7 Things I Wish I had Known About Solvent Free Oil Painting

[@bugbitess]

Hi! Just want to recommend buying t shirts at goodwill or asking friends/ acquaintances for old tees, sheets, any fabric that can be turned into rags. I just cut up old tees or sheets or literally any fabric (I’ve even used sweaters, they are super absorbent lol). if you can replace some of the single use rags you are using, that would make a difference! Thanks for the video 😊

[@hayleyhawkins]

yesss I do that all the time, it's the best!!

[@simonnemason2162]

If you make sure you thoroughly wash all the master's soap or any soap product out of your brushes they will be clean and soft. I discovered if you leave any soap product in the bristles they do tend to get stiff.

[@ravenshadowz2343]

I clean my brushes after each and every painting session, I use a brush dip of clove oil and safflower oil mixture to break up the oil paint, then I use warm water not hot, and Ivory soap to do the final cleaning. You must use some paints with heavy metals in them to have to wear gloves, there are safer oil paints that you can use to replace them with. And by the cleaning method I'm using now, as well as just using Ivory Soap in the past, no solvents are required. A couple of other things that you can do as well, only one brush per mixed colour, with to keep from contaminating the mixtures. And lastly I use a glass pallet after scraping the paint off the pallet and wipe it down, the brushes that I was using I dip in the brush dip, and then I use a painting motion this breaks up the oil paints that are left in the bristles, I do this a couple times, more so for the white that I use. Once I have took my paint brushes to the kitchen sink for the final cleaning of warm water and Ivory soap, I go and start wiping off my glass pallet that has the brush dip on it, and it's ready for the next painting session. With this brush cleaning technique, non of the hairs have any paint in them they are like brand new.

[@mikesmith2315]

All good tips, I find cleaning with a rag and leaving dipped in safflower or sunflower oil works well, just dry off with a rag immediately prior to use. The residual paint isn't a problem and you just separate by colour and value as mentioned here.

[@hayleyhawkins]

Definitely!!!

[@qam1la]

So regular kitchen sunflower oil also works?

[@ThePsychicStylist]

I looovvve the idea of separating your brushes into color use!! BRILLIANT!!! Just got all new brushes from my grandmother -all new. I love this system! Thank you!!!!

[@hayleyhawkins]

oh how lovely!! yay glad you like that idea!! it's very helpful :)

[@RebekkaHay]

Hi Hayley, the best brush cleaner is by the brand Lascaux. It’s a concentrate and needs to be diluted, but it’s incredible. It’s not harmful to the environment, it’s surfactant free but cleans super effectively. Your brushes will look like new, even crusty brushes can be revived. Give it a try.

[@ahmenforfandenda]

Great video just a tip: You can clean your brushes with brown oil soap. This is much much better for your brushes and it removes ALL oil paint and medium from old brushes. I have cleaned ROCK-HARD months old brushes in brown oil soap and hey are as good as new. On top of that it is much less toxic solvents and no fumes at all.

[@hayleyhawkins]

Great tip!! I will try that! Which brand do you recommend?

[@ahmenforfandenda]

​@@hayleyhawkins Hey Hayley and thank you. I am not sure about brand as I am from Denmark and I use a local one. But in general it is whats known as brown soap, soft brown soap, or liquid brown soap. I use the gooy soft version. But I have seen the liquid one used alot. Just soak your brushes and leave them in a small closed plastic bag for 2 - 3 days and the paint is easy to wash away with reagular soap. Repeat the process if the brushes are rock hard. - 2 important notes - The first: The soap will also remove the paint on brush handle, but it is not harmfull at all to the hairs or glue the brush is made of. Second: I have only ever used synthetic brushes and hogs-hair so I can't speak for the more expensive ones, However i do really punish my brushes (check my oilpainting videos for an example of how i paint) and they are all better off and lasts a lot longer using this soap.

[@hayleyhawkins]

@@ahmenforfandenda thank you, I will look to see if i can find one here in the US! I LOVE your frozen painting by the way - wow!

[@RumoHasIt]

​@hayleyhawkins I think he means something like Murphys oil soap (original wood cleaner.) Murphys is a great brand, just pour a bit of strait soap into a small jar and cover the bristles. You can soak even weeks old paint and in 24hrs it will get your brushes pretty much back to new, if a little stained. After you take them out. Rinse and rub to lift the paint nuggets off the bristles!

[@hayleyhawkins]

@@RumoHasIt I was just reading about Murphys soap recently, thank you for confirming that!! Wow, ok definitely going to buy some and try it out on my old dried up brushes :)

[@Kathy-dt5pj]

i've used Murphy oil to clean my brushes for years ...

