Right off the bat, she cracked me up. She had me in stitches, speaking in jokes and puns—every word was entertaining. I knew right away that this interview with our cover artist, Annie Strack, was going to be fun.

She told me how she and her husband, Brian, frequently move about the country and its territories and possessions. Before I could speak what I was thinking, she cut me off and assured me, “No, we don’t keep moving because we are fugitives on the lam! Brian works for the National Park Service!”

I assured Annie I didn’t think they were fugitives. I said, “I was thinking ‘Witness Protection Program.’”

“Oh, better! I wish I had thought of that,” came Annie’s giggled reply.

A native of Naples, Fla., Annie moved to New Orleans with her husband in 2000. She recalls, “While I was out house hunting, I made a wrong turn and crossed the lake. I fell in love with Lacombe, and we ended up on the northshore.” I suppose St. Tammany Parish President Kevin Davis would say she made a right turn. Don’t worry. Annie groaned at that pun, too.

Annie has been an avid painter since high school. A gifted student, she completed her graduation requirements by her sophomore year, and then spent the remainder of her high school career studying art. Inspiration is often borne of strong encouragement back home, and she credits her family and her husband with being very supportive. Her mom may even be her biggest fan. During a hospital stay, she had the hospital room decorations replaced by several of Annie’s paintings. She carries brochures in her purse, just in case she should meet a hot prospective buyer. “It’s kind of embarrassing, but you know how moms are,” Annie says modestly, but with obvious affection.

After moving about the various national parks for a few years, with Annie painting all the while, the Stracks found themselves assigned to the War in the Pacific National Park on Guam Island. It was on Guam that Annie’s focus on doing paintings for family and friends shifted to doing commission work. Through her association with the Navy Officers’ Wives Club, her reputation as a talented artist had become well known, with several of her friends having bought paintings. An admiral’s wife later recommended Annie to do an architectural rendering of a building on the base for the Navy.

“It was my first commission, and the first time someone other than family or friends wanted my work,” Annie says. “That first sale to a stranger, someone who isn’t family, is what gives you the confidence to think ‘Gee, somebody really likes my art and they aren’t just taking pity on me!’”

Annie describes her style as “traditional realism.” Working mostly in watercolors, she has done commissions of architectural features and landscapes. However, since all successful artists find their niche—or it finds them—she is best known for her seascapes and maritime paintings. The marine paintings in particular are noted for their detail and realism. “I try to take the viewer with me into my paintings. When you look at my work, I want you to not just see a painting, but to feel the ocean’s wind in your hair, taste the salt spray on your lips, and hear the seagulls calling to you.”

When asked if being around water was a factor in her choice of subject matter, Annie replied, “I love the ocean. I love to swim in it, sail on it and listen to the waves. All of my life I have felt a need to be near the sea, and when I’m away from it for too long I can feel the tides tugging at me, pulling me back to the sandy shores. To me, water is beautiful. It is ever changing, always moving, and the world is reflected on its surface.”

Annie’s paintings can be found in private and public collections throughout the United States, from the Fredonia Museum of Art in Kansas to the St. Tammany Public Art Collection to Senator David Vitter’s office in Washington. But perhaps the most interesting on the list of her collectors is the U.S. Coast Guard. “I’ve been an official authorized artist for the Coast Guard since 2000 through the USCG Artists Program. They request certain subjects that they would like me to paint, sometimes sending me on specific missions to gather reference photos for my paintings. I send them a painting each year.”
Representatives of the Coast Guard and the Salmagundi Art Club, which sponsors the art program, select artists by jury. There are fewer than 100 artists in the program, and only 25 paintings a year are chosen. All seven paintings that Annie has submitted have been accepted.

Annie paints more than seventy paintings a year, many of which are commissions. She painted the 2002 poster for the Madisonville Wooden Boat Festival. Her work is featured in regional and national magazines. She is a member of countless artist organizations and juries and teaches workshops on painting, photography, and marketing. She also lectures and demonstrates painting, and is a contributing writer for an artists’ magazine. In her spare time, she quips, she even finds time to paint for herself.

“Actually, there’s almost no time to paint for me,” Annie says. The painting on our cover is the rare exception. Her husband recently spent a summer at Christiansted National Historical Park in St. Croix. Annie went along—“Naturally!”—and noticed this particular dingy. Although she paints mostly sailboats and yachts, Annie says she enjoys painting small boats like this. Most small boats are made by hand, and she feels that gives them added character. It was obvious to her that this particular boat was well made and cared for by someone who loved it and was proud of it.

“I walked by that dingy almost every day, and each time, I was struck by how the sunlight glinted off the bright paint, and by the reflections and shadows cast in the clear water. I took several photos of it at different times of day, and could hardly wait to get home to my studio to begin painting it.”

Annie considers herself lucky to be able to do what she loves and make a living at it. When I asked her what her favorite painting was, she graciously replied: “I have painted over a thousand paintings. Sometimes people come up to me at art shows or festivals and they say ‘Remember me? I bought one of your paintings last year and I just love it!’ Those are my most important paintings!”

See more of Annie’s work at Southern Artist Gallery inside Furniture for Less in Mandeville and at the Lake Pontchartrain Maritime Museum. Or visit her website at http://anniestrackart.blogspot.com.

To learn more about the U.S. Coast Guard Artists Program, visit http://www.uscg.mil/community/art_program.htm.