This website is about our art and our business, TRAUSCH FINE ARTS. We are a married couple and are both career artists and art instructors. Gale also has her own website, www.gtrauschart.com. Along with painting and drawing, we teach classes to children and adults. Tom often conducts workshops locally, regionally, nationally and internationally. Follow the tabs on each page to get more information on seeing our work in person, attending a class or a workshop and to see some of our upcoming events and shows.
"Having been a career artist for the last 45 years has given me the opportunity to paint (en plein air), travel and visit great museums in the United States and in several European countries. My work is driven by the use of both light and color ... driving forces that add energy to the work. I believe that this light can impart a spiritual quality that resonates with the viewer. The design, shapes and the underlying abstract quality behind the painting are of great interest to me. These elements are what ultimately determine if the painting will succeed."
"I have been extremely fortunate to be able to follow my dream of being a 'fine artist' and I thank God for this. My years as an artist have been about equally divided between the mediums of watercolor and oils, each with its own properties and end results. Always a challenge, making art allows one to explore more deeply and inevitably find out more about the maker, the artist. The process of painting is what the journey is all about ... the resultant paintings are the mile markers along this wonderful road of discovery. It is and always will be ... a thrill."
Thomas has over 1400 original paintings in private, corporate and public collections including the Parker Pen Co., The Elmhurst, IL. Fine Arts Museum, Smith-Barney, Morgan Stanley, Burlington Northern R. R., Ms. Oprah Winfrey, and The Northern Trust Bank. He has exhibited with The Oil Painters of America, is a Master Signature Member of the Transparent Watercolor Society of America and has exhibited nationally for the past three decades.
As a national and regional award winner, Thomas illustrated and co-authored "The Opera House Sketch Book" and has been published in the Artists Magazine, "Splash 3" by Northlight Books, "The Best of Watercolor" vol 1 and vol 2 by Rockport Publishers, "Portrait Inspirations", and most recently "The Complete Guide to Creative Painting".