Tree Bark

In scene painting class we had a guest artist who taught us how to make tree bark for sets.

He will usually do this technique on a steel or wooden tree frame that has been wrapped in dry wall tape.

We have just done it onto a wooden board as a sample.

First you use a glue solution to paste strips of scrap fabric onto the base.
Then you take raffia and a paste called Mr Krusty (part glue, part clay powder and part water), and you rub the Mr Krusty and rub it into a bunch of raffia about the thickness of a finger.
You then spread the Krusty on the fabric and lay the strip on it. Repeat the strips a few times then, while it's still wet, massage and weave the raffia to make a bark-like texture.
Continue repeating these steps, then add some shredded tissue to create some flatter surfaces.

Using this piece of research, I then painted the dry 'bark'.

I used a base coat by mixing yellow ochre, burnt sienna and burnt umber. I then dry brushed yellow ochre on when the paint was still wet.

The next coat is a mixture of Van Dyke brown, burnt sienna and raw umber. I then dry brushed and stippled on burnt sienna and yellow ochre.

I then dry brushed a coat of raw umber mixed with black.

I painted two more coats of this, making the mixture darker each time.

I finally stippled on white paint while it was still wet to create the ash-like effect on the tree.

I'm pleased with my tree bark sample and I think it really looks like the research I found.