Carpentry and Woodworking - PLEASE SOMEONE REPLY! Wood ?

I want to paint a mural of a sun/moon picture in the middle of my wooden coffee table. It's a basic, light wood coffee table with a finish on it.
I was told I can use regular, satin finish interior paint to do it, which is good cause I have most of the colors I need from painting various rooms in my home. But I was also told to sand and primer the area. My problem is, with the design of what I'm painting (a sun/moon picture) the sun has rays etc. so how can I primer an area?? I don't want white primer underneath the parts of the picture that I don't paint. I want it to look like a wood table with a sun on it. It will be too hard to only sand and primer the actual design I think. OH, I need advise!! How do I do this??
Would it just be easier to just somehow glue the actual picture onto the table and just put a clear finish over it??
Any help would be great.

SharonE,
There's really no need to prime your wood table, it has already been sealed. Before any painting though it needs to be cleaned very well to remove any polishes/cleaners/waxes. Then I would simply lightly sand with a 300 grit paper to roughen the surface slightly so the paint will adhere better.

As far as a paint to use, my suggestion would be some artists' acrylics. Maybe someone else has a suggestion on type of paint to use. When completed it could be covered with a clear acrylic or waterbase poly. Oil polys will tend to yellow with time.
good luck,
fred

Agree, you don't need to prime the wood and instead of buying a pint of paint for each color you want, go to your local crafts store and purchase small bottles of acrylics. Also at the crafts store you can get acrylic varnish (also comes in small bottles or spray on). Oil based varnishes will yellow; acrylic won't.