Working with natural pigments, gold leaf and precious gems, Pitalier is a 27-year-old French artist visiting the state to demonstrate and teach her skills as part of the Tasmanian Craft Fair being held at Deloraine this long weekend.

Pitalier uses 700-year-old techniques to produce her intricate artworks and to restore and reproduce paintings.

The pigments she uses to paint with are made from various organic substances, including semi-precious stones like lapis lazuli, finely ground into powders which she then mixes with egg, vinegar and water. This is known as egg tempera.

"You usually know what you want to do with the painting and what you like, like texture, but you can change and add things ... there are a lot of tricks I have learnt," she said.

Pitalier said the traditional methods had a profound effect on colour pigments and it was challenging in a philosophical as well as physical way.

She has been practising her craft for almost eight years after studying for five years in France and two years in Italy mastering restoration techniques.

Pitalier's craft takes precision and an enormous amount of patience - just preparing a canvas to paint on can take up to a week.

"You cannot rush - you must be very patient like the artists of hundreds of years ago and prepare everything well beforehand," she said.

When asked why her craft had attracted so much attention she replied: "I think I make something different, another way to see paintings, you are such a young culture and country so the point of view and opinions are very different from what we have in Europe, and I have been enjoying that."

READ MORE ALL THE FUN OF THE FAIR: Page 8