Amate Paper Painting

My Example

"King Cobra" and since it's a king, it needed a fancy frame says my student.

Horse (and girl- (not sure about the bikini thing going on there)

Lizards

I've been wanting to try this project for some time now, and with TCAP testing in full force this week, I decided to try it with my kiddos as a carrot to keep em' quiet while the testing goes on around us.  We learned a bit about how the paper is made from the Bark of Mulberry or Fig trees, and we looked at some samples.  When we made ours, rather than strip bark from a tree and boil it, we just used brown construction paper- however we did tear the edges to give it a more organic effect.  I only allowed black paint for details/outlining, and I encouraged animals as the subject matter.  I think they are very sweet, and a fun little art project with potential to be a bigger one. This gave me a great opportunity to discuss Positive/Negative space.