We explore the capabilities of the European VLBI Network (EVN) to image radio reference frame sources observed through geodetic-style experiments at K band (22~GHz). The EVN includes long East-West and North-South baselines (from Europe to Asia and from Europe to South Africa) along with baselines of shorter and intermediate lengths within Europe, making it worthwhile to study the potential of the network for imaging in such observing mode. To this end, we use a 22-telescope experiment carried out as part of the EC-funded JUMPING JIVE project in October~2020. The experiment targeted a total of 80~sources from the third realization of the International Celestial Reference Frame (ICRF3), all of which selected from the pool of ICRF3 defining sources. Scheduling of the observations was accomplished by using sub-netting because the primary scope of the experiment was geodesy. Despite this geodetic-style approach, it was possible to image a large majority of the sources, hence demonstrating the capability of the EVN for such work. The resulting images may be used to further assess the source compactness, and hence their astrometric suitability, at a frequency and a resolution higher than probed by the standard S/X observations that formed the basis for selecting those sources as defining sources.