Blog – Page 22 – Karyn Easton

Mar 29

Zoom Session 20 (Low Residency)

Low Residency Part 2 – This is part 2 of the Low Residency. This blog covers the second week of activities. To see what happened in the preceding week please see Zoom Session 19. Low Tech Photography (Monday 10.00am with Felix Loftus) I was very torn about taking this workshop as opposed to the printing workshop. Printing is something that I’ve always been very interested in, but I’ve never really had the opportunity to explore it to any great degree. However the pull of photography coupled with tech had way too much of a ‘pull factor’ for me. Indeed, having taken the workshop I knew I had absolutely made the right choice for me! It was nice to see both Trisha and Ester at the workshop too. When we entered the classroom there were a variety of Rasberry Pi processors on the table. these were hooked up to a variety of lenses. Some were native to Rasberry Pi and some were off the shelf smartphone camera lenses. I hate to admit it but I was in tech heaven! Although I was sad to miss printing I don’t think anything could ‘top’ me messing around with programming and kit. The […]

Mar 12

by Karyn in Abstract Art, Ai, Artists, Collaborations, Exhibitions, Galleries, Low Residency, My Work, Videos, Zoom Meetings 0 comments tags: Abstract Art, ai, Artists, Collaborations, Exhibitions, Galleries, Low Residency, my work, Videos, Zoom Meetings

Zoom Session 19 (Low Residency)

Low Residency Part 1 – This week there wasn’t a formal zoom meeting due to preparations for both the Interim show and the Low Residency. There won’t be a formal zoom session next week either as this will be right in the middle of the Low Residency. For this reason I have decided to dedicate both zoom session slots to documenting both the Interim Show and the Low Residency. Part 1 will cover the Interim show Private View and Low Residency activities covering Thursday 9th March until Sunday 12th March. I will cover Part 2 next week from Monday 13th March until Thursday 16th of March. The Interim Show (Thursday 9th March – 6.00pm-9.00pm) I was really excited to be travelling to the Low Residency in London. I’m not the most confident of travellers, so I was lucky to have my husband accompany me. We left my car at Paignton boarded the train and headed off to our change at Newton Abbot railway station. Once we arrived at Paddington, we bought some lunch and then set off on the new Elizabeth Line heading East towards Abbey Wood. Our actual stop was Farringdon. We departed the train […]

Mar 09

by Karyn in Reflection 0 comments tags: Reflection

Reflection Part 5

The Last Few Weeks – As we are now approaching the last two weeks of our first 20 weeks, I thought that now would be the perfect time to catch up as our unit 1 draws to a close. It’s an opportunity to look back and really start to analyse the direction of travel of my work. As usual I will answer the following questions to help with the reflective process: What have you done so far? What have you discovered so far? What will you change because of what you have discovered? What will you do next? What have I done so far? Since my last reflective blog, as always, I have been very busy trying out new ideas and experimenting with them. However, much of the work leading up to this reflective session has involved a lot of preparation for my study statement and preparations for my Unit 1 assessment. I found these preparations extremely valuable because it really did make me question exactly what it is that I am trying to achieve? Below is a short summary of everything that I’ve covered since my last reflective session along with links to each blog. Study Statement – […]

Mar 05

by Karyn in 3d, Abstract Art, Experimentation, My Work, Sculpture, Zentangles 0 comments tags: 3d, Abstract Art, Experimentation, my work, Sculpture, Zentangles

A Mental Derive

Taking a Mindful Wander – In our ‘Zoom Session 18’ Last week we talked about the concept of ‘Derive’ or ‘taking a derive’. I hadn’t heard of this concept before and therefore I really wanted to explore it further. I decided that I wanted to experience both a mental and physical derive, so I have produced 2 blogs on the work resulting from my wanderings. The results from my physical wanderings, or should I say physical derive can be found here. Each week usually on a Tuesday evening and after the weekly zoom session I produce little drawings which reflect my mood. I used to draw them during my the zoom session but I became increasingly anxious about missing important information so it’s now solely an evening pursuit. However, although I hadn’t realised it at the time, my little drawings were actually a form of mental derive. Therefore I decided to use these little ‘derive drawings’ as part of a larger mental derive. For many weeks now I have wanted to move my work into a more physical 3d realm but I wasn’t too sure how to achieve this. Last week I had a failed attempt to produce some […]

Feb 28

by Karyn in Food for Thought, Videos, Zentangles, Zoom Meetings 0 comments tags: Food for Thought, Videos, Zentangles, Zoom Meetings

Zoom Session 18

Derive, Derive & Thermodynamics – This weeks talk was really interesting and today inspired me to get out of my armchair and go for a wander. In our session we were discussing the concept of a derive or simply derive. In our discussion group I expressed my concern that Ai could potentially be robbing us of many jobs in the creative industry. However during our five minutes of contemplation Bea pointed out that nothing is ever really destroyed. She had been thinking about Thermodynamics and the idea that actually things just change energy is not destroyed it just changes. We spoke about how analogue photography had now morphed into a genre in its own right in the wake of the digital revolution. I can honestly say that I felt very uplifted after our conversation. In fact I was really taken with the whole concept of a derive. It wasn’t something that I had come across before but it was certainly something that I wanted to try. The very next day I set out on a long walk around town (Brixham in Devon). During that walk gave me time and space to think and reflect. It also gave me time […]

