Are you keen to start oil painting the comfort of your own home, but not sure about how to start? Oil painting at home can be a bit daunting, what with the toxicity of certain pigments and mediums, and the abundance of materials often required for painting. I used to be quite careless with materials when I first started out, but over the years I've been educating myself on how to keep safe, cleaner standards in your home when oil painting. Here's a selection of tips and tricks to help you when starting out!
Keep your area well ventilated
It's always a good idea to keep your area well ventilated, especially if you're using a strong solvent such as turpentine. Keeping a window open slightly during and a bit after painting can help keep you from choking on the fumes of these strong solvents!
Use low odor solvents; or none at all!
I use odorless mineral spirits such as Gamsol to avoid heavy fumes in the room. It's far less toxic than turpentine, and no real difference! I use it to keep my brushes clean after painting (I wipe with a rag during painting) and keep a tiny bit in a small jar that I reuse several times. That way, I only need to open it once every painting session for a small time, so there are as few fumes as possible and it lasts me ages! Alternatively, a bar of soap works brilliantly as a brush cleaner, no spirits required! You can also paint without solvent-based mediums, such as Gamblin's solvent free mediums and with oils (though it's worth keeping in mind the fat over lean rule if you're working in many layers!). Something I like about Gamblin is that they have all of the safety data sheets (SDS) available on their website, so you can compare between mediums and see what's the lowest risk!
Use less toxic pigments!
Although it's a much talked about color, here's a fun fact; I don't use cadmium paints. Or other toxic pigments, such as lead white. At all. I don't keenly use paints with a high level of toxicity as I probably don't ventilate my room as well as I should sometimes, and exposure to cadmium through inhalation can be toxic. This is worth noting especially if you plan on mixing your own paints, as the powdered pigment would be a lot riskier than the paints themselves for inhalation. The inhalation risks are often based on industrial working conditions, so if you're insistent on keeping cadmium on your palette, simply make sure your area is well ventilated and maybe just buy a tube of it as opposed to mixing it on your own!
Disposable palettes are handy for quick studies
Disposable palettes are great for when you're looking to do an alla prima painting, or alternatively if you're working in one section of a painting at a time. It's a lot handier for quick paintings to just chuck out the old palette and use a fresh surface rather than scraping off the leftover paint!
Glass palettes are easiest to clean
Glass palettes are much easier to keep than wood because you don't have to clean off the paint before it dries (though if the paint isn't dry, baby wipes work wonders on glass palettes!). You can simply let it dry and scrape it off with a glass scraper. Handy dandy!
Make sure of your local disposal laws for oil paints and solvents
When you're disposing of oil paints, make sure of the correct local practice for it. Ask artists in your area, and check online to see what's best to do with the leftovers.
Cover up your surface or easel to keep it paint free
Covering up your surface or easel before painting can help to keep both your surface and painting clean. My easel is covered in old dry paint which flakes off easily; if you're having the same problem, you can simply stretch some cling film over the area you're going to place your painting to protect these old paint flakes from sticking to it.
Keep old clothes exclusively for painting around
Because I'm such a messy painter, instead of getting paint on my clothes all the time I've taken to using old clothes (uniforms from old jobs, old pyjamas, you name it!) to paint in. It's especially handy if you have ones big enough that they fit over your normal clothes if you want to easily slip in and out of them! As much as I adore my apron, it doesn't protect me from paint all the time, and I somehow even have paint on the inside of it, so this tip proves very useful if you're as messy as I am!
Keep old rags or towels
Old tea towels and face cloths are useful for cleaning brushes between colours and keeping your painting area clean. It's always a good idea to wipe most of the paint off your brushes before cleaning them, as this speeds up the process of cleaning.
Clean your brushes immediately after painting...
If you're painting with exceptionally fast drying solvents and not going to paint again anytime soon, this is probably your best bet to avoid paint drying on your brushes. Make sure to give your brushes some love after you're finished painting and wash them straight after!
...or use this handy hack and leave it a couple days
Alternatively, if you're not using a very fast drying medium and you plan on painting in the next couple of days, put your brushes in a freezer bag, push out the air and seal shut (I like to add an extra layer of sealing with tape). Make sure to still wash your brushes over the next 3 days, as the paint can still dry slightly this way. Test this out with old brushes to see what suits your preferred medium best!
Painting at home is a very fulfilling practice, as it's much easier to get started whenever you feel like it! If you're just starting out with oil paints, why not also check out my oil painting for beginners blog?
