Beginners oil painting questions and how to oil paint without stink?

How stinky is oil painting?

Does it need to be dangerous to the health?  

When I watch people oil painting on youtube, they wear gloves or paint halfway outside to get fresh air.  What are the health risks and is it possible to avoid these?

Is there a way to do oil painting without stinky stuff?  

My understanding is the stink is from the usage of thinners such as turpentine and mineral spirits. Something like linseed oil won't have such a stench but I don't think it works as well as the prior two.

Timothy Norton wrote:My understanding is the stink is from the usage of thinners such as turpentine and mineral spirits. Something like linseed oil won't have such a stench but I don't think it works as well as the prior two.

I was wondering if linseed oil could work.  I've seen some of the people use that, but then switch to a different thinner later on.  

What about brush cleaners?  Is that the same?

The brush cleaners tend to be the solvents.

I have heard you can use Murphies Oil Soap to effectively clean brushes as an alternative. I believe there is also a soy-based "Ecoclean" or "Ecosolve" solvent that doesn't have the nasty VOCs.

Oh, Murphys soap is something I can use in a well ventilated space.  Like outside.   That's promising.

In the 7th grade, maybe 1962, I was required to take a shop class. The instructor insisted in simply soap and water for cleaning brushes for even oil based paint.   Only when the soap and water approach was exhausted were we allowed to use the smallest amount of thinner.

Maybe the sink is why so many artist choose an outdoor studio.

There are multiple sources of toxicity from paints, but the two most common in oil paints are the pigment and solvents.

Paint (in general) is a pigment (fine colored particles) suspended in a binder (one use of the word medium). In oil paints, the binder is a vegetable oil that can “dry” (form a hard film through oxidation). There are only a few oils that fit the bill there, the most common being linseed (flax seed) oil and walnut oil. Generally, while not food grade, the oil binding oil paints isn’t toxic per-se.  It’s usually slightly rancid oil (we might say autoxidized), so it might smell like oil far past its best by date, but it’s not “offensive”.

The pigments vary from benign (carbon black, ochres which are basically dirt, many others) to very toxic (lead gets all the publicity, but the cadmium pigments still in common use are are much worse for you).  You can choose to use pigments that are relatively safe as part of your painting practice and still have a very rich pallet.

When you talk about “stink” or volitles you are usually referring to solvents.  Some paints are difficult to use “right out of the tube” and need something mixed with them for certain painting techniques (another use of the word medium in painting).  Here, mineral spirits, turpentine, spike lavender oil, etc., come in.  One can “thin” paints with more oil (no solvent) or with a paint thinner. Different mediums cause different paint handling characteristics — too much subtleties for here — but there are guidelines in oil painting to follow like fat over lean. I don’t use mineral spirits or turpentine at all, but I do use spike lavender oil — which I find has a strong but pleasant smell — to both thin my paints in some cases and to clean brushes somewhat.  Primarily I clean with soap and water and with isopropyl alcohol.

One absolutely can have a very “clean” studio practice with minimal or no use of solvents and avoiding toxic pigments.  While I do use spike lavender oil which is toxic, I try to use very safe pigments in all my paints, and I even refine my own oils as a binder, which start their life as food grade oils. Still, good studio hygiene is always recommended: don’t eat while painting, wash your hands thoroughly, clean surfaces when done.

The oil paint gets its name from linseed oil. You need the paint thinner, turpentine or limonene to thin it.


Up aren't using that much at a time for it to be a huge problem, and grow used to, even fond of the scent.

Timothy Norton wrote:My understanding is the stink is from the usage of thinners such as turpentine and mineral spirits. Something like linseed oil won't have such a stench but I don't think it works as well as the prior two.

I did a lot of oil painting in high school--it was my preferred medium at the time. I usually didn't thin my oil paints much, and usually used boiled linseed oil to do so. That didn't smell much. We did have turpentine to clean the brushes. But, honestly, Dr. Bronners soap (or really any stronger soap like laundry soap or dish soap) will do the trick. It just takes longer. Hot water helps.

Normal linseed oil doesn't work as well as boiled linseed oil for marbled painting (like the pretty insides book cover pages), but I'm pretty sure it'll do fine for normal applications. It will likely take MUCH longer to cure. Oil paints take time to "dry," and that time can be sped up by thinning it. Non-boiled linseed oil doesn't cure nearly as fast as boiled linseed oil.

When I went down my Milk Paint rabbit hole, the company I bought my ready-mix milk paints also sold a Citris Solvent. It evaporates as it dries, and it can also be used as a cleaner. I recall watching a video reviewing it for use as a solvent for oil paints, and they were really pleased with the results. I'm going to see if I can find that video!