Feb 28

by Karyn in Abstract Art, Epic Fails, Evaluations, Experimentation, Photography, Problem Solving, Videos 0 comments tags: Abstract Art, Epic Fails, Evaluations, Experimentation, Photography, Problem Solving, Videos

Failure

Reaching a Plateau – Up to know I feel quite lucky because I’ve generally quite like most of my experiments, but for some reason this one made me really recoil! I hate everything about it – even a dabble with Ai couldn’t convince me otherwise. I don’t think I can remember a time that I’ve been so disappointed in anything that I’ve done before. I also need to stay away from Pinterest – the more beautiful artwork I see the more self critical I become and it’s not helpful. I feel now is the time I need to take a step back. I need to reflect on what I have done so far and consider what my next steps might be. As per my outline plan ideally I should be doing more research right now and I tend to agree. Over the weekend I decided to try my hand at paper sculpture. It’s something that I’m incredibly interested in, but I’ve never really had time to explore it in any meaningful way. Below is my journey into this medium and some of the results from it. I just can’t get excited about it at all. However, I always like […]

Feb 25

by Karyn in Abstract Art, Collaborations, Drawings, Experimentation, My Work, Patterns, Photography 0 comments tags: Abstract Art, Collaborations, Drawings, Experimentation, my work, Patterns, Photography

Let’s Get Physical

Exploring the Physical – I have spoken a few times now about my desire to move my work into a more physical form. Starting this process has actually been quite difficult for me. However a few weeks ago I was given a wonderful opportunity to change all of this. One of my fellow students Shirin Majid was embarking on a really exciting project and asked our WhatsApp group if they would like to participate. She explained briefly about her idea and I felt that I would love to join in. Shirin had made some postcards for us all to complete. Her design would be on one half of a side and we were to finish the card by adding ours to the other half of the side. I am a massive fan of abstract art and Shirin’s work is certainly no exception. She produces strong bold colourful geometric shapes that really resonate with me. When my little postcard finally arrived (delayed due to postal strike), I was super excited! Just like everything life soon got in the way and it took me a while from receiving my card to completing it. One of the biggest problems I faced was […]

Feb 21

by Karyn in Artists, Hand Written, Zentangles, Zoom Meetings 0 comments tags: Artists, Hand Written, Zentangles, Zoom Meetings

Zoom Session 17

Guest Speaker Matt Fratson – This week we had a guest speaker called Matt Fratson who talked about one of his films. The film was very interesting and also very thought provoking. In order to absorb the film in its entirety we watched it twice and we did a 5 minute free writing exercise after the first viewing. Below is my free writing exercise. We also briefly discussed 3 useful websites which I’ve also listed below: a-n The Artists’ Information Company – information for artists Artquest – advice for artists The White Pube – opportunities for artists Five Minute Free Writing Exercise These we’re my handwritten digitised thoughts below. Interestingly I had picked up on the fact Matt hadn’t added a question mark after two of his text questions ‘Am I moving forwards’ and ‘Am I looking backwards’ the reason for this was that he had created his own font from his own childhood writing but not been able to source a question mark. Interesting… Updated Zentangle Gallery

Feb 17

Jason Schulman – Inspired Work

Hidden Light and Colours – I particularly admire the work by Jason Schulman. I discovered him last week and ever since I stumbled across his work I have been absolutely ‘sold’ on it. Schulman records light with his camera across the entirety of a film. His work has been incorrectly likened to that of Hiroshi Sugimoto’s ‘Cinema Halls’. Schulman explains more about this in his interview with Dominic Jaeckle. Although the process of recording the entirety of the film is quite straightforward, it appears that Schulman is somewhat a pioneer in the area of recording films. I am a huge fan of slow shutter techniques, which I believe were used in the creation of both Sugimoto and Schulman’s images. Therefore I could not resist experimenting further using the work of Schulman and Sugimoto as a starting point. I find the notion of light being recorded and compounded into one image very appealing. Generally we never see light compounded in such a way so as to reveal a multitude of hidden colours and tones. Throughout my project I have been searching for the ‘hidden’ in whatever shape or form that may take. Schulman’s work reveals the beauty hidden in compounded […]

Feb 17

by Karyn in Abstract Art, Experimentation, Photography, Polls and Surveys 0 comments tags: Abstract Art, Experimentation, Photography, Polls and Surveys

Image Poll

Which One do you Like Best? – Below is a selection of abstract images. These images were made using a very special technique. Please choose only one image that you are drawn to. It doesn’t matter why you are drawn to it, it just has to be your favourite image out of the full set of 13 images. The story behind these images will be revealed shortly. NB: please don’t forget to push the ‘Vote’ button once you have made your selection. The Image Poll