British artist Tony Foster’s body of work includes nineteen watercolor Journeys — painting projects based on a wilderness theme — that often involve multiple expeditions and can take years to complete. A unique art form, these Journeys share their strongest message when shown in their entirety. Foster’s Journeys have included subjects ranging from mountains and canyons, rainforests and deserts, the Arctic and the tropics, to volcanoes, coral reefs, and such iconic natural areas as the Grand Canyon and Mount Everest. Some Journeys, like Watercolour Diaries from the Green River are specific to a particular place, while others, such as Ice and Fire: Watercolour Diaries of Volcano Journeys have a global reach. Foster’s 16th Journey, Exploring Beauty: Watercolour Diaries from the Wild and 19th Journey, Exploring Time: A Painter’s Perspective, address philosophical concepts. A full list of Foster Journeys can be found on page 106. For 45 years, Foster has remained steadfast to his art-making process, which can be both joyful and grueling. Working outdoors en plein air, he hikes and kayaks to find the perfect site. He sometimes camps for weeks to paint his watercolors, frequently working under challenging conditions. He does not use photographs. Returning to his studio in Cornwall, Foster finishes the paintings and adds diary excerpts, maps, and symbolic objects. Each of Foster’s Journeys includes several large-scale watercolors (some as large as 46 x 87 in. / 117 x 221 cm). For example, 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 Kaieteur Falls in Guyana. Exploring Time: A Painter’s Perspective includes 46 paintings. With each painting, Foster frequently includes symbolic objects or “souvenirs,” usually mounted within the frame, to more fully describe his experiences painting in nature, to give a sense of place. These painted or real reminders of his time while painting en plein air create a coherent body of observation and experience. Souvenirs might include natural objects or ephemera collected during his travels such as stones, leaves, shells, dive records, talismans. Or they may be small, fully realized watercolor paintings of an object or view that Foster encountered. Foster often includes pencil texts from his daily diary. These may include notes about location, weather conditions, people, animals, incidents and other subjects he encountered while working. His keen observations and humor are often evident. Small topographical maps which show the exact painting site are regular descriptive additions to his artwork. A Tony Foster Watercolour Wilderness Journey Tony Foster treks through snow in the Himalayas during one of his three expeditions to paint Everest in 2005, 2006, and 2007. It is here, with the gift of a fossil, that Foster found inspiration for his 19th Journey, Exploring Time: A Painter’s Perspective. OPPOSITE Tony Foster, Everest North Face from Above Rongbuk Monastery Looking South 16500'/5000m, 2007, Searching for a Bigger Subject: Watercolour Diaries from Everest and the Grand Canyon Journey. Watercolour and graphite on paper, khata, newspaper, string, sealing wax, map, melted snow in glass jar, cork. 51 3/8 x 59 1/8 in. / 130.5 x 150 cm Woodward Collection 27 April 2007 · with TB · NTB · AMcM · KO · IRP · DBR · VR · ANS · APS · ST · arrive in a blizzard · a cold wind in a bleak landscape · 28 April · a sparkling morning · the summit clear with a snow spume blowing East · find painting site sheltering behind a boulder from a biting wind · -10°C · lash drawing board to rocks · start drawing · 29 April · even with the addition of gin and hot water my paint water freezes · paint sky as best I can · forced from my site by a howling gale at 5.00 I continue in the cook tent until 6.30 · April 30 · -4°C · a warm day work all day · clouds obscure Everest after 11.00 · everyone leaves for Basecamp · AN and I remain in camp · after dark Everest brilliantly lit by a full moon in a clear sky · 1 May · -10°C · painting impossible until the sun strikes at 10.00 · work until 7.00 · May 2 · -14°C · work until stopped by a snowstorm and low cloud at 4.30 · everyone back from Basecamp and then Camp 2 · entertained to Yak butter tea, tsampa and potatoes by three nuns in the Monastery · they give me a wonderful Mani Stone carved in quartz · 3 May · draw + make notes in cold early light · painting resolved I pack + leave for Basecamp · 4
