Friday 29 January 2016

Pareidolia

Today my little sedate, sedentary, stalwart stitchers
(a fine example of illiteration for those of you who are
even remotely interested) we're off in our armchairs into
the realms of psychological phenomena.

However this does also involve the visual stimulus of the
mind to make it work but not necessarily a set of
jump leads.  Some of you may not wish to try this at
home and my response, in this instance, consists of only
one word!  No, not that one Alice dear, simply -
"CHICKEN"
followed by much flapping of the elbows and loud
clucking noises.  A childish response admittedly but
nonetheless extremely satisfying.

Not a chicken but close - an owl.

So, let us continue on our voyage of discovery now that
we've weeded out the cowardy custards in our ranks.
We're going to perceive a familiar pattern of something
where none actually exists.  Yes - we're going to start seeing
things just like some of us did in the sixties but this time
without the aid of mushrooms and maybe not so many
flashing colours either.

The Jurist

There's nothing new about pareidolia, it's been around
for ever.  Leonardo da Vinci wrote about it in detail in his
notebooks and in 1566 Guiseppe Arcimboldo painted a
whole load of poultry and fish that looked like a face
in his work The Jurist.

What's this ear?

There's examples to be found everywhere if you only look.
Faces hidden in flowery curtains, little animals in the tea
leaves discarded in the sink (I really must compost more)
and even giant figures in rock formations or angels in the
clouds.  Why the other day I even thought I'd seen a man
in the dust that gathers so annoyingly under my bed but on
closer examination it just turned out to be an extreme example
of wishful thinking and nothing more.

Ssssssssh - I'm concentrating

Now we come to the climax of our psychological journey.
I want you to stare hard at this picture of Sean Bean, screw up
your eyes a bit, hold your breath, cross your legs, count
slowly to 17,594 and then tell me what you see .......

Here's my own guardian greyhound - can you see him?

You might just have caught a fleeting glimpse of the next
Long Dog masterpiece due for release later this year if you're
exceptionally lucky (or a fibber) and I'm not going to
share what I thought I saw for fear of making you all blush!

1 comment:

  1. fascinating word - i have heard it but enjoyed the last few minutes exploring those 'faces' again. And there is your canine guardian. Always there, up above.

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