Ann Rosmarin

I've always wanted to know how to paint, but I always believed that one had to be born an artist. OilMan's sister was an artist and a teacher, and she was the one who taught me that anyone can learn to draw. OilMan and I used to joke about her "fuzzy logic", yet she was the one who taught us how to really see what we were looking at, and how to begin to transfer what we saw to paper using a few simple guidelines.

When I met Ann in the middle of our street on a freezing day in January, we hit it off immediately. We have talked about it often since then, but we each knew immediately that we we had found a friend. I didn't know then that she grew up in South Africa, that she was a newlywed, or that she was an artist. What we had in common was the fact that we had both recently moved to Santa Rosa after having lived elsewhere for a long time. We stood there talking until Ozzie gave up on his walk and fell asleep in the middle of the street, and we both ran the risk of frostbite.

We have gotten to know each other a lot better now, and have shared stories about our childhoods, our husbands and families, the trajectory of our lives toward old age. Yet on some level I feel as if I have known her all my life.

When she offered to teach me to paint, I jumped at the chance. Yesterday she went with me to the art supply store and we bought paints, brushes, paper and a little toolbox to carry it all around in. This was an education in itself--paper from Italy (hot or cold pressed)--brushes from France and Spain (sable, boar or synthetic bristle) watercolors from England or France (in little squares or beautiful little tubes in every color of the spectrum). Self control is definitely required.

There is no shortage of places to go and paint around here, but in the end we elected to keep it simple, sit under the arbor behind our house, and paint the hills and vineyards without having to get into a car.

Before we knew it, OilMan was home from work asking if I had fed Ozzie (I hadn't) and we had spent several hours sketching, painting and talking. Mostly what I learned was how much I have to learn--about mixing color and putting it on the paper, about choosing the best brush and about using enough water. But I loved it and can't wait to do it again.