Title: The Health Risks of Painting with Oils, Acrylics, and Watercolors - Artsy
Headings: Your Paints May Contain Toxic Chemicals. Here’s How to Avoid Harming Yourself and the Environment
Creativity
Your Paints May Contain Toxic Chemicals. Here’s How to Avoid Harming Yourself and the Environment
Photo by Jenna S.
Know what your paints are made of
Paint swatches.
Be aware of toxic pigments
Paint and materials.
Make your studio safe
Follow best practices for disposing of paint and materials

Content: The key is to know what’s on your hands before you touch it, and to always hold the cup by the handle instead of the rim. Mindfulness will help you to avoid consuming chemicals with your coffee. Washing your hands often is another simple and effective preventative measure. You should also avoid spray-painting or sanding your paintings indoors. Inhaled pigments are particularly dangerous and impossible to remove once they’re in your lungs, so it’s best not to make them airborne unless you have a spray booth and an appropriate safety mask. And lastly, an often-overlooked solution to a toxic studio is to find safer alternatives to problematic materials. Instead of using oil mediums and solvents with warning labels about the dangers of inhalation, try using only linseed or walnut oil to dilute your paints, and common vegetable oil to clean your brushes. Oil paints don’t give off gas as they dry, so these changes would effectively eliminate painting as a source of indoor pollution. Both oil and acrylic painters can also find alternatives to dangerous pigments, such as paints that look and behave like the real thing, but use safer pigments and cost a fraction of the price. Most manufacturers sell alternatives to lead, cadmium, manganese, cerulean, and more.