[@ArtbyPatrickPetruccello]

Bar of Ivory soap cleans oil paint brushes clean very well. Used thismethod for years.

[@hayleyhawkins]

Yes I love using bars of soaps, it’s the best!

[@marycunningham5050]

Thank you so much! So I have a dumb question: why the gloves? Is it in case your skin comes in contact with hazardous pigments?

[@hayleyhawkins]

@@marycunningham5050 Not a dumb question at all!! Yes a lot of paint like cadmiums, cobalts etc. have heavy metals in them that can be absorbed through your skin. Some painters don't wear gloves but I prefer to just to have peace of mind - and a MUCH easier clean up too since I don't have to scrub my hands after painting :)

[@anita-qq9iw]

i clean mine in olive oil, works a treat.

[@RumoHasIt]

I just wanted to say THANK YOU so much for this video, it really contained a lot of the pieces of information I was looking for in one well thought out script. Ive been wanting to move away from paper towels because I dont like all the waste, so I will be picking up some of those shop rags and using the 2 rag system (so smart!) Im also switching to the chelsea brand lavender spike oil for the rare occasions I do need to use solvents. So glad I found your channel!

[@hayleyhawkins]

Amazing!! Yes I still use paper towels once in awhile but the shop rags have saved my life for sure! Some people love spike oil - I did learn that there are some strong chemicals in the Chelsea brand, I wish it was pure! but if you're only using once in awhile I think it's still a great alternative

[@RumoHasIt]

​@hayleyhawkins believe it or not, the lavender spike oil gave me even worse headaches than Gamsol! It's totally overpowering and I wish Id never bought it! Lol

[@hayleyhawkins]

@@RumoHasIt I know it’s so strong lol :( I felt the same way!

[@FIZZGIG-RARF]

Heck yeah, girl! Love the pumpkins shirt!! ❤❤❤

[@hayleyhawkins]

Yes!!!!

[@silvia_art]

Hi, I use only vegetal and not toxic solvent as Iriclean or tintorsetto😊

[@silvia_art]

😊

[@fabrizioaiello]

Great video, thanks!

[@hayleyhawkins]

Thank you!!😊😊

[@lophoflora]

I wash mine with a cheap coconut soap bar for hand washing clothes and they look like new. I have a lot of brushes so, I never use the same all the time. I also used water-miscible oils but I came to the conclusion that I didn't need to mix with water, except to stain the canvas and draw my composition. So I am transitioning to traditional oils and use water mixable oils to stain and make my initial drawing. No solvents needed.

[@hayleyhawkins]

Honestly I should try some cheap bar soaps too, great idea!

[@callmedeno]

Very interesting, when it dries is it so thin thin it's not sticky? I remember getting a sticky texture with WMO when there was any thickness to it.

[@lophoflora]

@@callmedeno I add just a drop or two of water, just enough for the paint to flow a little better and not leave brushstroke marks. I generally use Raw Umber, it is a pigment that dries quickly. My Raw Umber is from Holbein but most of my water-miscible oils are from the Cobra brand. I've never had problems with stickiness, but I've also never used water to paint, if not in the circumstances I mentioned, then only on the first layer. When I need a little more fluidity in the following layers I use refined linseed oil or Oleogel. Always in the smallest amount possible.

[@hayleyhawkins]

@@callmedeno did you use a lot of water? I read that even though they are water mixable, it's still best to only use a small amount of water. that seemed to work well for me! when i used more water, it was tacky and the texture got weird

[@philcourtney7831]

I get free cloth rags from a local T-shirt company. Ask them to save their mistakes. At least the one I go to makes mistakes on a regular basis. And they gave me the T-shirts they would have probably thrown away for free.

[@robindegu7294]

ah... new painter here (just enrolled in intro paint class at uni). i'm super interested in what you mentioned earlier with regard to your multiple brush methodology. so if i wanted to have a collection of brushes for that purpose would that be... 4 brushes? how do you keep them in order to avoid accidentlly mucking up your palette?

