Inuvik (July 26/04) - For many, eggs belong in one's favourite recipe or sizzling in the frying pan.

For Jane Carr, eggs belong on an artist's brush as a medium for her paintings.

Jane Carr, right, teaches Kate Bulmer, 12, of Okanagan, B.C., to paint with egg tempera.

She is an established artist who uses the ancient form of painting known as egg tempera.

Using egg yolk and dry pigment paint, she creates landscapes with vivid colours not replicated by watercolours or oils, she says.

"You never create the same shade twice," she says. "You get much more richness of colour than you would from a tube."

Carr was in Inuvik last week for the 2004 Great Northern Arts Festival. Her home town is Treadwell, New York.

She first discovered Inuvik's event in 1989 camping in Alaska.

"I found out about the Dempster Highway and arrived in Inuvik on the last day of the festival.

"I said I would be back for the next year," she laughs.

Six Great Northern Arts Festivals later, she says the Inuvik festival is the only one she attends. "I love it here and I love the people."

Carr has her own studio back home, but has also been teaching the art form for three years in Inuvik, carefully watching the blending and brush strokes of the budding egg tempera artist.

"People enjoy painting with it, although it is more labour intensive than oils," she said.

The festival is a wonderful opportunity for the many artists, near and far, to display their works and show others the craft, she noted. "I enjoy teaching others and keeping the art form alive."