We welcome you to the fourth grade art room.We are making bark paintings. You're probably wondering what a bark painting is. If so read on. A bark painting is a painting on bark. You probably have figured that out. The Otomi Indians used fig tree bark for the paper, they used the inner tree bark. They soaked them in boiling water and lime. After they soaked and ripped the bark, they weaved it together, then they pounded the woven bark strips with a flat stone. The Nahuatl word for bark paper is amatyl but the Spanish didn't like that name so the changed it to amate'.

You can make bark paintings, too.

1. Just cut out one side of a paper bag.
2. Then crumble it and put WATERED black paint on the side that has no designs.
3. Let it fully dry.
4. Draw your design on your new bark paper using chalk first.
5. Then paint roundish animals flowers and designs. Draw lines that are not straight. Make simplified shapes, plants, and animals painted with bold colors. if you need some paints, just add some, and then once it drys you have your very own bark painting!
6. Trace with a black crayon.

Here are some examples of our work done in KidPix.

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