About
About the Artist
John Foster was born, raised, and currently lives in Portland Oregon. He started drawing at a young age and has always had an interest in both art and science. Thanks to the mentoring of an excellent high school art teacher, art school training, years of experience as a planetarium artist for a major science museum and many travels through the western United States and abroad, John’s work reflects well-honed artistic skills and unusual accuracy and realism. A vast range of interests contribute to the quality of his work including; photography, astronomy, various natural science and historic subjects, archeology, backpacking and other outdoor interests. He has won many honors and his work routinely appears in publications worldwide. Working mainly with acrylics, John considers himself a painter of the lost worlds of the past and nature’s spectacular places.
Artist’s Statement
Street address, Portland, Oregon, United States Of America, North American Continent, Western Hemisphere, Planet Earth, Solar System, Orion Arm, Milky way Galaxy, Local Group, Local Galactic Super cluster, Universe ?
The above is known as The Long Address. It shows our relationship to the rest of the universe. In like manner we are linked in time to events both past and future. I consider art as a wonderful vehicle capable of traveling at the speed of thought to any place or time. What would you do if all barriers of space and time were removed? Would you be content to just stay in your familiar neighborhood or would you explore the infinite wonders this would make possible? I‘d prefer the latter. The more remote or inaccessible the subject, whether in time or space, the more I am drawn to it. Through photography I explore the world within my reach, through brush and paint I explore the realms beyond.
Usually ideas start out in my mind like an out of focus photograph, but through the painting process the image becomes clear. This striving for clarity explains the realism of my work. I seldom use artistic license, most often preferring to render subjects as accurately as possible. Such an approach often requires long periods of careful research and planning that may take from hours to years to complete before the painting is started.
When a person travels to a distant land their senses respond to the sights, sounds, textures etc…They make their experience absolutely real. However when they return home all that is left to show the trip ever happened are memories and souvenirs. When I paint I can almost be there, responding to my subject much as our visitor does. After the painting is completed I too am left with memories and a souvenir, the finished painting.