Woodland camping, foraging and Egg Tempera

I spent a few days solo camping in woodland recently. Whilst there, I ‘foraged’ a tiny bit of orange red pigment (probably the remains of a brick) from the area near my campsite.

I ‘refined’ the pigment in a make shift pestle and mortar (I used a melamine bowl and a smooth pebble).

In order to be able to paint with it, I needed some sort of binder. I didn’t have any glue with me. To try and get over my aversion to using egg yolk as a binder (to make egg tempera), I mixed the pigment with about a teaspoon of yolk from the last remaining egg (the things we do for art). Then I used a twig to make a painting.

It is a tiny study on watercolour paper of a baby hedge. I quite like its simplicity.

‘Hedge’ Egg tempera earth pigment on 300g watercolour paper. 18x8cm or 7x3in

I still, however, don’t like the smell of raw egg yolk in my paint …

🤮