Folk artist Regan Tausch paints peace, joy and hope

Regan Tausch in her studio
Photo by Ewa Rumprecht

There are many definitions of folk art. Regan Tausch, painter from Bayville, NY, subscribes to the one identifying folk art as self-taught.

Princess by Regan Tausch
Photo by Ewa Rumprecht

Regan was drawing quick sketches already in school, where her classmates used to line up for her pencil doodles of horses, castles, and princesses. The three remained recurring topics until this day, later joined in by houses, other animals, angels, hot air balloons, snow scenes, etc.

Cows in the Field by Regan Tausch
Photo by Ewa Rumprecht

Art teachers in the very few art classes she ever took, Drawing 101, Painting 101, were not able to convert Regan's style to the ones they taught. All she retained in her art she had learned on her own. Regan chose acrylic on canvas as her medium, found her favorite brushes (due to a lot of details in her work she goes through a lot brushes with very fine tips), and continued on experimenting and discovering easier ways to convey what she imagined.

Detail of Sea scene by Regan Tausch
Photo by Ewa Rumprecht

This is not to say she was immune to external influences. Regan was impressed by the charming works of folk artist Cate Mandigo, among others. She liked various traditional crafts and, as a stay at home mom, made ornaments, stuffed bears, dinosaurs, and dolls for her children. Some are still in her possession. Quilting was particularly significant for her artistic development, she now treats some of the areas in her paintings as patches of fabric.

There is peace, joy, tranquility, and hope in her paintings. There is no conflict in them of any kind. They make viewers happy. They make Regan happy. She is content with her current style and considers herself blessed as an artist. This is a wonderful place to be!



Asked how such an idyll could be improved, Regan painted yet another picture of perfect happiness - an art studio with live music jamming in the background (Regan is an amateur guitarist/singer and occasionally performs in public), and a small cafe on premises.

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