Saturday, June 2, 2012

Half Fuller

I'm not wild about this one, but I'll tell you about it anyway.  I painted this at Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena.  I have some recollection that the first time I ever heard of Fuller Seminary was in an article entitled Fuller Land Grab in an alternative publication.  Fuller Seminary has swallowed a bit of the middle of Pasadena, apparently - closing a street or two and re-purposing lots of houses and apartments.  On the positive side, it appears to have swallowed it mostly whole.  These nice old houses are preserved and maintained.  The seminary seems to be a pretty good neighbor.  It's easy and comfortable for anyone to stroll through and around the lovely property.

I still don't know too much about Fuller Theological Seminary.  It was founded by another radio evangelist about a dozen years before Ambassador College.  It has outlasted Ambassador too.  I've known a few people who attended Fuller Seminary in various capacities, and I found them to be very thoughtful, intelligent, admirable people.  I think it might be pretty easy in this day and age for a Christian institute of higher learning to get swept up in ugly political arguments.  Fuller doesn't.

Expanding, growing, and building seems to be what colleges do.  In that way, they are like living organisms.    

8 comments:

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    1. Thanks for visiting, Desiree, and for liking it. I visited your blog, and enjoyed, but it seems hungry, having not been fed since April.

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  2. This looks similar to the President's house on campus.
    I've known several Fuller Seminary students through the ages. You often find them in cafes conversing about theological & philosophical issues. They come from around the world to study, live, and work in our town. Pasadena is filled with them.

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    1. Unless you've been here in other lives, I'm certain you're too young to have known anything through the ages. is that in dog-years? It may be the President's house. I think it was labeled, and yet I don't think I looked.

      Coffee, pastries, and the meaning of life. No better way to pass an afternoon in Pasadena.

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  3. You usually have a brighter palate. But i think this painting kind of grows on you. Watercolor is a tricky medium and you always have to resist the urge to overwork it, but if you don't mind the risk, maybe thats the solution. Maybe the addition of ink?

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    1. Basically, i consider it a fail. I had a concept, which was contrasting the brown shadowy house against the bright foliage and the sun washed out scenery just beyond. Not only didn't I pull it off, but in retrospect, it just a bad idea for a watercolor. I did overwork it. And put in lines, which are often the enemy of painting. I like the glowing bit of yellow foliage in front, and some of the windows. Per your suggestion, I'm trying the SRF this Saturday at 9. Stop by if you aren't better occupied.

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