Despite oil paints being my preferred medium, I dedicating the whole of 2024 to painting with watercolours, and the five years previous to mostly using acrylics. The reason I stopped using oils in 2018 was due to the slight chest pains I was getting from the fumes that came with using thinners. But now I’m back on the oils and loving it, and I’ve been determined to work the whole chest pain thing out.
I mostly use thinners for two things; mixing with paint to apply the first layer of a painting, and for rinsing colour from my brushes. So I had a google, and a chat with Chat GPT, to see how I might be able to change my process to stop using thinners, or maybe just to reduce their use initially.
The first thing I tried when returning to oils were a range of different thinners. I tried plant based thinners, odourless thinners and some branded as non-toxic thinners, but, hey ho, the chest pains still came.
I then tried diluting paint with linseed oil only, right from the start of a painting. Despite feeling a bit unusual (I think I’ve been painting in oils using roughly the same process since art school), it seemed to work well. No thinners, no chest pains. I also made a painting where I applyed the first layer with watered down acrylics, which worked well too. Next, I’m planning to make a painting using diluted water-mixable oils for the first layer to see how this works.
Regarding rinsing and cleaning my brushes; I’m still using thinners at the moment. But I’ve considered my work space and ventilation and I’m keeping the lid on the thinners pot at all times. When the lid does comes off, I’m doing it quickly and avoiding my face being in the line of evaporation. I’m also keeping rags with thinners in as far away if possible. I still have a few things to try which may help me stop using thinners once and for all. I’ve read that it’s possible to clean up with safflower oil or vegetable oil, followed by washing up liquid or soap, and I’m also going to try using more brushes to negate the necessity of rinsing out colours so often.
So far so good.