ABSTRACT ART & RORSCHACH PAINT ACTIVITY (Lens-Artists Photo Challenge #74)

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Patti’s theme for the Lens-Artists Photo Challenge is Abstract.

I made this image and before you scroll the post – can you guess what the center item is? (Answer at the end of the post)

This is my digital abstract for today. Do you know what the original item was? See below to find out. 

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A few months ago, I saw leftover glue on the wall in a parking garage.

I perceived people in the shapes.

 I took a photo of two: one that appeared cheery and one that appeared worn down.

I decided to have a little fun with the shapes for the challenge this week.

First – the cheery one:

Next, the “not so” cheery one:

Doesn’t it look like someone is worn out here?

 

However, if we TURN  the image, maybe we could have someone relaxing in the ocean:

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So what did you see in the glue shapes?

 Something other than people? 

Does this activity remind you of the ink blot projective tests?

 

Did you know… (if you are just here to view images – please skip this part…)

  • Projective Tests in psychology are tools used to explore the “perceptions” that people have. 
  • Rorschach’s “ink blot” tests unfolded in the early 1900’s. Rorschach had some art training but the idea came from a popular children’s game, klecksography, which had to do with using ink to make abstract art. 
  • Rorschach made a bunch of cards, experimented, and narrowed it down ten. His goal was to see if pathology impacted the way patients evaluated the images. 
  • People were shown ten cards (five with color) and were asked to share what they saw and which specific features supported what they saw. He was looking for how they saw form, movement, and color.
  • Rorschach argued that it was not “what” someone saw that mattered most – it was HOW they went about justifying what they saw. The participant’s interpretation of the images helped reveal how they formed perceptions, not necessarily their imaginative take on it.
  • I once read that some administrators looked for specific wording. For example, “That is a bear-skin rug” or say, “That is an image that has the shape of bear-skin rug.”  Or did the person elaborate more about colored ink blots, or perhaps the last card had them talking more.
  • Psychologists still use Rorschach’s original 10 images (made in the early 1900s and published in 1921). However, according to Butcher (2010), Wikipedia has interfered with the effectiveness of Rorschach tests (even though they are not used too often because there is lack of common interpretative procedures and they are not viewed as psychometrically sound). Some still argue that because the images are “out there” – they are now less useful? The copyright for the images has expired (part of the public domain) so Wikipedia is able to keep them up. 
  • You can take a short-version of the Rorschach test HERE.
  • Another projection test is the Draw-A-Person test, developed by Florence Goodenough, and was designed to be used with children (i. e. trauma, psychological problems, cognitive development, etc.).
    Just for fun, If you want to practice making better stick people – try using lines and circles – this will help you make sure you have knees and elbows – and helps with proportion. And usually women have a longer line for hips and men have a longer line for broader shoulders (usually).

 

 

This is one of my favorite “three-minute” painting activities. Students can make their own “Rorschach Image” by taking a piece of paper, folding it in half, and then adding paint to one side. Fold the sheet, press gently – and open. Let dry – and then go around the room and have students share what they “see” in various pieces of art (and how they attained that impression). This activity can also be done with elementary students as way to explore symmetry (same on both sides) and perhaps use complimentary color pairs and talk about contrast. This activity comes in handy because it only requires paper and any leftover paint you have on hand. It gets people moving around – which is always good for learning — and can break up seated work. It can also give students a chance to create – and then express – and that can be therapeutic.

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Projection tests are used today to help understand someone’s emotions and personality characteristics. However, the results are subjective to the test administrator. Training is required to administer the Rorschach’s coding system so quantitative analysis can be done. When Rorschach died, the inkblot test became many different things to too many people – and was abandoned by many practitioners for not being a valid and reliable tool. However, ink blot tests and drawing activities can be used for some parts of a professional assessment. Or…. they can be used informally – like to help people warm up (ice breaker); can help us see what might be on someone’s mind right now – or the results can possible reveal hidden aspects. Sometimes projective tests can be especially helpful for children and with the study of learning processes.

 Here is a little video snippet about the Rorshach test:

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Now…. the answer to my opening image. The original image was zucchini noodles…. 

CARE TO JOIN in with the Lens-Artists Photo Challenge – or to get more info?

Go here

Thanks for your visit. 

This image was inspired by Jamie Grace’s song: DO LIFE BIG

 

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76 thoughts on “ABSTRACT ART & RORSCHACH PAINT ACTIVITY (Lens-Artists Photo Challenge #74)”

  1. Never would have guessed the first image were close ups of zucchini noodles. Really like what you did with your photos of the glue you found. They really look like people coming alive. The Projective Tests are interesting, interesting to hear they can be markers of cognitive development. How we convince ourselves that something abstract resembles something gets our creativity going.

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

    1. Hi Mabel – you are so right – when we see that “something abstract resembles something gets our creativity going” and glad I took the time to get two photo sin the parking garage that day. Sometimes we are just “busy busy” and don’t feel like stopping for a photo – but hey – I grabbed two – and got to use them. 🙂

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

      1. Being ‘busy busy’ we may get things done, but being overly busy is not cute. I am like you. Sometimes I like to stop to take a photo of something and later come back to them, and see what they mean and what they could mean 🙂

        Liked by 1 person

  2. Oh, the Rorschach – “bad” memories:) In the beginning it took me 12 hours to score the test, and after that, came the interpretation – it is considered fast, lol! Thank goodness, they have CD’s now to help you scoring and interpreting.

