Portraits of a Journey: Art, Weight Loss & the Camino

I’m a visual artist with an academic background in ancient history (love those Greeks & Romans!), theology and experience in organizational leadership. Quite the mix, I know. Then, throw in a lot of art history, museum experience and spirituality and you have me – Becky Lynn of Becky’s Studio. I have always been the one with the pencil in her hand. Of course, it started with crayons since I’ve drawn all my life. I remember going with my grandmother to her church ladies’ meetings, being put in a corner somewhere with crayons and paper to amuse myself while the ladies conducted their business. And draw I did, but I also must have absorbed something “churchy” from those ladies! Otherwise, I wouldn’t have ended up going to seminary. My grandmother would be astonished, but proud, I think.

I am a born researcher, which went well with my studies in ancient history and also theology. I love to dig deeper into topics like the role of images in the 1st & 2nd centuries C.E. Roman portraiture is one of my favorite topics. Don’t get me started! If any of the subjects I choose to draw involves the potential for research, I’m all over it. As my art turns from portraits and urban landscapes to a more narrative-based type of art, I draw from my academic training in conceiving of the projects I do. For example, I am now working on a year-long project about physical, mental and spiritual transformation. I have chosen to tell the story of my 100+ lb. weight loss experience and intention to walk the Camino de Santiago in Spain in the fall of 2025. I’m creating a series of cloth dolls to represent this one-year journey. The dolls shown on my gallery page are part of that project, which is called “Climbing out of the Coffee Cup”. It will be complete before I leave for Spain. As I walk the last 100km of the Camino, I will be sketching along the way and posting images from my sketchbook. I hope to bring together my theological, spiritual and historical interests in this sketchbook/journal and post the entries on my blog page.

My hope for this blog is that it offers some insights into the world of transformation through art.