In searching for that video, I found this one:



He mentions avoiding solvents, using paints that just have oil and pigment, and some other things (I haven't finished watching it, but it seems like it might be a good resource)

---

AH-ha! I found the review I watched on the citrus solvent:



Starting at 8:33, he compares the citrus solvent to Gamblin's solvent's safety warmings. Gamblin needs ventilation, while the citrus solvent does not.

At about 9:55, he shows how well it mixes. Through the rest of the video, it looks like he covers a lot of other oil paint tests (I haven't watched it all, because it's an hour. But, there are time stamps). At the end, he gives his final thoughts after painting. He says the performance was great overall. He had no performance issues. He did find the odor strong, but it didn't make him feel dizzy, lightheaded, nauseous or any other health issues. He suggests using a smaller container of it, just to reduce the amount of smell.

Real Milk Paint also sells a Tung Oil, that evaporates faster than Boiled Linseed Oil. I bought their Half citrus, half tung oil mixture to use in sealing my milk paint signs. For that, it worked great. Despite something like 8 months in the elements, I don't see any weathering on the signs. I haven't used it as an oil paint solvent, but I could try it out if you'd like!

This summer I experimented with home made linseed oil paint for outdoor, decorative pizza-shaped signs. The idea is to use these signs as a menu and attach wooden ingredients to them using hidden magnets. The results have been surprisingly positive and the paint seems to both protect the wood and be durable to rain and sun.

I bought several pigments, mostly clay-based but also one, red, synthetic. I then mixed these with boiled linseed oil (to speed up curing/'drying' time) and painted this onto sanded wood, without the need for any thinners. I did use thinners ('white spirit', which I think is called mineral spirit in the US, it's nasty and petroleum-derived) to clean the brushes but it only took a tiny amount and I did this step outside.

The synthetic pigment was much, much more vivid than the various clays. The clay pigments, sadly, all seemed quite washed out and muted. The paintmaking also used much more pigment than I anticipated to get the desired, thick consistency and depth of colour.

All of the paint was easy to apply and I didn't feel they needed thinning. Mixing the paint myself meant that I could control the consistency by adjusting the oil:pigment ratio.

I've just looked for a photo of the signs installed (as corners of an outdoor pizza oven shelter) and realised that I don't have any to share. I have some photos of the signs being made however, which I've attached below.

My wife and I have made a living from oil painting since '94 (osbornandrughgallery.com) and I learned how to grind my own paint at an atelier years ago. We don't use any solvents (the fumes are deadly over time) and wipe paint out of our brushes by dipping them in linseed oil and squeezing paint out onto a rag. I can use 1 brush throughout the day this way. At the end of the day we use a liquid soap, spacing on the name at the moment, that you can get at art the supplier. Some paints, like cadmiums, are toxic but don't become transdermal unless they are in a solvent...keep your hands mostly clean and wash before eating and the very small possible exposure is not a problem. Our studio/gallery has that smell artists love of linseed oil. Happy painting!

Look up Natural Earth Paint. I don't remember if it's a .com or what, but I've been using them for a few years now, and even their solvents are not that stinky. The artist started experimenting when she got pregnant and didn't want the toxicity around her and her kids. The colors are beautiful, and they pride themselves on being as low toxicity as possible. They even have a line of face paint.

I have lung issues and can no longer use solvents. I now use water miscible/mixable oil paints because there are no solvents needed to thin the paint or clean up. Even the mediums are able to be cleaned and thinned with water. It really is a great way to still use oil paint, but without the solvents.

I did also try acrylics for a time, but did not like the feel to them. Acrylics also have ammonia in them and if you are sensitive it could be a problem.

Lead and cadmium are toxic, but use hues instead and it is safer. They may not be as archival, but they still work well.

I never did any oil painting, aside from furniture and houses, so I, probably, stand corrected on that.  

Keep in mind, boiled linseed oil, often referred to as BLO, is just flax seed oil treated by having air blown through it [at a certain temperature] to pre polymerize it, so it will harden quicker.  To that is added certain heavy metals, which speed the hardening (reaction with oxygen) time.   It would still give you significant working time, while doing your painting.  Solvent thinners evaporate, rather than harden, so may speed the overall hardening time as it, quickly, evaporates.

The funny thing in all this is, in the world of finishes, there are two types of oil based paints. They are long oil finishes and short oil finishes. These are just industry ways of saying "we have our own Latin too, doctors."  [Okay, that last part might be an exaggeration.]  

