Pat Brokaw

Images are sample works. Call or visit OA Gallery for availability.

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I have been doing block printing for nearly 50 years yet it is only within the past decade that I have focused so much of my time and energy on my art. Prior to that my professional life as an Art teacher and the demands of raising a family restricted the amount of personal time I had available and this art form certainly takes a great deal of time! I have worked in pencil, ink, acrylic, water color, pastel, and oil but I have found my first love is block printing. The reason I love this media is because of the growing excitement I feel in seeing the picture slowly coming together as each additional color is added. I started working with woodblock printing as an undergraduate at Hastings College. I later turned toward linoleum block printing because the tools were easier for me to manipulate around curved areas and a thinner line was possible. The block carving process is demanding. I typically do only 4-8 prints of a particular subject with 6 to 15 colors represented in the individual work. Each print is “hand-rubbed” meaning that the ink is transferred from the block to the print by rubbing on the back of the print paper with a wooden tool called a baren, no machine press is involved. As the block is worked and each preceding color is carved away the print develops. There are many potential problems with the developing print among them poor registration, inadequate ink transfer, opacity of inks, and simply slipping with the carving knife. The image doesn’t truly reveal itself until the final color is applied. I love the challenge the media presents and the careful analysis of color, form, and composition that it requires