Stone Age Cave Painting

The earliest Stone Age cave paintings date from around 40,000BC. and were etched on rocks in Australia. In Europe, the oldest works of art are cave paintings from about 28,000BC. Some caves in southwestern France and northern Spain are covered with paintings and engravings of animals. The Stone Age artists also carved female figures, called Venus figurines, and decorated their tools and weapons with carved patterns and animal forms.

Method:

Step 1
Roll out a piece of clay. Make sure it has an uneven surface similar to a cave wall. Then use a modeling tool to trim the edges into a neat rectangle shape.

Step 2
Leave the clay to dry. When it is completely hard, rub it with fine sandpaper to get rid of any sharp edges and to make a smooth surface for your painting.

Step 3
Paint the outline of an animal, such as this reindeer, using black acrylic paint. Exaggerate the size of the most obvious features, such as the muscular body and antlers.

Step 4
When the outline is dry, mix black, red and yellow acrylic paints to make a warm earthy color. Use the color you have mixed to fill in the outline of your chosen animal.

Step 5
Finish off your painting by highlighting some parts of the animal's body with reddish brown paint mixed to resemble red ocher. This is how Stone Age artists finished their paintings.

Step 6
Your Cave Painting is ready. You can gift this to someone or make a wall hanging out of it.