A long oil finish is just a finish to which more oil is added. A short oil finish has less hardening oil is added.   So, essentially, by adding BLO, you're pushing your oil based paint to the long oil side.

The good news is, long oil finishes are used in nautical environments, because they are softer, so can shift with changes in humidity of the material over which it is spread, better than short oil finishes. The bad news is, short oils are more ridged, so stand up to abuse better, meaning you can't use your long oil finish painting on a floor, because it won't hold up well (that age old problem with paintings, eh?).

ON A SIDE NOTE: Elsewhere (like painting the outside of the Cystine Chapel), we learn to dip our brushes in the solvent thinner, even if it's water [for waterborne paints] for better brush performance, including at cleaning time.


P.S. I have a gallon of D-limonene I use for pure tung oil.  It would be that citrus you were considering.

Nicole Alderman wrote:I did a lot of oil painting in high school--it was my preferred medium at the time. I usually didn't thin my oil paints much, and usually used boiled linseed oil to do so. That didn't smell much. We did have turpentine to clean the brushes. But, honestly, Dr. Bronners soap (or really any stronger soap like laundry soap or dish soap) will do the trick. It just takes longer. Hot water helps.

Normal linseed oil doesn't work as well as boiled linseed oil for marbled painting (like the pretty insides book cover pages), but I'm pretty sure it'll do fine for normal applications. It will likely take MUCH longer to cure. Oil paints take time to "dry," and that time can be sped up by thinning it. Non-boiled linseed oil doesn't cure nearly as fast as boiled linseed oil.

When I went down my Milk Paint rabbit hole, the company I bought my ready-mix milk paints also sold a Citris Solvent. It evaporates as it dries, and it can also be used as a cleaner. I recall watching a video reviewing it for use as a solvent for oil paints, and they were really pleased with the results. I'm going to see if I can find that video!

In searching for that video, I found this one:

He mentions avoiding solvents, using paints that just have oil and pigment, and some other things (I haven't finished watching it, but it seems like it might be a good resource)

---

AH-ha! I found the review I watched on the citrus solvent:

Starting at 8:33, he compares the citrus solvent to Gamblin's solvent's safety warmings. Gamblin needs ventilation, while the citrus solvent does not.

At about 9:55, he shows how well it mixes. Through the rest of the video, it looks like he covers a lot of other oil paint tests (I haven't watched it all, because it's an hour. But, there are time stamps). At the end, he gives his final thoughts after painting. He says the performance was great overall. He had no performance issues. He did find the odor strong, but it didn't make him feel dizzy, lightheaded, nauseous or any other health issues. He suggests using a smaller container of it, just to reduce the amount of smell.

Real Milk Paint also sells a Tung Oil, that evaporates faster than Boiled Linseed Oil. I bought their Half citrus, half tung oil mixture to use in sealing my milk paint signs. For that, it worked great. Despite something like 8 months in the elements, I don't see any weathering on the signs. I haven't used it as an oil paint solvent, but I could try it out if you'd like!

Kelly Craig wrote:Keep in mind, boiled linseed oil, often referred to as BLO, is just flax seed oil treated by having air blown through it [at a certain temperature] to pre polymerize it, so it will harden quicker.  It would still give you significant working time, while doing your painting.  Solvent thinners evaporate, rather than harden, so may speed the overall hardening time as it evaporates.

Just a point of clarification: there are different things that are called “boiled linseed oil” — what you buy from the hardware store under that name is generally treated with metallic dryers. That would be unsuitable for fine art type applications, because it will generally cause your paint film to be weak and crack. The “rules“ for fine art applications are different than other painting applications like furniture or fences.

I want to share a great tip on washing your hands after using oil paints.

I took an oil painting class in college and saw my classmates using all sorts of thinners and gritty cleaners on their hands. I found a super simple non-toxic method that worked great. Simply use a little cheap vegetable oil and vigorously massage it into your hands, especially any spots that have oil paint on the skin. Wipe off with paper towels and then wash your hands with soap.

A Hidalgo wrote:Look up Natural Earth Paint. I don't remember if it's a .com or what, but I've been using them for a few years now, and even their solvents are not that stinky. The artist started experimenting when she got pregnant and didn't want the toxicity around her and her kids. The colors are beautiful, and they pride themselves on being as low toxicity as possible. They even have a line of face paint.

