The Whole Salmon

The Whole Salmon

In June 2002 Tony Foster, with a group of companions from Sun Valley, Idaho and his brother, Steve, from England, travelled the entire length of the Salmon River (406 miles) in order to make a series of watercolour diaries which describe the river in all its aspects.

Foster started the journey at the source of the river 9,000 feet up in Idaho's Sawtooth mountains - and hiked, then kayaked, transferred to a small raft, and finally ended the journey at the confluence of the Suwannee River in a larger inflatable oar boat.

The journey took 26 days and each day Foster worked on a painting 10" high and between 10" and 30" wide. He also took notes, collected 'souvenirs', wrote a diary, researched the cultural and industrial history, the geology, geography and biology of the river. These 'findings' form an integral part of the finished paintings.

The resulting series of works, each the same height, form a continuous 'ribbon' around the gallery and tell the story of the river and Foster's journey down it.

The 27 finished works are approximately 23" high and from 20" to 36" wide (framed). Fourteen of them are shown below. To give an idea of Tony's technique, three of them (at mile 140, 181.5 and 276.5) are shown with photographs of the works unfinished as they were when Tony had completed his day's painting.