Heike Elsaesser Talbert enjoys painting in her studio, her enlarged laundry room. The laundry room is a definite step up from the garage where Talbert painted for years. She claims she needed a cleanable space as paint and paper towels tend to fly when she is painting. An added bonus to her studio/laundry room is its proximity to her kitchen so that she can step in to check on her family or dinner.

In 1984 Talbert met Little Rock plastic surgeon Gary Talbert in the south of France, Monte Carlo. The couple began a five-year long distance relationship through letters. After one more face-to-face meeting the couple were married. She has now lived in the United States for 17 years. Their family has grown to include three children: Anja, Jens and Tristan.

Talbert began her art career during her schooling at the Waldorf School in her native Germany. The Waldorf School is a series of schools world wide that heavily focus on the fine arts as part of their curriculum. Some form of art was included in each day’s instruction. “Art was part of our daily lives,” remembers Talbert. She learned to spin wool, weave carpets, form metal art and sculpt wood, stone and clay. Each Saturday was spent making watercolor works.

During her youth, Talbert’s family spent months in their summerhouse in Provence. The beauty of the area and the history of artists settling in this area were very inspiring to Talbert. While touring all of the museums and galleries in the area she viewed first hand many original master paintings by Cézanne, Chagall, Miro, Monet and Manet during these summers (three years ago Talbert returned to the area for a painting trip of the south of France with Barry Thomas, Tina Talbert, Arden Boyce and Steno Grimes).

Talbert’s father died when she was young leaving her mother alone to raise their three children. As an impressionable child Talbert decided that although her first love was art she would pursue a career in computer science. “I didn’t think I could make a living with art.”

“I always knew I was pretty good,” reflects Talbert, however for quite some time she did not paint at all. Eight years ago, during a class reunion, former classmates couldn’t believe Talbert had not followed a career path in art. “It inspired me to pick up a brush and learn how to paint in oil.” Although Talbert had worked with many types of medium during her schooling she had never tried oils. “Let me tell you to paint in oil is a lot harder then it looks. I was determined to learn.” With the renaissance of her art career she began working with oils. She found it a real challenge, “Everything else came back very easily.” She struggled for over a year to produce what she calls “a half way decent painting.” “I remember the day I tried to paint a girl on the beach. I worked all day to just paint an arm, I’m not even talking about fingers, just an arm.” That night she prayed to God and relayed her frustrations, her desire to paint and asked for His help. Six weeks later she sold her first painting and she has never again felt the same difficulties. Talbert now works only with oil, “I like when the paint is wet, the ability to move it on the canvas. It allows me to lose and find edges, something that was always stressed by my art teachers.”

Talbert painted for two years with Becca White and took classes with Barry Thomas. “We are so lucky to have a talented artist like Barry live here in Arkansas who is willing to share his gift with others.” Talbert also worked with American impressionist Carolyn Anderson and fellow German artist Guido Frick. Her tutelage under Frick has led to a friendship that allows further opportunities to learn from his genius. In April she will join other artists and Frick in Tuscany to capture the beautiful essence of that region on canvas.

Currently Talbert is not working with a gallery although she did work with Mary Cornwell, Gallery Central in Hot Springs and Sergeants in Hawaii (where she could hardly keep up with demand). Recently, people have been buying works out of her home. This works well for Talbert as it is the center of her two greatest loves-her family and her painting. “Painting gives me great joy and I really want to give God the glory for all I am capable of. My painting journey has paralleled my journey in faith. It was not until recently that it jelled for me. Because we are all created in God’s image, I feel it is natural that we all have a desire to create.”

Photography and story by Joan Wilder