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Originally Posted by Virgil Elliott
All the natural resins have their drawbacks as ingredients in oil painting mediums, and increase the likelihood of problems developing at some point in the future. The most permanent paint films result from the simplest mixtures of linseed oil and pigment. I am less leery of alkyds than I am of damar, mastic or copal, if for some reason I feel a need for a resin in my paint. I find I can paint every bit as well without resins as with them. Our health will suffer less if we can find a way to keep the air in our studio free of solvent vapors. When the paint contains no resins, safflower oil and a rag will suffice for cleaning brushes while one works, and for that matter, afterwards, if it is followed with soap and water. I use different brushes for different colors, and do not clean brushes until I'm done painting for the day. Not only does that keep me from breathing harmful vapors, it keeps my colors cleaner in my paintings.
Virgil Elliott
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Good for you Virgil,
As to which thinner to use, safe practices with solvents will go along way to dealing with them safely. The biggest problem I see with painters is that they leave their solvent cans open. When not in use all thinners should be covered. This reduces the airborne vapors and therefore reduces the risk. Good working habits with most solvents will render them safe enough for most people. Those with severe allergies must be extra careful. The good ventilation and or filter system is absolutely necessary in one's studio. Please paint safely and realize we're using some painters and calls here if not handled properly.
My advice to students is to first see if the effect they are after is something they can get with a simple mixture of pigments. I look at the works of Sargent and Schmid (both of whom are well documented in this area) and for nearly their entire careers (with few a exceptions) they used paint and a little thinner in the early stages of a painting and paint straight out of the paint tube to finish the work. Most of the effects of light, I have to admit, were quite well expressed by these two gentlemen.
If after looking at many examples and finding that the effect you're looking for is quite impossible without the use of mediums, then and only then, do I suggest experimenting with chemistry. My further advice is that you don't become an amateur but a master of chemistry if you expect any of your work the last. If you are unwilling to become a master chemist, my advice is to leave it alone, there are too many variables that you cannot control.
Best of luck to all,
Clayton