Drawings – Karyn Easton

Nov 19

Epic Making Session

Yaacov Agam Inspired Work – Over many months now I have been wrestling with a myriad of ideas. In my Study Statement I was keen to develop a new form of hybrid human, digital and AI art. I also wanted to include an element of mystery and discovery whereby elements of the work were hidden. During my search for inspiration I came across two artists that particularly resonated with me, namely: Alexander Calder and Yaacov Agam. I particularly liked the idea of movement and mobile art seen in Calder’s work. Indeed I was so taken with his work that I went to visit the Tate Modern to see some of his pieces there. However, Yaacov Agam’s work really did inspire me. In his Artist’s statement he says: “My aim is to show the visible in a perpetual state of becoming”. I think this is a beautiful way in which he describes his work. However, I personally would liken it to, showing the visible in a perpetual state of change. Given the nature of the subject matter that I’m exploring, his work for me very much aligns with this notion of change as well as ‘becoming’. Below is a short […]

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 14

by Karyn in Drawings, Zentangles, Zoom Meetings 0 comments tags: Drawings, Zentangles, Zoom Meetings

Zoom Session 16

Professional vs Unprofessional – This week we looked at a short article that was discussing what it was a to be professional/unprofessional as an artist. We went into our breakout rooms to discuss this. The consensus was that the article could be perceived as somewhat offensive. The comments were also very interesting. Somehow our conversation moved to positive discrimination and whether or not this was a force for good in society. Again the consensus towards it was negative. Time really did seem to fly this week!. As well as Zoom day it’s also Valentine’s Day today and as a gift I received a really interesting book called ‘Machines Behaving Badly – The Morality of Ai’ by Tony Walsh. I’m really looking forward to reading it. I really do welcome any insight into this fascinating area. I will blog about this as soon as I have read it. In the meantime I have updated my Zentangle gallery as usual. Updated Zentangle Gallery

Feb 11

Boring, Boring, Boring

Nothing is Ever New – I often tell my students about a great piece of advice that I received as a photography student over 30 years ago. The advice was simple, but it has had a profound effect on my work through the decades. It goes like this…… “When you have your finalised brief or theme – go away and brainstorm 5 ideas and write them down on a piece of paper. Once you have your list, screw it up, or better still tear it up and throw it in the bin. Why???…Because those 5 ideas will probably be the exact same 5 ideas that everyone else will come up with.” I now always pass on this little piece of advice to all my students. They usually give me a look of abject horror, having just spent the last two hours working on the first idea that came into their heads. Yesterday Noah, one of my fellow students, kindly alerted me to an artist who is working very much along the same lines as me. Here is an Instagram link to his work. I am not really surprised by someone else working in my area of trying to marry up […]

Feb 07

by Karyn in Drawings, Zentangles, Zoom Meetings 0 comments tags: Drawings, Zentangles, Zoom Meetings

Zoom Session 15

Open Ended Questioning – This week was a very interesting week because we broke off into small groups of around 3 people per group. Our challenge was to have one of our group members explain what they were finding challenging in their practice at the moment. Once they had explained their most pressing issues, everyone had to take turns in asking them open ended questions. I really enjoyed this exercise. I felt it was very useful being able to have people listen to my work problems and then respond to me with open ended questions. I also liked the people in my group and I found their ideas and work very interesting. Jonathan also gave us some insight into the Quakers. This was revealing to me because I’d always thought of them as fervently religious and very frugal in their approach to life. At the end of the conversation I can quite honestly say that their approach to life sounded so much nicer than ours. The notion that everyone must agree on something before proceeding with any plan also seemed like a good idea. At this point it very much reminded me of Brexit – how is it […]

Feb 01

by Karyn in Animation, Books, Drawings, Videos, Zoom Meetings 0 comments tags: Animation, Books, Drawings, Videos, Zoom Meetings

Zoom Session 14

The Art of Seeing – This week we ran a really interesting exercise. We were asked to look at a photograph and then look again more closely and then keep repeating this. It is amazing how much can be missed with a cursory glance at something. Our group discovered so much by analysing the image over and over again. The little details gave away lots of information. For example the police officer in our image was wearing a red poppy. Instantly we knew that the photo must have been taken somewhere in the UK in November. The poppy is synonymous with Remembrance Day which happens around that time. This week we also did another 5 minute free writing exercise. Our task was to look around our immediate surroundings and then say what it all meant. I talked about all of the disruption in my front room because of having the room below it plastered. We are extending the house and everything seems quite chaotic at the moment. One thing which I found absolutely fascinating was the idea that my salary will actually be the same as my salary averaged across the salaries of my friends. Even more interesting was the […]

