Tracy Ostmann Haschke

Days End
oil on canvas
24 x 24 in.

Moved by the rewards and challenges that characterize my own experience as an urban mother, informed by my observations of others navigating the contours of city life, my work reflects activities that might go unnoticed. I find these simple moments surprisingly gratifying. Each painting is a “snapshot” of these fragments in time. Considered together, the series blooms into a narrative of our modern family experience, a moment between mother and child, and husband and wife, or a bike ride on the street, a walk to the park.
I move the paint in a whimsical fashion, manipulating images I see coming through each layer. Each fluid stroke takes me through the spontaneous, yet intuitive process. I work in oils, acrylics, and drawing materials such as charcoal and graphite working my canvas with many layers of thin color, building the surfaces utilizing the oily attribute of my medium to my advantage by manipulating it with various solvents. This allows me to keep certain areas of my paintings, and layer over others, working the layers back and forth as I build upon each one.

Artists who have influenced me throughout my career include Pierre Bonnard, Alice Neel, Max Beckmann, Elmer Bischoff, Joan Mitchell, Gerhard Richter, Isabelle Bishop, and Marlene Dumas.