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Baytown Sun Article #2
December 1974
“Artist Paints Passing Scenes”
Albert Tauch likes old buildings, deserted oil fields and “way gone by things”.
And these are what reappear in his paintings time and again. The Baytown artist has become well known through he scenes especially one in particular.
“It’s right across from that church on the hill,” he directs. At Goose Creek bridge on 146.
It’s a hard subject to beat. The scene usually consists of the oil wells in the bay with the stand of pine trees in the background.
“I’ve painted it in every color; every time of day,” he continues. “Morning, noon, and night; cloudy, stormy. You name it.”
The native of Flatonia has been sketching that area ever since he came to Baytown from Sugarland with his family in 1926.
“I could paint far away places, but this is a part of me,” he reflects. “I think every artist writes a recipe of life when he paints a picture.”
Tauch has been painting and sketching ever since he can remember.
“When I was a student in Arkansas, some of the high school age students came in and drew a Christmas scene on the blackboard with colored chalk,” he recalls. “It was then that I saw what could be done with colors. I would have given just about anything for watercolors, but I was too little to have them.”
A retired sign painter from Exxon, the artist had little formal training and no lesson until he was over 50 years old.
“I was just giving away my paintings,” he laughs. “An art teacher came through town and told me what to do. She said if I put my paintings on canvas they would sell. And sure enough they did!”
According to Tauch, he does not paint to a schedule, just when he feels like it.
“I usually need inspiration,” he explains. “If I force myself it doesn’t work out as well. Some I may finish in a day. Others take months. I don’t push it. Guess I’m just lazy.”
Far from lazy, the artist reckons he has painted around 1,000 pictures, with 700 to 800 in the last 15 to 20 years.
“I’ve painted postage stamp size up to the side of a house.” He says. “Lately I’ve done smaller sizes, about three or four inches.”
His paintings begin as sketches on the site and are finished in his studio and never on the setting. “Not at my age,” he quips.
“I’ve learned how nature handles color at different times of day,” he adds. “The hardest part is getting the light to shine through the leaves, like the way Titian made it shine through hair.”
Tauch has read about the old masters and famous artists, but he finds them of little use to him because they fail to explain technique.
His own techniques will be on display at 10am Monday at the Art league Christmas Gallery at 122 W. Texas. He will give demonstrations for shoppers by working on one or two paintings.
“Oils are my favorite media.” He says. “I can’t do acrylic. Pen and ink look flat. I like depth.”
Comparing oils to water colors is like diamonds to a piece of glass, “ he continues. “They are so versatile.”
Tauch claims to have no favorite painting, although he has one or two at the gallery that he hopes will never sell.
“I used to dream about a big masterpiece,” he smiles. “But now I just want Baytown to be remembered through my pictures.”
“All this stuff won’t be here one of these days. I’m always afraid they’re going to cut down my pine tress.”
Source: Artist Paints Passing Scenes by Kathy Hause, the Baytown Sun . December 1, 1974, page unknown
Photo by Glenn Folkes