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ART MEDIUM:
Watercolor
ARTIST'S STATEMENT:
I paint the places and things that I know, places that I love. If home is where the heart is, then each of these paintings is my home. Living in coastal communities has influenced my painting style and inspired me to specialize and develop an expertise in maritime subjects. I try to entice the viewer to step into my paintings; to feel the sand between their toes as they walk on my sun-warmed beaches, to dive into my paintings and swim in my oceans, to cruise through my paintings on the decks of my boats.
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 it's surface. 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.
Although I am a classically trained artist with experience in many mediums, I choose to paint primarily in watercolor. The translucency of the medium allows me to create my paintings using multiple layers of washes and glazes. These layers of color are built up slowly, each one adding depth to the painting. I travel extensively to seek out reference material for my subjects, taking photographs and painting on location to capture the light and mood of the moment. My paintings chronicle my travels across the United States, the Caribbean, and the countries and islands of the Pacific Rim. As an Official Authorized Artist for the US Coast Guard, I am occasionally assigned to accompany Coast Guard units during excursions and training exercises to gather reference materials for specific painting assignments. Each completed painting is a captured memory; a visual history of a moment of time, place, and emotion that I record through art.
I have always been an artist; I can not remember the first time I picked up a brush or created my first work of art. I used to paint as a hobby, until a harrowing incident at my previous job in 1998 led me to change my life and my career. It took a crazed felon holding a gun to my head to inspire me to give up the corporate life and become a full-time professional artist. In those moments facing death I had an epiphany; life is too short to waste even a moment on anything that we do not love, anything that does not bring passion and joy into our lives.
I can not imagine a day without painting, and I can not imagine painting anything else.
ARTIST'S BIOGRAPHY:
A native of Naples, Florida, Annie Strack is a classically trained professional artist whose formal art school training included advanced studies of multiple artistic mediums. Although she is best known for her reputation as a contemporary master of maritime painting, she is also an experienced expert in many other mediums, subjects, and styles. Her work is exhibited in museums and galleries through out the country, and has been featured in 20 solo shows. She exhibits in a multitude of national and international juried shows and her artwork has won hundreds of prestigious awards. She is an expert exhibit curator and art business consultant, and a highly admired art show juror and popular workshop instructor.
She's been published in several magazines including The Artist's Magazine, Watercolor Magazine, The Crafts Report, Wooden Boat International, Country Roads, Gallery Insider, House & Home, Gulf Coast Arts & Entertainment Review, Louisiana Homes & Gardens, and Covington Magazine, and she has been featured in dozens of newspaper and television interviews. Her art has been featured on the covers of Art Calendar Magazine, Harmon Homes Magazine, Inside Northside Magazine, and Northlake News Magazine. She's the author of The Artists Guide to Business & Marketing, and since 2005 she's been a feature writer and contributing editor for Art Calendar Magazine; the premier national business magazine for professional artists. She is the subject and host of the instructional video series Painting Seascapes in Watercolor, which teaches artists how to paint a variety of seascapes and maritime scenes in watercolor.
Annie Strack has earned the prestigious honor of Signature Membership in 5 national and international societies: International Society of Marine Painters, American Artists Professional League, Coast Guard Artists Program, Alabama Watercolor Society, and Wyoming Watercolor Society. She is vice president of the Louisiana Watercolor Society and serves on the board of directors for several organizations, and she is an Official Authorized Artist for the US Coast Guard.
Her paintings, prints, & posters are in over 1,000 public, corporate, and private collections worldwide, including: US Coast Guard, US Navy, US Senate, US Pentagon, Fredonia Museum, Zigler Museum, Lake Pontchartrain Maritime Museum, Jefferson Parish Courthouse, St. Tammany Parish Public Art Collection, San Benito County Public Art Collection, Merrill Lynch, Kildare Marine, Biloxi Sun-Herald, St Tammany Parish Hospital, Ochsner Foundation, New Orleans World Trade Center, Marsh USA, Transwestern Services, International Matex, and many more.
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