He always loved sports. But “a back injury in 2008 left a sequel in my calves that made me distance myself from certain sports disciplines,” remembers Santiago Madrid Mota (Murcia, 1970). So finally the tennis racket was parked and it was the golf bag that replaced his sporting concern, given that the neurosurgeon “told me I could practice it gently”. He still remembers his first teacher Tim Coombe; his initiation lessons in the urbanization then called Mosa Trajectum (today Altaona Golf) and the ‘ease’ that meant that “in this sport the ball doesn’t move”. James nods. It’s true he’s not a golfer, “I’ve never practiced it intensively”, but he enjoys going out to play. “And I’m not going to stop. Whether it’s in a tournament, like throwing some practice balls,” he says. “You look like a pensioner,” they’ve told him more than once because of his love of spending hours painting The painting has always been there. «It was my element», he tells us, despite the fact that when he was young he did not choose Fine Arts – «there was not one in Murcia», he qualifies –, and eventually industrial engineer, given that he saw “in technical drawing more my profile. I was more of a problem solver than elbows.” And although he never thought about becoming a teacher, “I found out that there are some contradictions…” when the Technology subject was included in the LOGSE (it is 1990) approves them And whether it was in Las Torres de Cotillas, Puerto Lumbreras or at its last destination at the Alquibla Secondary Education Institute – “I have been in La Alberca” – he finds his place. A knowledge space where students “learn how to solve technical problems through design and construction”. It seems made for him. Because after graduating as a senior engineer, university life does not appeal to him; “it’s much more structured” while in a high school “there’s no hierarchy like there is in uni”. Moreover, “what company has eight university graduates from so many fields of knowledge?” It’s definitely your place. Why not play golf? «The watercolor technique is not easy. There is very little opportunity to correct. Here it does not happen as with oil, acrylic or charcoal. It is not a matter of pulling another layer or rubber. In watercolor you work with water, which is unpredictable. In fact, the beauty is in the transparency you achieve with the mixture of pigmentation and water. That’s its magic,” he says. After years of painting self-taught and casually, this Murcian is experiencing the best year of his life; «I jumped», he recalls, when he coincided with «Francisco, the Plastics teacher, in my first center». He confesses his concerns to him and offers to give him some lessons. At that time he resumed his hobby and continued painting. “In both cases, learning is never finished,” says the Murcian professor. But it is during the pandemic that ties to the brushes intensify. Some lines that become “a tribute to my mother.” Santiago’s mother – “she also liked painting” – suffers a relapse of her illness a week before going on alert, and it is her children who take turns accompanying her in her confinement. Santiago with his brushes. And for those who decide to give more prominence in their lives. It starts with a postcard-sized format and “I paint a lot of landscapes.” Then came the seascapes and then… «one day the idea came to me and I said to myself: why don’t I paint what I like? Why not a gulf watercolor? It seemed as if no one was in it…». He was coming. Measuring 30×40 cm, he has already devoted about 30 to golf – different moments of the game with some renowned professional players – of the approximately 300 watercolors he has painted over the past three long years. His first golf-themed exhibition was at the Murcian Territorial Absolute Finale in 2022; «The Federation has made it easy for me to exhibit my work and be visible to the ‘amateurs’; It turned out really well and I enjoyed it. I even had a commission.” And as he continues to paint everything he likes, he assures that watercolor and wave have similarities: “If wave is a single movement, watercolor is very direct (…). And in either way you never stop learning His work can be seen on the web: watercolorgolf.weebly.com.
Source: La Verdad
I am Shawn Partain, a journalist and content creator working for the Today Times Live. I specialize in sports journalism, writing articles that cover major sporting events and news stories. With a passion for storytelling and an eye for detail, I strive to be accurate and insightful in my work.
