What does flax have to do with oil painting?

 

A lot!

 

What is Flax anyway?

 

     Field of flax

 

Flax is a food and fiber plant that is a domesticated member of the genus “Linun”.  It is grown in cooler climates around the world, the major producers being Canada, Western Europe and Ukraine.

 

     Flax plants

 

There is evidence that flax was used by humans beginning 30,000 years ago.  Its fibers have been used to make linen and its seeds to make linseed oil for thousands of years.

 

 

   Flax seeds      Linseed oil

Linen began to be used as a painting surface during the Renaissance in the early 15^th century, first glued to a wood panel and later stretched over a wooden frame.  Linen and cotton are currently the most commonly used fibers for making art canvas.  The flax fibers are two to three times stronger than cotton.  Both cotton and flax are woven in a checkerboard pattern to make canvas, but the flax fibers have a variable diameter that creates a more varied surface than the very symmetrical cotton canvas.  One can easily see this difference in areas of artwork where the paint is not so thick that it completely obscures the texture of the canvas.  Most viewers who compare cotton and linen surfaces prefer the appearance of the linen.  Linen canvas is considerably more expensive than cotton canvas, so both types are used by artists, depending on their painting style, personal preference, and budget. 

 

    Artist-grade linen

Linseed oil is one of several oils that harden when dry.  Others include walnut oil, safflower oil, and poppy seed oil.  Other oils such as mineral oil never harden, and are unsuitable for use in oil paint.  Linseed oil is the most commonly used hardening oil for oil painting. 

 

    Artist-grade linseed oil

Although oil paints were described as early as the 10^th century, most artists used other forms of paint until the 15^th century Renaissance.  These “hardening oils” are essential to oil painting, to bind the pigments together when dry as an intact stable surface.  Pigments are colors in powder form, either natural or synthetic.  The same pigments are used in oil paint, water colors, acrylics, pastels, etc.  Only the binders differ.

 

There you have it.  One could argue that the great paintings of the Renaissance, and all that followed, including Impressionism, would not have occurred without the humble flax plant!!

 

 

Flax is also used in a number of other commercial products.  In 2014, 2.65 tons of flax were produced.

 

One product of interest: flax, or “linum” is the major component of linoleum.

 

Of perhaps even more interest, linen was the first fabric used by the French to make fine lady’s undergarments, which were therefore called “lingerie”.  

 

One last oddity, the Flax Art Supply Stores were founded in 1919 and are still in existence in New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Chicago, among other locations. The stores were founded by the Flax brothers, and have absolutely nothing to do with the flax plant!!