My toxic overload!

[Karin Wells]

In just the last couple of weeks, I have begun to develop some serious health problems when painting...(headache, nausea, chills) starting with mild symptoms and becomeing increasingly severe.

So - "Doctor's orders" - I am not to use any solvents or mediums for a couple of weeks (I use Liquin and citrus thinner) and "stay out of the studio."

Baloney. I can't NOT paint! So today I started to play with heat-set Genesis brand paints. These paints are totally non toxic and not as difficult to use as I had feared....they feel exactly like oils. Here is more about them: http://www.genesisartistcolors.com/

There is a book that tells how to convert brand-name paints into Genesis: "Decorative Painting Color Match Sourcebook" by Bobbie Pearcy (My copy included a Color Match Supplement on Genesis.) Because of this I am able to use my usual palette of colors....

Below is a detail of a painting that might normally take me months (drying times) using traditional oils, but I did it in about 5 hours using all the underpainting and layering techniques I am used to...

Her name is Grace and I have painted her from an old photograph taken in 1887. Her coloring is based on a great gradnchild who resembles her...

This is the fastest portrait that I have ever painted and I can't wait to really explore what these paints can do!

Please note...that this is NOT a finished work - just an experiment...

[Mike McCarty]

Sorry to hear about your condition. Was it just the solvents and mediums that caused your condition or were oil paints also to blame?

These "genesis" paints sound too good to be true. I will be interested to read of your progress.

[Karin Wells]

I really don't know what chemical part of the traditional painting process is making me sick right now. I suspect that the Liquin (medium) that I use plus the thinners are the main problem. Who knows?....maybe the paint has a negative effect on my health too..

Meanwhile, Genesis is pretty darn good and it doesn't make me sicker to use them. They are archival and still classified as "oils." I intend to begin a batch of new work immediately with them. Because I am able to work so quickly with Genesis, maybe I'll be able to seriously cut into my two-year backlog of work

Unfortunately, I have many unfinished paintings in the studio right now with clients waiting for them. When the weather gets warmer, I'll open all the windows and doors, crank up the fans, hold my breath, and finish them the way they began...with all the traditional materials.

Then I'll probably go back to Genesis and try to get/stay healthy....

I wonder how many artists are sadly prevented from working with oils because of the health problems caused by traditional materials?

[Virginia Branch]

Karin,

I am so sorry to read about your ailments! Good luck with the new paints you have discovered.

I decided to start using oils again after a 20 year hiatus because of the water soluble oils. I have 2 children and didn't want to expose them to turpentine etc. I am very happy with them. I do notice that when I go to an art class with people using traditional oils and turp, I get a slight headache. The paints you have found sound even better as you don't really need a mixing medium and if you do, it is non-toxic.

Hope you feel better!

[Cynthia Daniel]

Karin,

I don't know if you were at the ASOPA festival where an Oriental woman talked about the use of Applied Kinesiology to test substances to see how they are affecting us.

I didn't personally see that presentation, but I heard about it and as I understand there were some in the audience who received it well and those who did now. It's definitely into the alternative field of health.

For those who do not know, Applied Kinesology uses muscle resistance testing to determine the affects of various substances on our bodies or to test the function of systems and organs in the body. About 16 years ago when I first encountered this, I was very skeptical, but experience since then has taught me otherwise.

When you consider that everthing in the physical universe is basically energy, and energies can affect each other, then Applied Kineseology starts to make sense.

Frankly, as one who has had bad experiences with doctors, I must admit a prejudice against the reigning medical tradition. Of course, they have their place, but I believe they are all too willing to cut and drug and never look for the basic source of a problem.

When my son had allergy problems as a child, the pediatrician was more than happy to continue to prescribe more and more medications. He was looking thinner and more pale by the day and could barely eat without stomach spasms because of all the medications. I was angry about this.

I finally decided to do some research on my own and was shocked to find simple things the doctor had never told me...like no feather pillows and no dairy products! I was angry that she'd never done the least bit of eduction on me and I never went back to her and refused to pay my last bill.

Back into the alternative arena:
I recently had something called a Meridian Health Analysis, which is very comprehensive and totally painless and gets into energetic diagnostic methods, which is where I'd say Applied Kinesology lies also. I was shocked to find out that having my tonsils out at 12 was affecting my lymphatics and that having a rubella vaccine at 28 was affecting my thyroid. I also learned that I had problems with allergies, which didn't surprise me. I also learned that things we don't currently have but have had in the past can still be stored in our bodies as an energy pattern that can affect our body's energy. And, lastly I learned that where we have scars can also disrupt the normal energy flow in the body.

There are times when I go through a minor period of rejection of these concepts because they are so far outside what us Westerners have been taught. And, then I remind myself that every practitioner that has ever tested me has always come up with the same problem allergens on me, even when I had no idea what was being tested.

Unfortunately, the Meridian Health Analysis is not available around every corner. I've also seen it call Meridian Stress Assessment. Here's some places you can read about it, though I think the description of what it tests is rather limited. For example, my test included all kinds of things including food additives, anesthesia, environment chemicals, hormones (yes, you can be allergic to your own hormones) and much more.

http://www.phr.net/meridian.html
http://www.funimky.com/bio_feed_back.htm

I was fortunate to find an alternative physician that offered this rather than a chiropractor. I have nothing against chiropractors, I just preferred the greater range of services the physician was able to offer.

As you say, when our bodies start to manifest such symptoms as yours, it's an indication that the toxic overload has become more than can be effectively handled. Anything that cleanses the body can potentially be helpful...exercise to the point of sweating, drinking tons of water, going vegetarian (no grains), doing a full or modified juicing program, colonics, etc.

A disclaimer here: I'm not diagnosing or prescribing, but simply speaking from my own experience. I also am not recommending the avoidance of traditional medicine if that helps you and it's what you want to do.

One final note on this post. I am a kindly person and generally very open to the expression of divergent opinions and varying opinions are not discouraged. However, I must mention that if you plan to write a scathing debunk of what I have just posted, that you could be treading on very emotionally sensitive territory. I have 25 years of study and research in this field due to my son's and my own problems that no traditional doctor could diagnose. But there's also been lots of years of frustration because this is information that isn't necessarily easy to find.

[Stanka Kordic]

Cynthia,

You're my kind of gal! I too am an alternative medicine convert. I have many stories too long to tell, but have switched the bulk of our medical care to a Homeopath who is also a D.O. Can't speak more highly of it. We have a son with Crohn's Disease that's doing wonderfully well under her care. Thank you for that info, I'll check into that as well!

(...I seem to have a fondness for all things 'alternative')

Karin,

Please take care of yourself! Hope you get better soon..

[Cynthia Daniel]

Stanka,

It really is a fascinating field once you get hooked on it. I would probably study it now even without any health challenges just because it is no riveting.

I also have a D. O. I go to, but she's not quite alternative enough for me. The D. O. was a good start, but I found going to the physician who does the Meridian Stress Assessment gave me tons more information. The thing with this type of testing is that it can find things that are challenging the body before they cause disease.

[Karin Wells]

Would you believe.....I just had the Meridian Stress Assessment...and will do whatever it takes to feel like a human being again. What is a D.O.?

[Cynthia Daniel]

Karin!! That's so amazing! Did you get your results yet? Did you do it through a physician or a chiropractor? Are they right there in your area?

[Karin Wells]

A Chiropractor...right here in Peterborough, NH.