Cricketts Inky Art Blot

Hi Folks, Well, I skipped out on Cricketts Inky Art Blot to run Playful Potter, my pottery and glass studio for about 5 years. It was a wonderful experience and I met so many new creative friend, but now I am ready to move back to 2D works again. I"m not going to lie, will miss having over 2000 sq. ft. of art studio space, especially as my temporary work space will be in the corner of my husband's office! I am lucky enough to have a permanent studio space on the horizon, but much renovation and organization needs to be done to make that a warm and inviting space.  For those of you that knew me from Playful Potter, I am not saying goodbye to clay for ever. I just have the restlessness that all artists get when they have been doing one style for a while. I will be accessing a kiln as the need arises, for clay and glass projects. To kick off 2020 and in the spirit of the Year of The Rat, I am jumping head first into my new beginning; I have challenged myself to creating ...

I have said it before and I will say it again, that little Revolver map is awesome! Seeing all the little flags of visitors from all over the world is beyond cool, it is inspiring to me. As I work on the collection of prints involving Lady Penelope Pinkerton-Smythe, I think about all the places she may have visited. The little flags on the blog map have me daydreaming of her travels. I am going to tie the thread of the prints to the book Around The World In Eighty Days by Jules Verne. The prints I have completed (and still working on) are named from phrases or chapter headings from that book. The main character of my work is of course Lady Penelope and not Phileas Fogg! I am having fun playing on the titles or using some of references from the book. Each print stands alone as having some significance to a part of my life or an experience of my travels, but strung together, they carry the narrative of the lighthearted, fast-moving journey of Lady Penelope. Like Fogg, the journey tak...

I find it staggering and inspiring that people from all over the world are dropping by to see my blog. I love to see where my page hits are coming from. I would not wish to invade privacy by knowing exactly who and where, but just being shown a city and the flag of the country makes it so exciting for me and pushes me to write another entry. I am completely new to blogging, anyone visiting my blog is doing me a great honour. It takes me back to when I was a child of about 7 and played with a monopoly boat game piece on a map of the world. I used to dream of sailing or flying to the places that I struggled to spell out. I guess I have not changed so much. When I see someone has visited from someplace I have a connection with, it brings back memories or faces of people I once knew. Today I saw a hit from Paris where I spent my 21st birthday, Sri Lanka, where I got married and Rochdale where my first child was born. To see these hits makes me think of the places where I would like Lady Pe...

I have been starting off a copper plate for etching. In the past I have always used other metals and always used traditional but toxic methods. Acids and feathering have been my method for exposing the plate for a good bite. I have been happy with the results, but I have not enjoyed the headaches, sore hands and eyes etc. I am learning more about non-toxic techniques to print and will be experimenting with salts for the plate exposure. I am also going to learn about using an alternative to the powder aquatint. Over the weekend I worked on a sketch for the plate and prepared the plate for the image. The first difficulty I found was that without a rosin coat on the plate, I could not really see where I had scratched. I am allergic to pine, so it is a good thing for me to not use the rosin, however, I might need to find a ground that is dark to work into as I am disappointed that I can't see the details.

My name is Carole-Ann Ricketts, I am an artist living in Reno, Nevada, USA. I am British and lived and studied in England for most of my life. I travelled quite a lot over the years and my experiences have always influenced my paintings and other works.This year I have decided to take the bull by the horns and work on what has always been my weakest area: Printmaking. Having been something of a disaster zone in any print room I have encountered, I am looking forward to seeing if my misadventures are now a thing of the past. I don't know much about blogging but I will give it a shot. I will try and keep it professional, but chances are I will end up waffling about what my cats ate or what my kids did at school. Anyway, my goals for the year are loose, I want to concentrate on printmaking, but if the need arises, I will paint or do whatever else the muse would have me do. Along the printmaking path, I hope to get some work in exhibitions and participate in some collaborations. I ...