    Liked by 1 person

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  4. Fantastic abstracts, Yvette! I’d never have known what that first image was. It still looks amazing though, and very wintery, which is of course very seasonal! Interesting info about the tests. I’d heard of them, but knew very little about them. Have a great week. 🙂

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  5. Fascinating post and pictures. I didn’t guess the image, either. Being from the UK I saw your ‘reclining in the ocean’ as being more reminiscent of the photo of Jacob Rees-Mogg sprawling across several seats in the House of Commons. If you haven’t seen it do look it up – it has given rise to much Photoshopping 😉

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

      1. You’re welcome! He’s generally seen here as a very arrogant man, a symbol of the privileged classes who make up his Party. That photo captured his attitude perfectly and received much publicity here.

        Liked by 1 person

  6. Such a creative take, Yvette! I didn’t guess the noodles, but I did think “food’, maybe onions (do I get points for that? 😀 )
    Those 3-minute Rorschach-like paintings were probably my favourite thing to do in drawing class in elementary school. The more you messed those up, the more fun they were, and that meant a lot to someone with no talent, like myself 🙂

    Liked by 1 person

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    1. yes ma’am – points for onions for sure (it does really look like onions)
      and you made a good point about “messing up” the paintings – only makes them better. very successful project because of that
      🙂 win win

      Liked by 1 person

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  7. What a surprise! I would have never guessed the first image was noodles! A great, creative response to this week’s theme. I enjoyed the video, too, on Rorschach’s ink blot test. Your own Rorschach experiment was really well done, too. Fabulous!

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    1. many thanks Patti – and my favorite thing about the Rorschach paintings is that they are fast, dry quick, can be done with minimal supplies and little clean up – and it is not about talent or training with the outcome so everyone has a sense of success while also laughing a bit 🙂 We once had a painting look like the Chaquita Banana lady and it was fun to see everyone laugh

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    1. so you got the zucchini – check!
      hahah – laughing at your humor (again) with having this stick people skill in the ol’ toolbox – never know (ha)
      —
      and on a little more serious note – I think that a little doodling and drawing might be even more important in a day and age when our fingers are typing on keyboards and when our thumbs are busy on the phone.
      The moving of the pen or pencil (or markers, crayons, etc.) can also open up different brain pathways – hmmmm
      —

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

    1. the calamari I can see – and have not had that in ages (not really a fan – but a few bites with the right breading — mmmm)
      and the book covers would be interesting – thanks for taking the time to comment

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  15. I saw flower petals that had ventured far away and had lost their scent . . and then I saw treadmarks, and imagined the petals had been driven over. But rather than withering away into the wind, the combustible event produced a final breath of the flower’s perfume.

    Love this post, Yvette!

    Liked by 1 person

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  16. This was a fun post Yvette. I remember taking the ink blot test when I took my first psychology class – teacher did interpretations afterward. Zucchini noodles – well, I thought it was thinly sliced onions in a pile.

    Liked by 1 person

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  17. A very interesting and informative post! Thank you for that. I came here after replying to your comment on my post, and now I wonder what it means when my friend said she saw a pig in my
    son’s “abstract” work! Lol. And I agree, “what” is seen is not as important how one sees it and justifies seeing it.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    1. Hi Therese – first off – I REALLY liked the paintings you shared from your son – he picked one of my favorite color schemes with the maroon and warm earthy tones – not sure if I mentioned that over there.
      and I need to go back and see if I can see the pig – hahah

      Liked by 1 person

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  20. Yvette, a terrific post! I stayed long with the abstract photo and found it mesmerising! My guesses were impossible and love how you this normal dish of food to something otherworldly!

    It was fascinating to read about the Rorschach’s experiments and I never realised rhat ‘Rorschach argued that it was not “what” someone saw that mattered most – it was HOW they went about justifying what they saw. ’ Now it all makes much more sense. I love the folded art work and remember making lots of these at school. At the time, it’s just fun, talking with friends what we see ..never seeing the deeper importance of our work!

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    1. Hi Annika – and your school experience is how we worked with our hand-made abstract paint images too.
      and sometimes you can get a feel for someone’s current frame of mind (like maybe if someone is starving they will always see food in each photo – hahah)
      also – thanks for playing along with the abstract photo – this post was unplanned and I had fun “winging it” together – “the mood was right…”

      Liked by 1 person

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  21. Such a creative and interesting post, Yvette! And thank you for the fun part with the glue people. I remember doing the ink blots in school as well – loved it and took the idea home with me. My children have had many hours of fun with that – and so have I. Excellent take on the theme!

    Liked by 1 person

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    1. Hi Gina – I was always amazed at how much more success students of all ages had when using the cricked and lines (ball and stick) approach to drawing figures

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  26. My head hurts, Yvette. I’ve learnt something today. I’m going to try out the stick and circle drawing technique. I sometimes like to draw cartoons but I am terrible at drawing people! Your glue people were fun and a good lesson in how perception, or perspective, is key. I guessed red onion. 🙂

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    1. Well mark one more tally for the onion guess. And so pleased to hear you might sketch out some people – and the ball and stick idea is not mine – guess it’s been around a long while – and really helps – have a good day.

      Liked by 1 person

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