Walking the Camino

I'm not going to say too much about it here because I intend to post about it and review it on my Book Adept blog, but I just finished reading a charming and thoughtful novel about two people who (separately) commit themselves to walking El Camino de Santiago de Compostela, charting their experiences, their interactions with one other and with other pilgrims, and what they learned from the trip. It's called Two Steps Forward, by Graeme Simsion (author of The Rosie Project) and his wife, Anne Buist, and is loosely based on their own experience.

The idea of making such a walk, whether there or on the Appalachian Trail or through the Pacific Northwest, has always been intriguing to me. It's not something to which I could aspire at the moment, given the state of my knees and the degree to which I am out of shape, but who knows? Could happen someday before I die!

Since I'm committed to painting every day, and since I'm also committed to blogging about a book at least twice a week on The Book Adept, I decided to put those hands together and
do an illustration to accompany my blog post. I haven't written it yet, so the picture is going up here first.

This shows one of the stone markers that indicates the Way for the travelers to follow, with three pilgrims or walkers making their way in the background. The scallop shell symbol originates, as much of Christian iconography does, in pre-Christian pagan practices. In Roman Hispania, there was a route known as the Janus Path, that had as its starting point the Temple of Venus, who rose from the sea on a scallop shell. Ideas and themes related to the Camino experience correspond to the symbology of Janus, Roman god of beginnings and endings, transition and transformation.

Santiago de Compostela is named in honor of St. James the Greater, with whom the scallop shell later came to be associated. The shell has been found in conjunction with images of St. James in medieval graves in Ireland. It has become a symbol, a souvenir, and, in the practical sense, an implement, since early pilgrims would use a scallop shell for drinking and eating.

Another reason for my interest in the Camino, other than the novel I just read, is the experience documented by my Facebook acquaintance, artist Jennifer Lawson, who walked 500 miles of the Camino a few years back and both illustrated and wrote about her experiences. You can see details about the book here, but also be sure to click on her blog and sketchbook links to see what she's up to lately!

DAY 20: WALKING THE CAMINO

#30x30DirectWatercolor2019

In the sketchbook