Egg painting

I love the look of tempera paint and have always wanted to learn to make my own. The real thing is so much more vibrant and seems to have a glow that you can’t get from the stuff you buy in a tube. This weeks prompt at Sugar Frosted Goodness is “Chicken” and that somehow inspired me to paint a chicken using plain egg yokes. Two friends remarked independently that it was a cruel joke. I assure you that I will not show this to any chickens.

After painting in the background and comb with acrylic paint, I used the bright yellow yoke straight out  of the egg for the lighter areas of the chicken. It is pretty sticky, I globbed it on thick for the first layer, then regretted that I didn’t take my time and build up a lot of thin layers to prevent cracking and to give the finished piece more depth.  I definitely intend to try this again.

While my first thick layer was drying, I settled in with a cup of tea and a book. A few minutes later I heard a curious scraping sound…..

Yes, my cat licked off a good part of the tail. Fortunately for him, I was able to repair it pretty easily. When that dried I added another layer using a yoke with a bit of red paint added. I also tried adding a bit of turmeric. It didn’t really dissolve but I like the sprinkles in the tail.

Finally I added some green to the bottom of the background and some white highlights to the feathers. I don’t know how permanent this painting will be. It may all flake off next week, but right now the yoke is solid and glossy like a layer of glass.

This would be a really fun thing to do with kids. There is always the threat of salmonella with raw eggs, but I bet the yolk of  an egg over easy would work perfectly.

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