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name of the bone stroke means “go forward and go back,” which is what the brush is doing.
    Go back to the chart of basic strokes in the calligraphy chapter and review how the strokes are made. Make believe your finger is a brush making the bone stroke. Move it to the left and stop; move right and stop; and move left. Notice how the stroke ends are covered.
    To paint the bamboo stalk, you make the bone stroke with the side of the brush going up and down rather than left to right. Again, practice with your finger as the brush. This time push down, then up 4 inches, and then swing your arm down again. The feel of swinging your arm down and up in a short space of time is important.
When you paint the bone stroke for the bamboo stalk, hold your hand in position #2, shown right. This means you rotate your hand to the right so the hairs of the brush are on the paper and the tip is pointing left. With a dry brush, lay the hairs down on the paper and drag it toward your body. Try to keep the heel of the brush (where the hairs join the handle) down on the paper. This will help to make a straight line on the right side of the bamboo stalk.

    Painting Bamboo Stalk Sections
    Now try to paint a section of bamboo stalk with the bone stroke using brush and paint. The stalk sections are painted starting from the bottom of the page and moving upwards.
1. Mix a large dish of medium light mix. Test it on the mixing plate.
2. Load the brush by rolling all of the hairs forward and back in the dish so that every hair has paint.
3. Rotate your hand to the right and press the whole brush down, especially the heel of the brush. Push down with your arm, stop, push up 4 inches, stop, and push your arm and brush down slightly to end the stroke. Notice that you have made a darker area at the top and bottom of the section. This is the growth ring on the bamboo stalk.
4. Stop and look at the stroke. Does it have a straight edge on the right side? Is the width of the stroke even? Try it again many times.
To make an entire stalk , start with the bottom section and keep adding sections above it. The sections of the bamboo are painted the way they grow. The sections at the bottom are closer together, and as the plant gets taller, each section is a little longer. So paint each section slightly longer than the one below it.
1. To make the lowest section, load the brush and lay it down on the paper 2 inches above where the ground would be for the bamboo. Push up with your arm, stop, push down 3 inches and off the page. Notice the darker area at the top of the section and the lighter area at the bottom where the stalk grows in the ground.
2. Make the middle section as in the steps you followed above, with growth rings at the top and bottom.
3. To make the top section, load the brush and lay it down slightly above the middle section. Push down, stop, and then push up 5 inches and off the page. Notice that you have made a darker area at the bottom of the section and a lighter area at the top.

To make a thinner stalk on the bamboo, rotate your hand to the right but lift the heel of the brush a little off the paper, so you use less of the brush.
1. Load the brush and try making a stroke with the heel slightly off the page. Did you make a narrower stalk this time?
2. Try this several times, trying to keep the same pressure on the paper.
3. Experiment with making thinner bamboo stalks by raising the heel more and using less and less brush.
4. Try making a thinner stalk for the top section or for a younger bamboo stalk.

In making a design for bamboo, use thick and thin stalks and short and tall stalks as well as different kinds of leaf clusters.
    Painting Joint Rings
    In between the sections is a joint ring. When bamboo is bending in the wind, the bending takes place only at the joint ring. Bamboo sections do not bend. They are rigid and are always painted straight. Notice that the beginnings and ends of the sections are darker. This is the area where the joint rings