1982 Travels without a Donkey in the Cévennes retraces the steps of Robert Louis Stevenson on his travels in south-central France as documented in his book Travels with a Donkey in the Cévennes (1879). 1984 Thoreau’s Country: Walks and Canoe Journeys in New England follows Foster along the path of one of his “philosophical heroes,” Henry David Thoreau, in Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Maine. 1986–1987 John Muir’s High Sierra documents Foster’s journey along the entire length of the John Muir Trail. The exhibition helped to rekindle interest in John Muir and became instrumental in the formation of the John Muir Trust in Scotland. 1988–1989 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. 1990–1994 Arid Lands: Watercolour Diaries of Journeys across Deserts highlights the often unappreciated beauty of the deserts of California, Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico, and Mexico. 1991–1993 Rainforest Diaries: Watercolours from Costa Rica explores the lush wilderness of untouched lowland and mountain cloud forests. The Journey challenged Foster with mud, rain, insects, and the intricacies of painting green on green. 1993–1994 Wilderness Journeys: Watercolour Diaries of the Idaho Rockies explores the distinctive characteristics of each of the parallel ranges that make up the Rocky Mountains in Idaho. 1996–1997 Ice and Fire: Watercolour Diaries of Volcano Journeys showcases Foster’s travels to Montserrat, Hawaii, the Andes, the Cascades, and California, where he painted active volcanoes and icy mountains. 1998–1999 After Lewis and Clark: Explorer Artists and the American West examines a changing landscape as Foster retraced the footsteps of Lewis and Clark in Montana, Idaho, and Washington, seeking to paint wild places along the route. 1998–2002 WaterMarks: Watercolour Diaries from Swamps to Icebergs explores water in all its forms, including Arctic icebergs, Yellowstone geysers, the swamps of Georgia, the Plátano and Colorado Rivers, and the waterfalls of Guyana. 2002 The Whole Salmon features a painting for each of the 27 days of Foster’s 415-mile rafting trip down Idaho’s beautiful Salmon River, from its source to its confluence. 2004–2007 Searching for a Bigger Subject: Watercolour Diaries from Everest and the Grand Canyon looks at two of the world’s most awe-inspiring natural wonders: Mount Everest and the Grand Canyon. Foster drew on all his mental and physical resources as well as his artistic skill to document these iconic landmarks. He endured great adversity to become the only person ever to paint all three sides of Everest. 2006 Rocky Days documents a series of short hiking trips in the Idaho Rockies, capturing the region’s abundant natural beauty. 2009 Secret Sites is Foster’s highly personal tribute to the friendships that sustain him. Each of the ten works features a favorite secret site of his Idaho supporters. Maps of the locations remain sealed inside the frames. 2010–2012 Sacred Places: Watercolour Diaries from the American Southwest documents Foster’s research and travel to the Four Corners region of the American Southwest as he painted landscapes deemed sacred by Native Americans, Catholics, New Age practitioners, and Mormons. 2007–2016 Exploring Beauty: Watercolour Diaries from the Wild 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. These sites inspired the resulting paintings. 2018 Watercolour Diaries: Great Basin and Copper Basin documents a number of trips over the prior two decades to sites in the Great Basin alongside paintings of Foster’s home away from home in the mountains of south central Idaho. 2018–2023 Watercolour Diaries from the Green River examines selected sites along the Green River, from its headwaters in the Wind River Mountains in Wyoming to its confluence with the Colorado River in Canyonlands National Park in Utah. 2007–2025 Exploring Time: A Painter’s Perspective focuses on time, that measuring device which we use to mark continuity and change in ourselves and in the world around us. Artworks are grouped in four sections which reflect different perspectives on time: Geological Time, Biological Time, Human Time, and Fleeting Moments. Wilderness Journeys 1982–2025 106
