amazonian plains, and a journey my guide book said would be one of the most impressive I could make anywhere in Ecuador. This route, that for about 30 miles of the way, wound along the side of a beautiful deep gorge as it dropped steeply past waterfalls and small villages, to finish in the jungle, certainly came up to expectations, and despite having to make the journey squeezed into a very crowded bus, I found it quite breathtaking. Puyo, also, lived well up to my idea of a frontier town, with most of the buildings built of wood, and plots of land cleared from the jungle awaiting development." - MH
Mount Chimborazo, 1990
All items are produced from original paintings by Martyn Hanks.
Prints:Size is A4 (8.27" x 11.69"/210 x 297mm). Printed onto high quality 245gsm fine art watercolour paper to give the print an authentic look and feel. Supplied in a textured off white mount size 12" x 16" (305 x 406mm), backed and sealed in a clear cellophane wrap and delivered in a protective carton to ensure it reaches you in perfect condition.
Cards: Size 7" X 5"/178 x 127mm. Packaged in a clear cellophane wrap with a top quality 150gsm self-seal white envelope.