Sunday, April 24, 2016

Of Golf and Pencil Strokes


I used to play golf. A lot. I'd wake up at 3:30 am if I want to tee off before 6:00 am, in a golf course in Silang Cavite. That meant I must leave by 4:00 am and drive at 90-100 kph in SLEX, grab a McDo breakfast muffin in Petron before taking the Southwoods, Carmona route. I'm a morning person and adventures like that are just my cup of tea. The smell of freshly cut grass in the dew-filled greens gave me a different kind of high, and  revved/relaxed me to drive my first shot to more than a hundred and fifty yards on a good day (or not, which I then would attribute to lack of stretching hehe!)

Fast forward to today where at 5:30 am I'd already tinkering with my pencils and be busy looking through coloring books and choosing what image to color for the day. I miss the rush of seeing my ball land a few inches from the hole, but good finishing strokes with my pencils also give me that kind of satisfaction come to think of it. 

Strokes are important. In golf as well as in coloring. Awareness of them leads you to define and master each one. As I taught myself to study my entire body (particularly my muscles and how some relaxed and some tightened when I would do my backswings) while playing golf I learned that I, too, could do the same with coloring. 

Awareness of my clubhead's angle and speed is next. I knew I could control my pencil's tip as much as I can my woods' so that I can attain the flight that I want. In terms of coloring I realized too that various angles can yield varied vividnessof colors and design.

Finally, and this is what I tell my students in coloring, there is the right rhythm when executing your strokes. Too abrupt will earn the "pilit" comment from my caddy. "Huwag mong hatakin, hayaan mo lang." To a great degree determining this rhythm depends on whether you make a calculated pause or not when applying your pigments with your pencil strokes. I may be over thinking this analogy at this point but, oh well, it works for me. All my best game swings are those where I pause at the farthest point of my backswing in order to give the ball a good 'ping' after trusting that my body would unwind and perform well enough as the golf gods designed it. 

Eye on the ball is critical. I cannot overemphasize this enough. In making your swing as well as when coloring. Should your mind go adrift atleast your eyes must be fixed on those lines you don't wish to color beyond, believe me, your hands will follow. Trust your hand -eye coordination.


I miss playing golf, it's been years. If only my health condition didn't keep me from playing even for leisure. But am grateful I found out about coloring. It's not all that different, it's still a lot about perfecting my strokes and finishing a game till the end even if I didn't think I played that well. After all every game leads one to improving mistakes in the next round. So there's no losing proposition there. 

2 comments:

  1. Very beautiful form, ces! Your discipline reflects on your art. 💕

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  2. Thanks, Ver! Super grateful to my cousin in law who took this shot during a tournament. I miss golf!!!

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