Home Improvement

Late post 'cause my internet was being dumb...

It has recently come to my attention...that I am part of a House system. Franklin and Marshall implemented a four-house academic community system a few years before I got there, and are in the process of adding a fifth. Comparisons to Harry Potter were inevitable and important to student acceptance. That's not the point.

The point is that last summer the don of the Brooks house commissioned me to paint a tribute to one of their orientation rituals. What was originally intended to be a mural for their new Great Room ended up being a 4' x 9' triptych. This was the largest painting I had done at the time, along with being the grandest commission. The only thing I regret about the painting is that I didn't take photos of it before they hung it up...and it's quite high up too...

Now, the funny thing about this project is that it's not for the house that I'm in...Anyway, F&M's fifth house (which has yet to be named) is due to open this semester. To truly make the house belong to the students, they have left it up to us to design the house crest in a bloody and brutal contest. There was a gift card at stake, so naturally I entered. With three different designs, I made it into a sort of second round, competing with one other student. In this round I gave them three more designs. The final results have yet to be determined, but I'll show you what I entered anyway...

The elements I had to include were the color deep purple, something organic or natural, a reference to the actual building itself, and something that represents the four classes. I received the latter two suggestions after my first batch.

Sadly, now that there's going to be a fifth House, we can't relate them to Harry Potter anymore. That's probably F&M's main motivation for starting a fifth house...