Early
I have been creating images for a very long time. This photograph was taken in Sheffield Beach, 1988. A childhood at the coast embedded particular colours and patterns in my subconscious, and these form the bedrock of my practice. I continue to look at things in the same way, seeking the visual structure that allows us to understand what we are seeing.
Getting to Work
A degree in Fine Art taught me to think about painting, but the real learning came later when I sat at in front of a blank canvas, without a prescribed project. I knew that I needed to identify what really drives me - a kind of unpacking and repacking. Art-making is a dance between knowing and discovery. My focus moved outward, to my new environment of Mpumalanga.
Today
I now feel comfortable calling myself a landscape painter. First, I needed to understand the rules and then I needed to learn to break them well. This is a fluid process.
Each work has a unique reason for being. Sometimes a landscape enhances my sense of self, and sometimes it is the other way around. Ultimately, all artwork is a kind of self portrait. I remain intrigued by this.
The Details
Karin Daymond was born in 1967 in Durban, South Africa. In 1990 she obtained a Bachelor of Fine Art from the University of KwaZulu-Natal. She travelled extensively before settling in Mpumalanga, where she taught art and was a part-time painter. In 2008, she committed to her full-time practice. She has since held twelve solo exhibitions and participated in numerous group shows. Her work can be found in private and public collections in South Africa and internationally. She is also an active mentor in her local art community.