Being the writer of “People & Places,” I naturally yearn for stories that will be pleasing to the reader.

I am always on the lookout for things to write about to satisfy that yearning and I think this is one of those stories.

Anne Watkins has been written about in the New York Times, Town & Country, and In Style and Martha Stewart Weddings, just to name a few.

When I found out about this talented lady, I thought, “Why not put her in The Chandler & Brownsboro Statesman.?”

I first knew about Anne when I recently saw an article about her in a 2003 Victoria magazine. A picture she had done in watercolors actually caught my eye before the article.

You see, Anne uses watercolors to paint weddings the same way photographers shoot them — from life.

Lucky for me, her phone number was published at the end of the article. I wasted no time getting to my phone to call her, not knowing after all these years if she could still be reached at that same number.

I truly expected an answering machine to come on, but after just two rings, a very friendly voice says “Hello.”

I asked, “Is this Anne Watkins?” and the voice on the other end said, “yes, it is.”

I was so delighted. I told her my name and that I live in Texas. I also told her she was not going to believe why I was calling, and with that she asked with a chuckle, “Do I need to sit down?”

Anne was so gracious and I think a little surprised that a small-town gal from Texas wanted to write an article about her.

She could not have been any nicer, and much to my surprise, a few years back she came to Black Beauty Ranch north of Murchison to paint the chimps and several other animals.

Since the day I called her she has been so generous with information that I asked to do this story.

When friends of Anne’s would get married, she would take her watercolors to the wedding and paint, leaving the sketches on the gift table. She said, “People who know me would rather have a painting than a platter, anyway.”

At one such wedding in the mid 1990s, photographer John Dolan saw her work and encouraged her to make wedding portraits part of her business.

For her debut as a wedding watercolor painter, Dolan took her along to the white-tie wedding of Darcy Miller, the editor of Martha Stewart Weddings magazine. It was a top-shelf beginning.

At weddings, Anne sits quietly with brush in hand, quickly recording the essential moments of the celebration. She tries to capture what is most important to the bride and groom, expressing them in an elegant style that mirrors her fashion illustration.

In addition to the ceremony, greeting guests, and their first dance as husband and wife, her portraits may include the couple’s grandparents, the cake, or children in the procession.

Her fee starts at $10,000 for a minimum of 12 paintings. The paintings are done on heavy French Arches watercolor paper with natural torn edges, and measure 11 by 15 inches.

She takes them back to her studio to correct and finish them. Then they are scanned, matted, and carefully packaged in an archival box for safekeeping, and sent or delivered to the couple to be framed and treasured for years.

Many brides use one of Anne’s watercolor scans to print their thank-you notes, giving all their guests a piece of her artwork from their special day.

I love what Anne says about painting at weddings.

“I’m glad I work in watercolors, because when I cry, it just contributes.”

I wanted to know a little about Anne’s personal life because I knew with a talent like this, there had to be a very unique person inside.

She and her husband David, a photographer, who manage the art-supply store where they met in 1985, live on the upper west side of New York City. When I asked about her own wedding, this is what she wrote in an email to me:

“The lovely and funny David Millman is my husband. We were married in our Riverside Drive apartment about six years ago in January. Our wedding and honeymoon were written about in a book called The New American Wedding by Diane Meier Delaney.

“The book explores the ways 21st century American weddings reflect our changing culture, with extended families weaving their traditions together and forming new ones in the process.

“Diane contacted me because she heard about my watercolors at weddings, but became more interested in our wedding when she learned I cooked the dinner for it. That surprised her!

“I felt that our family and friends would expect to eat my food if they were coming to our home, so I just treated it like a holiday dinner party, with a brief break for vows around the piano. Snow fell steadily outside, and inside the smells of pine boughs, clove-studded oranges, and a delicious roast kept us happy.

“It was all handmade, homey and candlelit. Our friends — a wonderful and talented bunch — made the wedding cakes, the bridal bouquet, supplied my outfi t, played the piano, tended bar (the bartender was a darling Texan friend), and took the photographs, (John Dolan, again!). It was very small, just 30 people.

“I thanked the judge who married us by painting her induction into the NY State Supreme Court. Doris Ling-Cohen is the first Asian American woman on that court, and her ceremony included a dragon dance through Chinatown!

“David and I went to Venice for our honeymoon where we stayed in an apartment by the Rialto Bridge, near the largest fish, fruit and vegetable market in Venice. I cooked and painted, and David took photographs and walked for miles. It was a wonderful working honeymoon for artists.

“I know this article is meant to be about my wedding watercolors, but that is just part (a very special part) of what I do.

“Performers, animals, fashion figures, children, and landscapes all provide me with wonderful subjects.

“Sometimes I meet couples for the very first time on their wedding day. Many times that first day of their marriage is also my first day of recording them as their lives unfold and their families grow.

“It is a great privilege to be asked to paint christenings, Bar Mitzvahs, holiday card family portraits, homes, pets or just relaxed summer playtimes with families.

“Watercolor is an excellent medium for capturing fleeting moments.

“I encourage anyone who thinks about trying it to give it an honest effort.

“It takes practice to get good results, but you will see things deeply and remember them more keenly by painting or drawing than by taking a lot of snapshots. If they don’t turn out the way you want right away, just keep at it and have fun … Anne Watkins.”