Standing in his spacious third-floor studio at the Button Factory in Portsmouth, artist Marshall Carbee proudly displays a recent painting. In earthy shades of brown and red, like western soil at sunset, the piece depicts a plant budding from underground roots. Its title? “First Green Painting in the Modern World, 2008.”

The painting is not green in color, but in its materials. Carbee used a hemp canvas with no frame and petroleum-free paints derived from natural earth pigments. For a primer, he used a soy-based gesso—a non-toxic, non-hazardous, zero-VOC product Carbee helped create. That product, called Carbee Soy Gesso, is now available to all artists.

“It’s the first of its kind,” Carbee proclaims. “There’s nothing like it.”

The painter’s new business, Carbee Eco Art Products, offers the gesso online at www.carbeesoygesso.com. Within a couple of weeks, he says, it will also be available at F.A. Gray in downtown Portsmouth and the N.H. Institute of Art in Manchester. Carbee believes his product is the world’s first renewable, sustainable artist gesso, and that its quality, longevity and durability equal the top commercial brands.

A New Hampshire native, Carbee says his work has always been closely tied to the natural environment. “I’m from New Hampshire, so I have a deep connection with nature,” he says. “Nature has always been a big part of art to me.”

His idea for green art supplies originally stemmed from his work with the Flatbread Company in Portsmouth. Flatbread co-owner Jay Gould’s mission includes using chemical-free, organic ingredients in the restaurant’s pizza, stressing the connection between food and nature. Carbee, who did a series of paintings for Flatbread’s seven New England locations, adopted a similar vision for his artwork.

Another inspiration came from Gary Hirshberg, president of organic yogurt company Stonyfield Farm in Londonderry and author of “Stirring it Up: How to Make Money and Save the World.” Carbee took Hirshberg’s vision for green corporations and applied the same principles to his studio. “That meant reducing my carbon footprint, finding non-toxic art supplies—which basically don’t exist—and changing about a dozen basic things in my studio,” he says.

That’s when Carbee started using organic canvas materials and paints made from earth pigments and vegetable oils. He ordered bags of colored earth from a company in Germany and mixed the dirt-like substance with linseed oil and citrus oil thinner to make his own paint, storing the different colors in mason jars.

In his search for organic art supplies, Carbee also came across a company in the western United States that manufactures soy-based industrial products like concrete sealers and primers. Carbee began experimenting with a combination of soy-based primer and sealer and found that it made a quality gesso.

He later pitched his new idea to the CEO of the company, which initiated a project to marry the soy-based primer and sealer. Carbee was pleased with the results. “It was the best gesso I ever used in my life. It kind of blew me away,” he says.

In his studio, a veritable laboratory for green art experiments, Carbee has several sample cans of the new gesso. He dunks a brush into a can marked “Sample 2” and swaths the white substance across the surface of a piece of hemp canvas. According to Carbee, the gesso permeates the surface of the canvas and adheres to its texture. It’s more porous than traditional acrylic primers, he says, and a single coat can suffice, leaving a thin film that is flexible and resistant to cracking.

“What’s good about that thin film is that the texture of the canvas or the wood is a little bit more available for a physical bond, which won’t happen with a glossy smooth acrylic surface,” he says.

It takes about an hour for the gesso to dry, although Carbee will often let it sit for a full week and apply several coats, lightly sanding between each application. “It’s more flexible and not apt to crack like a solid acrylic would after a very long time, especially if you layer it and let it dry over weeks,” he says.

The gesso uses recycled byproduct from another manufacturer that derives vitamin E from soy. The soy content used in the process is not a food source and will not attract insects, mold or mildew, Carbee says.

What’s more, unlike conventional gesso, it is completely free of petroleum and other toxins. Although other artists have used recycled materials, like driftwood and found items, soy gesso takes the concept of green art to another level. “If you bury the painting, it’s going to be basically biodegradable,” he says.

Working with his sister Nanci Crosbie to build the Web site, Carbee officially launched the product on June 17. By the following morning, he had already made his first sale. The gesso runs for about $56 per gallon, or $22 per quart. That’s a bit more than most standard gesso, but Carbee thinks the quality—both functional and environmental—makes up for the higher price.

Carbee does not pretend to know how well the product will sell. If it is successful, however, he already has other products in mind, and he hopes to continue pioneering for truly green art.

Tech Products gets a belated sendoff

Another one of Marshall Carbee’s artistic missions is to enhance access to art supplies in downtown Portsmouth. The local arts community suffered a blow when Tech Products quietly closed its doors almost two years ago. Formerly located on High Street, the business operated for more than 50 years, serving as the downtown area’s only art supply store for much of that time.

Concerned that Tech Products never received the recognition it deserved, Carbee has organized a belated farewell party for owner Dianne Maxam and her family. It takes place at The Blue Mermaid in Portsmouth on Saturday, June 27, from 3 to 5 p.m. The Blue Mermaid is at 409 The Hill, 603-427-2583.

Artists still aching from the loss of Tech Products can now find an increased stock of art supplies at F.A. Gray Inc. in downtown Portsmouth. Carbee and Maxam have been working with owner Susan Gray to increase the store’s artistic offerings, and other supplies can be special ordered. F.A. Gray is at 30-32 Daniel St., 603-436-0170.