Realist painter Annie Walker has had a gift for art since she was in elementary school. However, she began seriously pursuing art as a career in 2009, after her children were grown and her mother died.


“God just gave this to me to kind of dive in seriously at that time,” Walker said. “I’m learning as I go, and [I am] still learning a lot.”


Walker has lived in The Woodlands with her family for nearly 17 years and previously lived in Germany for three years.


“We went to so many museums [in Europe], and I remember standing in front of a Dutch floral thinking, ‘I want to learn how to paint,’” Walker said.


While her children were still in grade school and high school, Walker began dabbling in art. Her early paintings were primitive colonial folk art pieces, she said.


In 1999, Walker was recognized in Early American Life Magazine as one of America’s top 200 traditional craftspersons. This group captured first lady Hillary Clinton’s attention while President Bill Clinton was still in office, and the former first lady invited the group to the White House to decorate the Blue Room for Christmas.


“The theme that year was historical landmarks,” Walker said. “I did an 8 inch-by-10 inch [painting] of the original White House that actually burned [during the War of 1812].”


After painting folk art for years, Walker eventually transitioned into realism around the same time she began taking art more seriously as a career. Now, Walker’s work is featured in the InSight Gallery in Fredericksburg, Texas, and Haynes Galleries in Nashville, Tennessee.


Walker said it is important for artists to learn from great teachers but also find their own styles and voices.


“Sometimes there’s a busy, noisy world with people saying, ‘Do this, don’t do this,’” she said. “I had a lot of that confusion when I was starting out with different people telling me things. It was a little bit detrimental in some ways because certain people wanted me to paint the way they wanted to paint, and that’s just not me.”


Although she does not paint as much these days as she did previously, art is something Walker is constantly working on and learning about, she said.


“It’s like rocket science hard,” Walker said. “Sometimes, the paintings do flow, and then it’s like God keeps you humble because the next one you struggle and struggle. It also is a lot of discipline because there are a lot of days when I would just as soon curl up on the sofa and read a book, but you’ve just got to keep at it. I love it.”


Through her paintings, Walker channels her faith, which is important to her, she said.


“I feel like this whole gift of talent—I’m not responsible for it anymore than I was responsible for having brown eyes,” Walker said. “It’s a God gift, so it’s important to me to try to honor him. He is my audience—not what people say or think.”