List of Tony Foster Journeys
Tony Foster’s past exhibitions include eighteen watercolor Journeys completed between 1982 and 2023. After showing in a variety of locations, most of these Journeys were broken up and the individual paintings sold. However, four Journeys, Travels without a Donkey in the Cévennes; Sacred Places: Watercolour Diaries from the American Southwest; Exploring Beauty: Watercolour Diaries from the Wild; and Watercolour Diaries from the Green River, the 1st, 15th, 16th and 18th Journeys, were purchased in their entirety by The Foster Museum to keep them intact and available to the public. Some of Tony Foster’s work can also be viewed in the collections of a number of public institutions.
JOURNEY 19 | 2007 - In Process
Exploring Time: A Painter’s Perspective
Time, that measuring device which we use to mark continuity and change in ourselves and in the world around us, is the focus of Tony Foster’s 19th Journey. Anticipated to be a major Journey, multiple artworks will be grouped in each of four sections which reflect different perspectives on time as a concept and a tool: Moments, Human Time, Biological Time and Geological Time.
JOURNEY 18 | 2018-2023 | 8 ARTWORKS (16 paintings)
Watercolour Diaries from the Green River
First inspired by the 50-million-year-old fossilized fish found in the Green River Formation’s sedimentary rock, Tony examined selected sites along the Green River from its headwaters in the Wind River Mountains of Wyoming to its confluence with the Colorado River in Canyonlands National Park, Utah.
JOURNEY 17 | 2018 | 15 ARTWORKS
Watercolour Diaries: Great Basin and Copper Basin
During the summer of 2018 Tony returned to one of his favored places to paint: Idaho’s Rocky Mountains. He wandered and painted in Idaho’s Copper Basin, a wilderness area that is part of the Challis National Forest with spectacular views of the Pioneer Mountains.
Journey 16 | 2007–16 | 52 artworks
Exploring Beauty: Watercolour Diaries from the Wild
This Journey celebrates the wild beauty of nature. Over the course of nearly a decade, Foster invited leading scientists, explorers, writers, environmentalists and mountaineers to nominate a beautiful wild place. The nominated sites inspired the resulting paintings.
Journey 15 | 2010–12 | 32 artworks
Sacred Places: Watercolour Diaries from the American Southwest
Foster researched and traveled to the Four Corners region of the American Southwest to paint landscapes deemed sacred by different cultures, including Native Americans, Catholics, New Age practitioners and Mormons.
Journey 14 | 2008–09 | 10 artworks
Secret Sites
This Journey is Foster’s highly personal tribute to the friendships that sustained him on his journeys. Each of the ten works features a favorite secret site of his Idaho supporters. Maps of the locations remained sealed inside the frames.
Journey 13 | 2006 | 9 artworks
Rocky Days
Rocky Days documents a series of short hiking trips in the Idaho Rockies, capturing the region’s abundant natural beauty.
Journey 12 | 2004–07 | 35 artworks
Searching for a Bigger Subject: Watercolour Diaries from Everest and the Grand Canyon
This Journey looks at two of the world’s most awe-inspiring natural wonders: Mount Everest and the Grand Canyon. Foster drew on his mental and physical resources, as well as his artistic skill, to document these iconic landmarks. He endured great adversity to become the only watercolor painter to capture all three of Everest’s formidable faces.
Journey 11 | 2002 | 31 artworks
The Whole Salmon
The Whole Salmon features a painting for each day of Foster’s 415-mile rafting trip down Idaho’s beautiful Salmon River, from its source to its confluence.
Journey 10 | 1998–2002 | 79 artworks
WaterMarks: Watercolour Diaries from Swamps to Icebergs
Foster explores water in all its forms, including Arctic icebergs, Yellowstone geysers, the swamps of Georgia, the Platano and Colorado Rivers and the waterfalls of Guyana.
Journey 9 | 1998–99 | 24 artworks
After Lewis and Clark
This Journey examines a changing landscape as Foster retraces the footsteps of Lewis and Clark in Montana, Idaho and Washington, seeking to paint wild places along the route.
Journey 8 | 1996–97 | 55 artworks
Ice and Fire: Watercolour Diaries of Volcano Journeys
This Journey showcases Foster’s travels to Montserrat, Hawaii, the Andes, the Cascades, and California, as he paints active volcanos and icy mountains.
Journey 7 | 1993–94 | 9 artworks
Wilderness Journeys: Watercolour Diaries of the Idaho Rockies
Tony Foster explores the distinctive characteristics of each of the parallel ranges that make up the Rocky Mountains in Idaho.
Journey 6 | 1991–93 | 36 artworks
Rainforest Diaries: Watercolours from Costa Rica
Rainforest Diaries explores the lush wilderness of untouched lowland and mountain cloud forests. This Journey challenged Foster with mud, rain, insects and the intricacies of painting green on green.
Journey 5 | 1990–94 | 40 artworks
Arid Lands: Watercolour Diaries of Journeys across Deserts
This Journey highlights the often unappreciated beauty of the deserts of California, Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico and Mexico.
Journey 4 | 1988–89 | 48 artworks
Exploring the Grand Canyon
Exploring the Grand Canyon chronicles Foster’s travels through the Grand Canyon as he hiked most of its four hundred miles of trails to paint its magnificent views and complex geology.
Journey 3 | 1986–87 | 41 artworks
John Muir’s High Sierra: A Watercolour Diary
Foster’s 211-mile trek along the entire length of the John Muir Trail resulted in an exhibition that helped rekindle interest in John Muir and became instrumental in the formation of the John Muir Trust in Scotland.
Journey 2 | 1984 | 34 artworks
Thoreau’s Country: Walks and Canoe Journeys in New England
Foster follows along the path of one of his “philosophical heroes,” Henry David Thoreau, in Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Maine.
Journey 1 | 1982 | 21 artworks
Travels without a Donkey in the Cévennes
Tony Foster and photographer James Ravilious retrace the steps of Robert Louis Stevenson on his 120 mile (200 kilometer) solo journey through Cévennes mountains in south-central France as documented in his book Travels with a Donkey in the Cévennes (1879).
Journey Locations
Over the course of his 18 watercolor Journeys since the 1980s, Tony Foster has traveled to 15 countries and painted more than 546 paintings. While his travels have taken him to exceptional wild areas around the globe, many of his painting sites have been in the American West.
18 Journeys of Painting Locations
The dots on this map show Tony’s painting sites. A single dot can represent multiple expeditions and paintings.
Catalogs
All eighteen of Tony Foster’s Journeys have been exhibited publicly. Below are examples of catalogs created for these exhibitions.
Thoreau’s Country: Walks and Canoe Journeys in New England, 1985
John Muir’s High Sierra: A Watercolour Diary, 1987
Exploring the Grand Canyon, 1990
Rainforest Diaries: Watercolours from Costa Rica, 1993
Arid Lands: Watercolour Diaries of Journeys Across Deserts, 1995
Wilderness Journeys: Watercolour Diaries of the Idaho Rockies, 1995
Ice and Fire: Watercolour Diaries of Volcano Journeys, 1998
Worldviews: The Watercolour Diaries of Tony Foster(retrospective exhibition), 2000
After Lewis and Clark: Explorer Artists and the American West, 2000
The Whole Salmon: A Multidisciplinary Commission Project, 2003
WaterMarks: Watercolour Diaries from Swamps to Icebergs, 2003
Searching for a Bigger Subject: Watercolour Diaries from Everest and the Grand Canyon, 2008
Sacred Places: Watercolour Diaries from the American Southwest, 2012
Exploring Beauty: Watercolour Diaries from the Wild, 2016