Bugs and eggs

For this project the first step was painting an insect with homemade egg tempera paint. Making the paint was as simple as mixing egg yolk, water and pigment (the color). Tempera paint is the kind of paint used as early as 1st century AD. All of Michaelangel0's paintings are egg tempera! It was the primary painting pigment up until the 1500's when oil paint was introduced. I really enjoyed learning how to make the paint and painting with a medium that's been used for thousands of years. My bug should last forever :)

After the bug was painted, I cut it out and glued it to the background made from transferring a xerox copied twig and flower design onto my background paper. I finished it by adding some gold leaf to accent the flowers and some of the bug's spots.