Bark painting can be beautiful; when using combinations of various types of nature, dried flora etc.Textures and colours vary and possibilities are many, as you proceed.
Bark paintingis both art and craft, so although brushes and paints aren’t employed in the form of bark painting, there is the skill of craftsmanship and an eye for colour and form in the natural materials.
The eyes, hands and imagination are the tools while the natural materials, such as various combinations of bark, seaweed and some plant life are combined to produce a dimensional look to these delightful pictures, allowing the beauty to be in the eye of the beholder.
There are many variations in bark, seaweed and native flora and we can be captivated by the challenge of creating bark pictures.
NOTE: Before attempting a bark painting one should familiarise yourself with the various types of bark and explore possible combinations with the colour changes and a degree of natural design already apparent in this remarkable medium.
Let's begin:
Your working area can be on an ordinary table covered with white paper. Spread out your bark pieces, dried seaweed, and some fern and in fact any dried bracken which is compatible with the basic background may be used in the pictures as complementary inclusions.
Turn your bark over and you find the textures and colours vary in the one strip. The bark must be torn gently, so rendering softer and interesting lines if it were cut.
White glue is used to fix the shapes to a card which is cut to the size of your choice.
Paper bark can be used for the sky, observing your choices for texture and colour tone.
Banana bark is the choice for hills and foreground, if you are creating a scenic picture. An interesting and important fact is that a banana bark is purple in tone when fresh, then changes to dark browns and ambers when it dries.
Dried seaweed can be placed to represent a tree silhouetted against a sky.
Banana bark can be torn into the suggestion of a bird shape and then adhered to your card.
A singed piece of paper bark can be used for to suggest a rocky edge as it gives the illusion of the ragged edge to rocky formation.
By using a strip of fern, place in a vertical position, cleverly achieves the look of a tree pattern lining the foreshore by utilising the main rib of the fern to suggest the division between land and water.
Paper bark stripped into a thin sheet can be used for water.
Completion:
When you are satisfied with your composition and feel your picture tells a story, you place it between sheets of paper and then between a press such as one made from timber for pressing flowers or you may compromise by using heavy books and leave for at least twelve hours.
The possibilities of this intriguing art expression are endless. Because of the natural materials used in creating the artwork it is advisable to keep the framing simple so as not to detract from the theme of the beauty of bark painting.
When next outdoors don’t forget to start to collect bark, fern or seaweed etc.
NOTE: some barks are more suitable for collection in certain seasons so begin your searching now.