Jan 27

by Karyn in Drawings, Zoom Meetings 0 comments tags: Drawings, Zoom Meetings

Zoom Session 13

Ducks in a Row – This week’s session was a really nice blend of both finalising the requirements for Unit 1 and another free writing exercise. I find the free writing exercises very relaxing – it’s almost hypnotic when it is done continuously for around 5 minutes. This week we joined Zoom breakout rooms which allowed us to discuss exactly what was being asked of us regarding the Unit 1 learning objectives. We were tasked with adding our thoughts to a Miro board which I found very useful. Having reassessed the 3 learning objectives for the Unit 1 project, I feel that I still have quite a few gaps to fill so that the criteria is fully met. I would like to experiment further and I would also like to conduct more contextual and primary research in response to what we learned today. As usual my latest Zentangle heads up this blog post along with the updated gallery. I have kept this blogpost brief so that I can work on my study statement which has the looming deadline of February 6th 2023. Updated Zentangle Gallery – Luckily I still have time to post my updated Zentangle gallery with all […]

Jan 17

by Karyn in Books, Drawings, Food for Thought, Hand Written, Handwriting, Zentangles, Zoom Meetings 0 comments tags: Books, Drawings, Food for Thought, Hand Written, Zentangles, Zoom Meetings

Zoom Session 12

Steal Like an Artist – For a long time now I have been aware that in the art and design world it is very difficult to find something that is completely new. There are elements borrowed from one piece of work that may be copied or changed to make a more exciting piece of work. Even in my own practice it feels like there is ‘nothing new under the sun’. I find there is nothing more frustrating to think I’ve found a great idea, only to research it and discover that actually I’m way ‘behind the curve’. However in today’s talk this became even more pronounced when we had some examples quoted from artist Austin Kleon’s book titled: ‘Steal like and Artist’. Kleon decided to research into his own style of art. He found that over the centuries there had in fact been not one but three other artists working in a similar way. These were namely Brian Gysin (1916 – 1986), Tristan Tzara (1896 – 1963) and Caleb Whitefoord (1734 – 1810). Apparently they had all been doing something similar. When this is seen across the ages it really does show that nothing at all is ever new. Indeed […]

Jan 10

by Karyn in Drawings, Galleries, Zentangles, Zoom Meetings 0 comments tags: Drawings, Galleries, Zentangles, Zoom Meetings

Zoom Session 11

Great to be Back! – It was really great to be back this week. I have really missed our zoom sessions and it was also good to see everyone again. This week was devoted to talking about hints and tips when displaying work in a gallery space. We had a short lecture by Peter Smithson who has worked for many years at Central Saint Martin’s. We also discussed RAM forms and proposal forms. Key dates for both the exhibition and residential have now been more or less pinned down. Zentangle Gallery Update As usual, I managed to produce one of my little Zentangles this evening. The gallery below is slowly starting to build now. I am hoping that I’ll find some use for these small drawings later in the year. However at the moment I am enjoying the development of my style as I go along. Tonight’s Zentangle probably wasn’t one of my better ones but it really doesn’t matter because it’s all a learning experience.

Dec 21

Zoom Session 10

Programming with Processing 😊 – This has to be one of my favourite sessions so far. I love all of my zoom sessions, but the chance to learn a little programming is always a positive for me. Until today I hadn’t come across the programming environment called ‘Processing’. I downloaded the software onto my computer and I attempted to play around with it a little. This was to familiarise myself with it a before the start of our session. I found the tutorials really informative and I very quickly got the ‘gist’ of it. We also had a guest speaker Matthew Edwards, who came in to give us a demonstration and work with us through some example code. It was a very good pace and pitched perfectly for a total beginner like myself. I thoroughly enjoyed seeing the results of my little programs. I also thoroughly enjoyed the group conversation afterwards. Jonathan introduced us to GPT chat. This is an advanced algorithmic program that can write highly intuitive essays from user text prompts. It can also write code. This week I’ve had lots to think about and explore. I have updated my ‘Zentangle’ gallery to reflect all of my little […]