'I'm always looking for the Hows and the Whys and the Whats,' said Muskrat, 'That is why I speak as I do. You've heard of Muskrat's Much-in-Little, of course?'
'No,' said the child. 'What is it?'
- The Mouse and his Child. Russell Hoban.

Go here to find out more.

Tuesday 16 April 2013

Are You Mad?

When I was about 13, being a child prodigy, I invented the ink blot test long before Rorscharch thought of it. I made some symmetrical prints and surreptitiously tested my family's sanity  because I had some leftover tubes of watercolour paint and they just looked pretty.

I recently discovered them again.  Here they are, as much for my personal record as for anyone's viewing pleasure.  Although I hope you do enjoy them, on some deeply disturbed level.

PS. I have numbered them, in case you have some reaction to any/some and cannot restrain yourself from sharing it in the comments.


1

2

3
4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11


12

13

14

15

16

17

18

19

20

21

22

23

24

25

26

27

28

29

30

31

32

33

34

35

36

37

38

39


40

41

42


44
43

45



15 comments:

  1. These are interesting. I enjoyed them. Let us have a look at your potato prints.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hire an exhibition hall, put bold price tags on them, give some mysterious interviews and make a fortune... No 1 is a stupid wizard at the Unseen University wearing an Owl hat trying to appear wiser than he is. I dare not continue with the rest...

    ReplyDelete
  3. I have been looking at these on and off since you posted them and have decided that I could spend all day (and probably all night) commenting given the number but I have decided two things: firstly that you should have a book printed with them all in (and go along Monica's route too) and secondly that I shall bookmark this and keep coming back to it simply because there are so many interesting shapes and interpretations to be seen and made.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Some of them are lovely and some of them are obviously pornographic, disturbingly so since they were the work of a 13-year-old girl. You obviously missed your calling, which is "medical illustrator"....

    Like GB, I shall be coming back to this one too.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Thank you for your very revealing comments everyone. Oh, did I forget to tell you that I did my degree in Psychology...?

    (Just joking about the revealing)
    (The other bit is true)

    ReplyDelete
  6. Except I wasn't joking regarding RWP's comment. What do you 'see' in the grapes Robert? Sometimes a bunch of grapes is just a bunch of grapes.*


    *You may be fascinated to know that there has been no evidence to date to suggest that Freud ever said 'Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar'.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Most of them looks lie a cross section of a spinal cord xx

    ReplyDelete
  8. I dare not say what I see in the grapes. I fear that I may have revealed too much already....

    (This time I'm doing the joking)

    ReplyDelete
  9. 12 is two little birds
    44 is a butterfly (obviously)
    45 is a ladybird being pursued by a beetle monster
    21 is a new species of crab
    and 1 and 10 make me think Freud may have had something after all...

    ReplyDelete
  10. Accidentally, in these frankly weird emanations of your inner being, you appear to have captured the tortured thought processes of a rebellious thirteen year old New Zealander. Each "print" is like an X ray of your imaginings and your memories back then. Of course if you were to repeat the process today the resulting images would suggest serenity and self-assurance but back then it was all crazy!

    ReplyDelete
  11. Very interesting. Our own personal inkblot type test. you can really let your imagination fly.
    I used to use this technique a lot with my class over the years. Kids loved to embellish them and create and use their imaginations for a change. ( rare these days !!)

    ReplyDelete
  12. Because inkblots are bilateral, they most often suggest other bilateral shapes to me, like faces or body parts.

    1. The Swami
    3. An alien with hairy armpits wearing a black bra.
    4. The ultrasounds shows you will be having twins!
    6. A lung infection
    13. Spinal trauma
    14. An angry genie
    15. Portrait of the moth queen
    17. A prostate scan
    20. Face of an unpuffed puffer fish
    21. A spider
    22. The cow is angry with you, run!
    24. A peaceful board meeting. OR The fox has an idea emerging from its head.
    25. A caterpillar boxing match.
    26. An interesting symbol for pisces. This one has the two fishes, but it has a powerful genie in between. His back is turned.
    32. A red owl. OR an inflamed trachea.
    33. Lung scan
    37. A beetle being ridden by a young chicken in a wig and dress,
    39. Sacrum
    40. An owl contemplating the power of poo.
    42. (and 28) Crabs
    44. Satanic butterfly

    What fun! Thank you.

    ReplyDelete
  13. I love your interpretations and comments everyone! In my defense YP, and others, there was one blot that I did not include because, well, it was obvious I had never seen one or I would not have kept it!

    Scriptor S, Jan - you have a great imagination!

    Helsie, there's an artist who makes animals from her blots. She's written a book, too. Rather fun: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yb_inRDezNw&feature=share&list=UU8GbLFQavygAFJIQdhS9trw

    ReplyDelete
  14. These are strangely fascinating and I see a lot in them. What a fun thing for you to create as a 13 year old genius/bored girl.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I'll go with the genius Terra. Humble genius.

      Delete

Spam will go in the incinerator. All other comments are gratefully received. Communication is what makes the world go 'round.