The NEP company looks like they have very fine quality painting supplies. I like the fact that they sell the pigments without the walnut oil already mixed in. You can mix to a consistency that suits your liking and painting style. The Eco-Solve sounds like an interesting product. It is made from soybean oil and they say it is nontoxic. I bought a similarly made product years ago, but it was basically Biodiesel. It had a very prominent smell and even before I had breathing problems it was hard to use even with an exhaust fan in the window because of the fumes. I may give NEP’s product a try. Some people said it smelled and some had no problem with it.

Thanks for the tip about this company.

Oil in the paint in and of itself has a smell. It will gas out onto everything that's around it until it's completely dry which takes a year or more. You will always have some kind of oily smell just like a place that cooks with frying grease or greasy burgers. If you are sensitive to smells, you'll have them with oil paints, and toxicity with many solvents. Some oils have less odor, walnut oil and poppy seed are used, don't yellow,  but are slower to dry (can be a good thing), but they don't dry completely "hard" like the painting linseed oils (which go yellow over time). The only way not to have much smell is to use oil paints with a water-based medium that lets you clean the brushes and thin the paint with water.It's always a good idea to have fresh air coming in, especially in winter when you're keeping things closed down from the cold.

Thank you everyone.   I'm learning a lot.

I was curious about linseed oil as I've had a poor reaction to some as a youth, only to find out that (at that time) they didn't need to list the solvents on the tin as it was assumed everyone knew about it.   But pure boiled linseed oil has a pleasant smell and no reaction.   I often use it mixed with beeswax for treating furniture.

One of the big concerns is the paints themselves might have chemicals that I react to in them.  

I've been looking at the supplies for a class next year and there's no mention of solvents...or anything to dilute the paints.   But, can I trust it?

I um, might have accidentally signed up for an oil painting class.  No solvents, thinners, or terps allowed in the room, only linseed oil and paint.

Not sure what I've gotten myself into.  But I do know I like to practice at home.  

Do you think there's a cheap way to practice techniques like on a paper pad or something?  These primed boards are pretty pricy.   Or maybe I can prime some plywood off a wood palette?  

also, what's the difference between "oil paint" and "oil colour"?

And another one

Should I wash the stiff stuff out of the bristles before class?

And anything special I need to know about a wood palette?   I'm not sure my thumb can handle one.  Can it just go on the table,  or does one need to Bob Ross it?

I don't have answers to your questions but I do have an important tip, that I learned when I took an oil painting class years ago.

If you wash your hands or brushes immediately, you can use vegetable oil and it works pretty well. I used to put a little veg oil in my hands and then rub my hands, palms, backs of hands, where ever paint was visible. Pretty much all of the paint lifts into the oil. Then I'd wipe off as much oil as possible with paper towels, then wash my hands with soap of whatever type, for example, the dish soap found next to the kitchen sink.

Others in my class were washing their hands with solvents or thinner or gritty abrasive weird soap. I was really happy with my non-toxic alternate method.

I asked the instructor and they said I don't need to pre-wash new brushes.  I just sort of 'crack' them somehow.  

I also got a big cube of olive oil soap which I'm going to keep for brush cleaning.  It works great for cleaning house painting brushes so I'm keen to try it for these.  

Cube of olive oil soap?
That sounds like a solid... were did you find that? It would have various other applications I can think of. Depending on additives.  I am intrigued.
Please tell us more. And how did your painting class go? What did you learn?
Please share your progress if you do not mind.

Nina in Ontario Canada

The local European food shop has these 4 inch cubes of olive oil soap from Greece.  There isn't much English and I couldn't find my regular one with just "saponified olive oil".  But I found one with "olive oil, laurel oil, sodium hydroxide"  and it smells like bay tree and soap.  Do you think the soap would be okay?  I have masters brush cleaner for my watercolour brushes but it's expensive and these blocks are only a couple of dollars.

These tend to be a bit greasy for everyday handwashing but are surprisingly good at removing grime and greasy mess.  


The painting class starts in a few weeks.  I have all my supplies ready but the rags and I'm not sure what to get.  Synthetic would have less chance of combustion, but cotton rags I can toss in the wood stove.

I'm nervous about the class and am trying to figure out how to swatch the paints without getting a paint brush dirty.   But I talked to the teacher and there are zero solvents allowed in the room so that's a comfort.  

r ranson wrote:

The painting class starts in a few weeks.  I have all my supplies ready but the rags and I'm not sure what to get.  Synthetic would have less chance of combustion, but cotton rags I can toss in the wood stove.  

I'm worried about you burning paint rags in the stove. What if your paints have toxic pigments in them that would be released in the air when you burn them?

The class sounds fun. I hope you post your paintings. I enjoy seeing your art.

