The USA is full of beautiful places to visit, and an artistic vision of many of them can be found at the Tony Foster Gallery in Palo Alto.
I have driven across many of the South-Western states and the vistas are unbelievable. Looking at photographs often doesn't do credit to the breath and depth of these natural wonders, but somehow Tony Foster's water color paintings catch a little more of that depth.
The paintings are also very human. Generally, they contain color checks along the borders, and sometimes there is a little story about what happened when he painted this particular painting or - in one case - three bullet holes from somebody thinking he was trespassing.
These stories come about because Foster paints on location. He still treks out in the wilderness, backpack with a small box of colors, a roll of paper, and a foldable board to fasten the paper on on his back. If making base camp half way up Mount Everest is required, that is what he does.
The gallery, which is a permanent exhibition, can be perused in half an hour, but it would be a pity not to spend a little more time there, see the movies and perhaps listen to the tour, narrated by Tony Foster himself.
A place to come back to again and again - the entry is free for now.