Air Purifiers
 

Is anyone using an air purifier in their studio? I am an oil painter with concerns about fumes, etc. Thanks for any info you can give me.

I paint with my doors open even in winter times. Morgan Weistling uses a good one in his studio we've talked a lot about it. I've got one friend, one of the best in my Country who received medical advice to stop using oil paints because of the fumes. He's now looking for a good medium in order to keep on working.

Air Purifiers
 

Thanks so much for your input. It certainly is a predicament trying to figure out what to do.

I use a purifier made by Austin Air. I mainly use it to eliminate dust even though it would also purify the air of fumes. But there are no fumes in my studio because I paint without solvents except for one drop of turpentine which I use in my underpainting mixture.

I have no solvent cup on my palette while I'm painting nor any open jars to clean the paint off of my brushes. I clean dirty brushes at the end of the day with Safflower Oil which I get from Utrecht, followed by Jack's Linseed Oil soap. I also use a little Gamsol to take the paint off of my palette at days end.

Solvents are dangerous and not necessary.

Air Purifiers
 

Thank you very much for your reply. It was very helpful although I am wondering what you use to keep your paints workable - do you use some linseed oil or paints that are made more fluid? I have been using a mixture of linseed oil and Gamsol. Since winters here in Chicago are pretty brutal, thhis is a very important topic to me. I tried switching to water-based paints for a while, but they're just not as satisfying to me.
Carol

I just add cold pressed linseed oil. Sometimes I mix the CP with Sun Thickened Linseed Oil by Kremer. The key is that I use fresh paint every day. Solvents also weaken the paint film. I also oil out dried paint with Natural Pigments Oleogel.

Air Purifiers
 

Thank you again for your kind and useful reply. I will try your recommendations immediately.
Carol

Cool hint.

I use odorless mineral spirits to clean my brushes, but I'm gonna give it a try.

Odorless doesn't mean toxic-less. ;-) The fact that the odor is camouflaged doesn't mean it's harmless. In fact, it's more dangerous because you don't realize you're inhaling fumes.

I use no solvents either and if Gamsol has to be used, the windows are open and the fan is on. And the item with the Gamsol is in the outside trash asap.

I just looked up Oleogel and I'm curious about using it to oil out paintings. What are the advantages?

Sometimes the linseed oil beads up. The Oleogel doesn't, and covers more evenly. Try it; you'll like it.

Regarding drying oils, I add a drop of Clove Oil to my palette while mixing my paints. I transfer my mixed paints to the Masterson Palette Box and store overnight in a refrigerator. I usually have 2 palettes going at once and today I used a palette that I mixed originally over a month ago. All colors are good except the white, which I don't add any clove oil to.

I do use odorless mineral spirits by Gamsol to give a final cleaning to my brushes before I use soap and water but I keep it in sealed containers to avoid the toxicity. I will look into those you mentioned, Marvin.

Hi John,

Clove oil is an archival compromise. It keeps the colors on the palette from drying out, but it also retards the drying of your painting. If you work in layers this can lead to premature cracking. Too much clove also darkens paint over time. To me nothing rivals fresh paint every day.

Interesting. I only use a drop per color string so I felt I was being safe. The colors I mentioned that have remained relatively fresh were special colors for a shirt and foliage that would require many visits with multiple drying times in between. To those colors I added just a bit more clove oil.

I didn't feel comfortable mixing and remixing the same colors but I guess I may have to change my approach. Afterall, if I can develop the original color by mixing I should be able to recreate it. I hope I am good enough to do that.