Kim Carney

Kim Carney / Graphic Designer, Illustrator, Photographer, (wanna-be assemblage artist and quilter) Edmonds, WA Website Blog Photography My studio is somewhere I go and get completely lost in time, a place to dream and play. And although I do not get to spend as much time I would like to there, I am so thankful when I do and that I have such a space. It wasn’t long ago that I dreamed of having such a retreat, a place to hide from the world. Thank you for visiting! Over the years, I have also taken over another room for a sewing space and we have added several Macs in the family room so whoever is working on projects doesn't feel so isolated. A place for me to blog in the sun, where my son checks his myspace and learns Photoshop, where my mom can check her email and listen to BBC radio programs, where we all try and learn flash. Computers are such an intricate part of all our lives it is good to have a universal space for all us to work, together. I am longing for a G5! I am a graphic designer, illustrator and work for a online news organization. My husband is a newspaper illustrator, graphic designer. He was really the collector of fun objects, wind-up toys, rubber stamps, baseballs, books and he has infected me. So as much as a studio space, it is also where some of our fun collections live. Go there for inspiration, pick a book from our library of reference, atlas, art books. One can never have enough books! I have always been interested in quilting, assemblage art, print and painting canvas, painting furniture, really just painting anything would take acrylic. I have also become fascinated with photography and try to shoot something at least once a day. In short, I love to do it all, jack-of-all-trades, master of none. But that doesn’t stop me in trying out new processes, new ways to marry different media together. When I seriously took up assemblages the last year, my husband built me a new workspace in the garage and organized with all my favorite tools. Keeping organized in a studio owned by two junk collectors is the key. When I found a small 9-drawer wooden organizer at Target one year, I bought one, and my husband sent me back to buy more. Small drawers perfect for business cards, staples, glitter, rivets – all things small. We found 3-drawer side table at IKEA and bought 6 of them, perfect for storing papers, envelopes, carving material, paints, my collection of antique military printing set, rubber stamps, vintage photos. I also have a collection of fun reproduction lunch boxes that I use for storage. Old and beautiful, new and unusual bowls become holders of secret, found objects. I found an enormous table in the “damaged-merchandise room” at IKEA and that has been the best purchase of all. We also keep flat files, file cabinets and such in the “furnace room” just off of the studio. I do not throw one piece of paper or ribbon away, that room has become the deposit area for most of that. (would never let anyone SEE that mess). I found a tall antique full of drawers perfect for special papers, tags I save and emphera. I love those little photo alligator clip holders, I use those for inspirational bits and pieces for different seasons. A small wall space is changed out throughout the year for my personal inspiration. Art that friends have sent me, bird feathers, dried leaves, Christmas tags, photos. I love that I can change it out with my mood. More wall of inspiration set on flickr.