Safety (Part 1)

It's not a particularly glamorous aspect of painting, but it shouldn't be skipped over, as it can have significant long-term health impacts. These posts are by no means a comprehensive list, just some of the major issues I've dealt with.

Turps.

It's ubiquitous in oil painting, but it's it's actually pretty nasty stuff. Sensitivity to turps varies from person to person, and increase dramatically over time. You should always use ventilation when using it, and try to avoid contact with skin.

I don't use turps in my day to day practice, but rather these substitutes instead.



Odourless solvent is a super low toxicity alternative, but should only be used for cleaning brushes, not for dilution of paints. For that, I use White Spirits.

UPDATE - Whilst the odourless solvent I use is a low toxicity alternative to turps, there are other odourless variants out there from different companies that have the smell removed, but not the toxicity. Make sure you know what you're getting!

Remember that the symptoms of turps poisoning can easily be confused with a bad cold (sore throat, difficulty breathing etc), so if you find yourself coincidentally getting ill after a few days of painting, you could be poisoning yourself. Get better ventilation!