Good point

I didn't get any toxic pigments and did a lot of research into this.  I don't have good studio hygiene and probably will have an open cup of coffee in there in less than five minutes. No point going solvent free only to  risk the next most problematic thing.

Also, I want to be careful of the septic system when rinsing brushes.  

The local waste disposal has a lot of ways to process paint waste,  but not oily rags.  They just go in the landfill if they don't combust on the way there.  

When working with oil based stuff,  I usually use the rags as fire starter. But I'm using natural oils in the home...so I don't know about paint rags.

r ranson wrote:How stinky is oil painting?

Does it need to be dangerous to the health?  

When I watch people oil painting on youtube, they wear gloves or paint halfway outside to get fresh air.  What are the health risks and is it possible to avoid these?

Is there a way to do oil painting without stinky stuff?  

I use oil paints. I don’t know if any way to paint without the smell. I usually paint outside and stay away from open flames.
There is an artist in Arkansas that makes her own paints from flowers, different colored diets and plants. They are natural oil paints but the colors and all natural colors. You could look into that.

From that, I'm pressed to wonder how you clean your expensive brushes?


UPDATE:  It appears Rebecca Norman may have answered the question (vegetable oil (presumably, a type less prone to quick hardening (though any oil that goes rancid is going rancid because it is reacting to the 20% oxygen in the air)).

r ranson wrote:I um, might have accidentally signed up for an oil painting class.  No solvents, thinners, or terps allowed in the room, only linseed oil and paint.

Not sure what I've gotten myself into.  But I do know I like to practice at home.  

Do you think there's a cheap way to practice techniques like on a paper pad or something?  These primed boards are pretty pricy.   Or maybe I can prime some plywood off a wood palette?  

On those oily rags, YES, they are a very real danger. Many a fire has taken out a remodel or other structure because of them. Avoiding the danger is very simple - spread them out without stacking them and the rag will harden everywhere it is saturated with the hardening oil.  

I drape my oily [hardening oil] rags over the edges of my large trash bin. That way, they get lots of cooling air around them to dissipate any heat generated, as the BLO reacts with the oxygen in the air. There are no gusty winds, so I don't have to be concerned with the rags blowing off and being wadded up.

Oh, and you can even saturate old diaper, or other material and, for example, hang it over a jar, or lid, shaping folds around the jar or lid, then just let it dry.  It will become very ridged and you can paint it however you like.  You could make a sun, a moon or whatever your imagination inspires you to make.

r ranson wrote:Good point

I didn't get any toxic pigments and did a lot of research into this.  I don't have good studio hygiene and probably will have an open cup of coffee in there in less than five minutes. No point going solvent free only to  risk the next most problematic thing.

Also, I want to be careful of the septic system when rinsing brushes.  

The local waste disposal has a lot of ways to process paint waste,  but not oily rags.  They just go in the landfill if they don't combust on the way there.  

When working with oil based stuff,  I usually use the rags as fire starter. But I'm using natural oils in the home...so I don't know about paint rags.

r ranson wrote:
Do you think there's a cheap way to practice techniques like on a paper pad or something?  These primed boards are pretty pricy.   Or maybe I can prime some plywood off a wood palette?  

I just had a thought about this... You could have a nice board or two that you paint on over and over and over again.

I looked it up because I personally have no experience with oil paint. Some people suggest scraping and sanding off the oil paint, though that can be dangerous with toxic particles. Another person said to oil in the old paint, waiting until the oil gets tacky and thena later of white and start painting. This was suggested not to do with something you hope lasts as a masterpiece because eventually the old painting shows through a little.

Another person found old acrylic paintings on canvas and prepped them for practicing oil painting. https://www.erikalancaster.com/art-blog/how-to-resurface-old-canvas-paintings-to-create-new-artwork

Now I'm going down rabbit holes...
There are some interesting discoveries museums have found by x-raying old paintings that show the paintings that were previously painted over or changed, sometimes because the artist couldn't afford new canvas.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-06-27/before-and-after-a-history-of-hidden-paintings/5536130
https://news.artnet.com/art-world-archives/hidden-paintings-x-ray-2176965/amp-page

cool

I wonder if my oil pastel paper would be good enough.

The cheap prepared boards aren't much more than watercolour paper so I've got a dozen of those to see me through the summer.   But it would be fun to see if I can find something more affordable to play with.

It seems that solvents are used a lot for underpainting to make it behave like watercolours.

Is there any reason I couldn't use watercolours?

Or if it needs to go darker, perhaps an ink wash?