Painting on hemp
 

In my last former life I made custom interior "stuff". One of my projects was a window header, hand painted on linen weave hemp canvas. I chose this fabric for it's strength and wonderful texture. It is untreated (called PDF, prepared for dying) and I've decided to try a painting on it. I stapled it to a board, then put three layers of gesso on, sanding in between layers. My painting is just a simple landscape, not a commission as I'm "experimenting".

So far I'm in love with this surface, it has the look of linen, and there has been no sinking in that I hate so much. It also costs anywhere from $11-$22 a yard, a substantial savings over artist grade linen. I've done some research and found that it has been used as a surface for paintings, with the best fabric coming from Europe. Mine is from China, at $13.00 a yd for 60"width. I'm just passing this on and also wondering if anyone knows more the history of using this as a ground.

Jean