Mark Fosters painting practice involves fastidious methods coupled with an intimate concern utilising field studies and photograhy as the source material for his bird paintings. It is through these methods that a thorough exploration of subject matter can be obtained and an attentive and considered approach to form, space, depth, tone and light within his work is acheived.

In the craft of painting,  Marks practice has investigated many areas of the visual horizon, the social narratives of the everyday, the suburban and urban landscape, the family snapshot. His predominant area of focus now centres on the research, study and painting of New Zealands Endemic, Native and Introduced bird species, alongside an ongoing interest in the selective bred show varieties of both avian and other animal forms. 

Marks practice is attuned into the exploration of the material front of his subjects, the qualities of their plumage, the presentation of their stance and form, their natural inclinations, and how these concerns, resolved through paint as a medium of reproduction, can be obtained in the undertaking of the creative act.

www.markfoster.co.nz