The Well Equipped Student, Materials Explained

2. Oil Paints, Choosing and Using

For young students who are still growing we will not use paints that include lead, cadmium or cobalt. There is no shortage of information available about the dangers of these metals. It is every parent's responsibility to know this when shopping for anything involving pigment, and this includes more than just paint. However, safe practices are easy to learn and painting with gloves and safe habits keeps artists healthy.

Lead, cadmium and heavy metals are dangerous to growing children because when these metals are in a child’s blood stream they are mistaken by the body for protein and are bound into the bones and skeleton for decades. All organs are susceptible to damage. It should be noted that most young adults are growing their skeletons and ossifying their cartilage until their middle twenties. 

The safest paints to use are “earth tones”, made from a variety of clay found around the world. Many of my “cadmium replacements” are simply laboratory-made synthetic pigments. These include the bright spectral colors that will replace cadmium.

The whites are Titanium, not lead or zinc. Zinc is safe but forms an inferior paint film that becomes brittle in a short time. Titanium will have an alarming new label due to the passing of the Prop 65 consumer labeling bill. Most highly-respected authorities are not at all fearful of titanium. Titanium White is very unlikely to cause any harm in the way an artist is expected to handle it. Titanium White is an adequate paint for a reasonably strong paint film, although inferior in strength or viscosity to lead white.

How to Clean your Brushes

When you are done painting your brushes will be full of wet paint. The hairs will be saturated with paint even down inside the shiny metal part of the brush called the ferrule. Wipe as much paint off with a paper towel as you can. You should be squeezing with gentle pressure from the ferrule toward the tip, extruding the paint from the ferrule and the hairs.

Be kind to your brushes. They are expensive and you should also be kind to them while you paint with them. Lay your strokes down with some style and grace.

After you have wiped them off, dip them in a jar of walnut oil (first choice) or cheap vegetable oil and repeat the wiping process. Then wash the brush with medium-hot water and dish soap or cheap white bar soap. You should be wearing a thick and comfortable rubber glove in your non-dominant hand. Massage the soap and extrude the paint patiently and gently, so as to not damage the hairs. Always squeeze from ferrule to tip.

Note. Wash one brush at a time. Do not save time and attempt to wash a handful of brushes together. It just doesn’t work! You will be disappointed to find later that the paint did not get washed out and your hairs are hardened with dry paint. Take your time and do it right. Also, wash your brushes by the time you go to bed.

When your beautifully cleaned brushes are rinsed you can lay them flat with the tips hanging over the edge of a table. You may also reshape the brushes before they dry to keep them in form.