Watercolor and Golf (!?)

I took a watercolor workshop Saturday at the California Watercolor Association's storefront in the luxurious but ghost-town like Blackhawk Mall. Blackhawk is in a very snooty, upscale suburban area, full of pretentious identical McMansions, all with lush landscaping (requiring major irrigation in this hot, dry area) against a backdrop of arid, golden hills. There was an art show on display in the front room and half the paintings had been awarded big green ribbons which made me think of the green golf course lawns and the similarities between golfing and painting in watercolor.

Like golf (which I admit I've never played except for peewee golf as a kid) there are skills and techniques and equipment to learn, some body parts that must be controlled and others that must be relaxed. Practice is essential and both take years to master. A strong "inner mental game" is required–golfers and painters first visualize a perfect stroke, whether of the brush or the golf club.I know how pleasurable it is to be drawing or painting and be completely immersed in the process of slow, deep seeing and I've heard golfers like Tiger Woods talk about being in that same zone. Most of the watercolor painters I know are always striving to be better, never believing they're "there" yet–even the most successful old watercolor painters and I think the same is true of golfers. While people use the metaphor of "watching paint dry" to describe the ultimate in boringness, I find watercolor exciting, exillerating, enthralling, enticing and never boring. (Unlike golf which looks really, really boring.)