Theartsofpamjennings

Fine Arts Painter

The Rorschach Muse

 

 

 

Cadmium red, cadmium yellow and sepia watercolor blot with three representational portraits

Andy Warhol had this to say about his series of Rorschach Paintings, ” I was trying to do these to actually read into them and write about them.” (As reported by Mia Fineman http://www.artnet.com/Magazine/features/fineman/fineman10-15-96.asp )

I had a different motive. I wanted to share with the world what is perhaps the single most fascinating part of my life as a Psychologist; that is the  unique connection that I feel to patients when suddenly I can see the world their way because I see what they see in a Rorschach. That is truly rewarding and has oftentimes left me more able to empathize with the wants and hurts of clients. We can all benefit from more experience seeing through the eyes of others. 

The Rorschach Muse is pure fun to me. I had great fun associating visually to the original blot. For example, I conveniently placed the portrait in a spot that allowed me to suggest that it was a picture of a woman with braids because of the two fuzzy,thick lines on either side of her head. However, if one analyzes the blot carefully there is a logics problem because the line on the left is too far from her head to be a braid. I don’t recall what shapes I elaborated to create the illusion of a funny looking hat. The model who posed for this painting seems to possess the secret of joy, which I think is a rich inner life.

March 13, 2009 Posted by | My Rorschach Paintings | , , | 1 Comment

The Purple Flower

A Rorschach blot painting. Two figures are painted into a Rorschach setting and it is up to the viewer to decide their role in the painting. The viewer has to make sense of the unfamiliar and ambiguous shapes of color created by the blotting process.

A Rorschach blot painting. Two figures are painted into a Rorschach setting and it is up to the viewer to decide their role in the painting. The viewer has to make sense of the unfamiliar and ambiguous shapes of color created by the blotting process.

” There is really no such thing as Art. There are only artists.”  (From the Story of Art by E. H.Gombrich, 1995  edition, p.15).
This statement basically says that there are no right and wrong ways to imagine and create. The same is true for how to see my Rorschach paintings. There is no right and wrong way to imagine what they might be. All become artists when they look at a Rorschach painting.  All are challenged to create.

I made my Rorschachs  by blotting with water color, oils and acrylics. Blotting involves the placement of a  fluid medium on paper which is then folded in half. When the paper is opened shapes appear that are at first strange and unfamiliar. However, with the aid of our imaginations we quickly begin to recognize the shapes as objects that are a part of our real world. 

 

In the days to come I will talk often about my Rorschach paintings. By the way, what does the Purple Flower look like?

 

March 12, 2009 Posted by | My Rorschach Paintings | , , | 1 Comment

   

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