Oil painting safe for pets? and some basic questions
3yr
@divinekataroshie
Hello! I planned on starting oil painting, but I live in 2 room apartment: one bedroom and one living room. I also live with my free-roam bunny. Is there any way to do oil painting in a way that is safe for her? From what I understand you usually need a medium (oil of some sort, for example, linseed oil) and something to clean the brushes (usually turpentine). Is there any way to make it work so that I will not have even a chance to cause her any harm? The trick is, I have one more room one level above, but it can function as a storage space at best, where the painting could dry.
And of course, any tips, along the lines of “what I wish I knew before I started oil painting” are always welcome! usually the most basic stuff during the preparation phase, or when you try to store your paintings are very important, especially when you are a beginner like me and probably will make tons of mistakes that could easily have been avoided with some guidance!
3yr
Hello divinekataroshie! I've got two interesting tips for you :) I think the main risk for your animals come from the terpentine. You can avoid the chemical by buying oil colous you can blend with water. Also there is the posibility to buy drying retarder for acrylic paints. These give the acrylic medium characteristict similar to oil paints.
3yr
Hi @divinekataroshie I have just gone through the same pain point and taken the leap into Oil painting, but I am lucky and have a shed to set up in. Having said that, if you keep your stuff up on a table I don't see how your bunny will be effected by it too much. I bought my supplies from Jacksons Art (London based - Online shopping), and one thing I am really glad I bought was some of their own brand odourless solvent - which saves you having to kill yourself with the stink of turpentine, I also invested in a steel brush cleaner pot with a lid, so you can make it safe if you leave it on the table. If you get a pallet with a lid, or cover over your unused paint with cling film then you will be able to leave it out. That I think might be your biggest challenge - if you've not finished your picture, its good to leave it out in your workspace so you can just dive back in again instead of having to fetch it out of your storage space.
I didn't get linseed oil and am just using the solvent to thin down the paint a bit when it needs it - the other thing is that I've done a couple of still life's and had a bash at an Asaro head, but am still just using B&W paint, so if you want to keep the cost down you can do loads with just a few colours... just learnt about the Zorn pallet - B & W plus yellow Ochre and a red of some sort - loads of scope for figures with just these colours if that's your thing... Good luck...
3yr
i wish that i could help but idk because i do not oil paint. but i do have animals including a floppy eared bunny a small dog cats and even a little mouse my dad use to spray paint quit a bit in a normal sized room it would get quit fumed up in there so the best thing that i could recommend is to maybe crack a window and then put a fan in there but you might have to do more than that i hope that this will help if not im very sorry but i hope that you figure it all out and stay safe. god bless you and your animals.😉✌
