The Story of Surkl and the Rorschach Test project.

I have always been a fan of how the famous Rorschach images look. These images, or rather inkblots, started being used way back in 1921 to attempt to diagnose a variety of mental disorders including schizophrenia, personality and emotional disorders, depression, intelligence and more. Hermann Rorschach, a Swiss psychiatrist and psychoanalyst, developed them.

I figured I would create a new collection using these images as inspiration. The name of the project would be “Inkblots by Surkl” and I would list them on OpenSea. There would be 100 pieces in the collection.

Well, I did end up creating the collection, you can follow the link above, but there are only 40 pieces. Keep reading to learn the reason I was not able to complete the full 100 pieces.

It usually takes me a few days or weeks to complete a project. I dive right in and neglect the rest of the world until I either complete it or have the vast majority of the work complete. In other words, the project temporarily becomes my world.

With this project, issues started developing in my head after a few hours. The images turned out to be just plain ol’ disturbing to me. Take Inkblots #13 shown above. What the heck is that supposed to be showing? All I see is a very scary looking monster or a very scary mask that a very scary monster would wear.

My eyes starting blurring while I was working. Headaches were common. I felt a sense of dread. When I went to bed I had nightmares. I could not stop thinking about these images. Was I stressed? Depressed? Schizophrenic??

Take a look at Inkblots #10. Remember the mask and monster I mentioned above? Well, in this piece, I can actually see the monster and he is wearing a different mask.

Inkblots #34, to me, looks like a butterfly. At least I am not seeing any monsters or masks. However, once I started adding some design elements the butterfly started to look pretty scary as well. If a butterfly came back from the dead it would look like this. And wait…do I now see a monster or mask starting to develop in the middle?

Does all this mean I am crazy? I have no idea. All I do know is I could not finish the original 100 pieces and called it quits after 40. They are available for your viewing pleasure over at OpenSea and I welcome you to view my “Inkblots by Surkl” collection.

Next project? Perhaps I need to work with puppies or rainbows. As always, you can learn more about me and my work at Surkl.com. Thanks for listening. This was much cheaper vs. a visit to a psychiatrist or psychoanalyst.