[@hayleyhawkins]

@@robindegu7294 yep exactly, keep things simple! I usually keep 3 brushes or so - 1 for dark colors, 1 for light colors, and then one for miscellaneous such as blending or mid value colors. It just depends on the painting though, sometimes I have like 7 brushes 😂 but ideally less is nice so you don’t have to clean a ton of brushes at the end. You can also clean your brushes in a medium or solvent as you’re painting which keeps your colors from muddying

[@jeremiahembs5343]

Just wash your brushes out with a bar of ivory soap under running water. It'll take all the pigment away very easily. Between sessions you can use mineral oil or baby oil as a rinse but they should be washed out and dried before the next session with the soap because too much in your oil paint retards hardening. Some people use cheap olive oil. I keep some olive on my brushes between sessions to condition them, but wash with the soap. Youcan also use cheap human hair conditioner. The main problem isn't cleaning, it's thinning, which can be done with spike lavender oil which is a more mild solvent than oms but only if you are painting smaller pictures because it gets very expensive to use in quantity, but only a drop is usually needed to help paint dry faster so unless you are doing a thin wash it works fine even on larger paintings.

[@hayleyhawkins]

Great tips! I used to use mineral oil regularly but I stopped because I didn't want to worry about washing them so thoroughly in case any non-drying oil residue was left. It does work great though! Ivory Soap and Conditioner are great ideas - I will try those for sure. Lavender spike oil has a lot of chemicals still and is too strong of a smell in my opinion, but I know some people really like it. Using a tiny drop is the best method as you mentioned!

[@sondossuliman8233]

Thank you 😊 i have a question is it okay that my oil colors and my paintings in my bedroom ?? Of course I will open the window every day and make sure the room is ventilated . Because there is no other place to put my drawing tools other than my bedroom .. I hope you will answer me ❤

[@hayleyhawkins]

Hi there! Are you using solvents like gamsol to thin your paints? Or just oil like safflower/linseed oil? If you're using solvents, definitely ventilate. If not, ventilation isn't as necessary :) I think you will be fine as long as you're opening windows!

[@sondossuliman8233]

@@hayleyhawkins no i dont use solvents i just use oil color and linseed oil ... Thank you for the information. It is good to hear that it will not harm my health as long as I open the window and ventilate the room. Thank you very much.😄😄😍

[@hayleyhawkins]

@@sondossuliman8233 Yes you are just fine then :)

[@sondossuliman8233]

@@hayleyhawkins 😁😁

[@LisaZoe86]

Have you tried to simply use water-soluble/water-mixable oil paints? It sounds like they are made especially for people like you. I use them too.

[@hayleyhawkins]

I do have them and I like them! They are a super cool option. I've noticed you can't use much water though or the paint becomes tacky and weird haha. They sadly don't have the same richness that regular oils have, but def a great option for sure :) I'm glad you are liking them!

[@SomethingImpromptu]

I mean, especially if you’re using toxic pigments- cadmiums, cobalts (including cerulean), chromiums, & so on- I don’t think you’re being overly cautious at all about paint dust. Especially if you’re seeing it break off of brushes & paint tubes (until recently I’m coming from oil & watercolor painting, & in those mediums the pigment tends to stay pretty well-contained… In acrylics, within the plastic paint film [in acrylics the bigger health risk is the actual petroleum byproducts that ARE the binder, & the odorless fumes they emit while drying], & in watercolor, in the Gum Arabic, or Aquazol (the less common but arguably even better QoR binder Golden uses), & once it’s soaked into the paper it’s not going anywhere… The main place it can accumulate in watercolor is at the bottom of glasses of water you clean your brushes in, but then it’s weighed down & waterlogged… So unless you aerosolize it in a spray bottle, or an acrylic airbrush, it’s pretty hard to inhale/ingest those pigments (they do warn that you probably shouldn’t do so with toxic heavy metal pigments, or if you do you absolutely should wear a full-on respirator)… So it’s not something I’m used to worrying about much. You might see a little crust build up around paint tube threading, but if it’s acrylic then it’s going to form more of a polymer that will tend to break off in chunks than a dust, & in watercolor the tubes are so small that even if this happens a little, it’s not likely to build up a lot, & I think it’s because of the nature of the gum Arabic/Aquazol binders, but they really don’t break up into a fine dust that can easily go airborne (they also tend to clump around the edge of a tube’s seal until it starts to stick & you have to break it off in chunks… So, not to say it can’t possibly ever be an issue in these mediums, but it’s not a big problem for them… The main inhalation risk, aside from odorless, invisible acrylic drying fumes that can still be toxic, has only been when I am dealing with dry pigments. Sometimes I buy colorshifting/chameleon pigments (which are made of mica dust) & mix them into an acrylic medium myself, for use in pouring or other painting applications… And when you’re dealing with loose mica powder, or other pigment powders, that’s an ideal situation for the powders to become airborne & be inhaled (& even if mica isn’t carcinogenic or poisonous, it’s still a physical hazard- large, crystalline grains that you do NOT want in your lungs). So any time I’m dealing with something like that, I will definitely wear respiratory protection (ideally you want an actual respirator- not something to skimp out on)… But it’s good to know that with oils, they do become more of a dust hazard when they dry out on brushes or tubes. Given that that’s something you’re observing, it’s DEFINITELY sensible to be cautious about it, to ventilate your space & avoid build-up… Especially if you’re using any toxic pigments- to even if the dust was purely made of dried oils, that’s still not something you want building up in your lungs. People ought to take these kinds of hazards seriously, & I respect the fact that you’re being a good role model about it & sharing some harm reduction advice. I’m new to oil painting, so I’m only just beginning to familiarize myself with all the ins & outs, & obviously the risk isn’t comparable across all mediums (the hazards & the things you need to do to use them safely vary drastically), but I’ve certainly seen horror stories about people who didn’t take the risks seriously, or even know they existed, in other mediums I’ve used, or even just watched videos about. I’ve done some alcohol inks & a lot of acrylic pouring, so I looked into epoxy resin at one point, & the stories of people who spent even just a year or two doing epoxy resin pours indoors without a respirator, not realizing how toxic the stuff is to the lungs, are heartbreaking. People who suffered permanent lung damage, got so I’ll they almost died, still have no endurance as a consequence… All because they got into a craft… Granted, it takes more exposure than that with any of these painting mediums (though people really should avoid using acrylics or solvent-based oil painting products in a closed space without ventilation)… But I think hearing those stories is what has made me so sensitive to it, when I see people making “beginners” tutorials for mediums like epoxy resin, but just completely gloss over the health & safety aspects- neglect to even mention that you shouldn’t be inhaling these toxic vapors… In a lot of cases the people MAKING these tutorials don’t even wear any kind of mask/respirator, because they don’t have a good mic & don’t want to muffle what they’re saying, so it creates this false impression that you can just casually be pouring ounces or liters of this stuff, having it react & harden, all in your own bedroom or something, with no ventilation, no respiratory protection, & it’s just fine… And those kinds of mis-impressions can frankly be fatal, or ruin & shorten people’s lives. So no, don’t feel like you’re being a neat-freak or whatever. It’s really good that you’re putting this info out there, encouraging people to do their art in a safe & sustainable way that won’t leave them with regrets or crippling medical costs, providing information & your personal observations about how to minimize exposure to the toxic components of these materials. It’s a really respectable thing to devote your time to as an artist.

[@hayleyhawkins]

thank you for all the info and for the validation! It's probably not a huge deal for most oil painters, but it's just something to consider and be aware of - especially if you sand or varnish etc. I like to be overly cautious so that's why I brought it up - but at the same time, we have to live and not be in constant fear.

[@SomethingImpromptu]

@@hayleyhawkins For sure! ☺️

[@hookedbycrafting5348]

Mineral (baby) baby oil to loosen dried paint. It works!

[@hayleyhawkins]

Yes!! I used to use mineral oil a lot. It works so well! Now I just use safflower oil then soap and water, but as long as you clean your brush after the mineral oil, it's awesome :)

[@Mistiquex]

Why is nobody here talking about solvents which are made from orange peels? Like the one from EcoHouse or Zest-it or even chelsea has a it too

[@hayleyhawkins]

I've heard these recommended before but haven't tried them yet! Mainly because Zest-it mentions "low vocs" and I'm usually looking for no vocs at all. Maybe some of the other brands are better though! Which one do you like the best?

[@hayleyhawkins]

One other thing I'll mention - I am a huge follower of Gamblin's advice because they're my favorite paint & brand overall, and they have mentioned to be careful with "bio" or "green" products as sometimes they can cause issues - I'm not an expert so they may be fine, but they briefly talk about it here towards the bottom: gamblincolors.com/studio-safety/studio-safety-create-without-compromise/

[@Mistiquex]

@@hayleyhawkins I'm using the chelsea one and is very good. Very light orangy smell. That's it. And in what you shared they are talking about organic ones, but thirst look more like the soy-based ones. The orange peel ones are solaly made from 99% orange peels and oil. They are totally clear and can't get seperate or color white. So Gamblin is in that piece obviously not talking about those ones

[@hb4196]

You need to be sure that your brush is clear of the citrus. Any citrus will eventually degrade your canvas.

[@justfreedude]

Check out EcoHouse SDS (Safety Data Sheet). It emits toxic vapor. Natural Earth Paint Eco-Solve on the other hand is non-toxic (according to the SDS). The only problem I have with it so far is that the pigment doesn't settle.

[@kathleenwilson4668]

Masters brush cleaner soap will get your brushes clean again without solvents.

[@hayleyhawkins]

Yes it’s the best!