My review on Turpenoid Natural.

Yes I know, there are hundreds of reviews about this stuff but if you’re like me, a skeptic I wouldn’t believe everything that’s out there. I've been lied to too many times from not only manufacturers but by shops pushing their products only to find they are toxic or don't do what they are supposed to do. The only way you’re going to know if this is right for you is to try it. The art industry is as bad as the drug industry here in the U.S as they gouge the public needing their meds. Even though it costs pennies to make, the manufacturers want to make as high profit as they can due to greed. I see no difference in the manufacturers and sellers of art supplies. I have been a musician for about six decades and I have never encountered the greed there is in the art industry. I was always able to afford whatever I needed in the way of supplies for my music. Whether it was a cleaner, strings, tuners, reeds manuscript paper, books or whatever, they were always affordable and readily available. In the art world, I have to jump thru several hoops just to get the oil paints and other supplies I need at an affordable price. I’m retired and living on a fixed income so I always have to budget and only get what is absolutely necessary for the moment.

I’ve been wanting to try Turpenoid Natural for a while but it’s just too damn expensive. A 32 ounce bottle goes for $1.25 an ounce or $40 at Michael's. Comparatively, the same amount of Walnut oil which does a great job cleaning brushes as well goes for $0.50 an ounce or about $16. So to go with Walnut oil is no brainer. The only problem with Walnut oil is that unless you wash your brushes in soap and water at the end of the session, a sticky residue will develop on the brushes and will eventually dry them out rendering them useless. I received one of those coupons from Michael’s for fifty percent off any one regular priced item. I know the scam involved with these coupon deals. The prices are inflated making you think that you are actually getting a deal using the coupons where in fact the price is pretty close to where it is supposed to be. Even at $0.62 an ounce is outrages for what the stuff really is….a citrus cleaner, and their profit is still up there. Since I had the urge to try some, I went ahead and put down my twenty bucks for the stuff and tried it.

It did what it was supposed to do without toxic chemicals so they say and the odor was tolerable for the time being. It had a strong odor of citrus. How the odor will affect me in the future, considering strong odors whether toxic or not bother me, is in limbo for now. I personally don't believe that Turpenoid Natural is non toxic and won't create harmful effects. History has proven itself that what may be a good idea today may kill you tomorrow. The cleaner hasn't been out there used by millions yet and who knows how it may affect your health.

In reading some other reviews claiming to clean dried out paint off vinyl floors and other amazing things, I found it a bit exaggerated. I have plenty of dried out paint areas on the floor and tested a couple of spots; one with turpenoid natural and another just using a scraper. The scraper won. I didn’t see much significance wasting something that’s almost as expensive as some pain killers on some paint on the floor.

I had some dried out paint brushes and soaked them in turpenoid natural for about an hour or so, rinsed them in water and they worked like new. Turpenoid Natural did ease my cleaning of dried out oil paints on my palette fairly quick. I simply brushed some on the dried out paint, let it sit for ten fifteen minutes and wiped it clean with a paper towel. What was left if any, I was able to scrape off easily with a scraper or a palette knife. A 32 ounce bottle won’t go too far unlike Odorless Turpenoid which can be used over and over again by simply removing the settled paint at the bottom of you cleaning bucket. Turpenoid Natural is a little more viscous and although oil particles settle to the bottom, after a while the stuff becomes cloudy with particles floating from top to bottom. Now it’s time to replace the stuff. One thing I might add is I had an aluminum screen at the bottom of my cleaning bucket where I scrape my brushes on had disintegrated while sitting in Turpenoid Natural. I thought that was a bit odd.

In wanting to try more of Turpenoid Natural, I wanted to see whether the stuff came in larger quantities so I did some research. Yes it does. It comes in gallons and half gallons. The best bet, cost wise, is a gallon. Recently I found it on sale at Jerry’s Art O Rama for under $0.40 an ounce or little over $50. Once again comparatively speaking, Walnut oil for the same amount would cost $64. I know that in the future I will be looking for the best price I can possibly find. Just keep your eyes open and when you see a deal on it go for it. But remember, the bigger the quantity, the cheaper it will cost by the ounce.

Those of you using Bob Ross paint brushes or similar where the hairs end up flaring out when coming in contact with water, there is a solution and the hairs can be brought back to normal. Don’t wash your brushes as often as one might with O.P.T. I wash mine once at the end of my paint session and then wrap the bristles tightly with a paper towel and apply masking tape around the edges to keep the paper towel taught. Once the brush dries out, it should be ready for use once again. I have to admit though that sometimes I will have to use a damp paper towel and wrap that around the bristles a second time which works like a charm.

In using the wet on wet technique, since there is an abundant amount of paint on the brushes, I needed to clean as much off as I could before cleaning them in the solution. If I don't, the stuff won't last more than a painting or two. Turpenoid Natural is a bit more viscous than the Odorless Turpenoid and the oil particles take a while for them to drop to the bottom of the bucket. Once the solution becomes totally cloudy and thicker, it's time to replace it.

For more art stuff visit me here:Markku-artist

Bristle Magic-my review

If you’re like me, an artist, who is sensitive to strong odors or just want to get away from the toxic chemicals used as paint brush cleaners, finding a fairly inexpensive none toxic no odor brush cleaner is a challenge. Since my health, after using so called no odor yet toxic brush cleaners, declined rapidly, it became a priority to make my studio non toxic. In doing so, the first thing on the agenda was replacing the toxic brush cleaner ( Odorless Turpenoid) with something less hazardous to my health. If you go thru what I have gone thru for the last several months, it would be your priority as well. I have to say that it’s been hell.

After getting rid of the toxic brush cleaner, I’ve relied on either walnut oil or olive oil to keep my brushes clean. Walnut oil, a friend to oil paints and a great medium, has done a fantastic job, unfortunately it’s getting harder to find at grocery stores. If you use walnut oil on your brushes, don't let them sit around too long without washing them first with soap and water to get rid of the oil. The brushes will harden as the walnut oil dries. Yeah, I could  order some Turpenoid natural at double the cost of walnut oil... not. My other alternative has been olive oil. It’s dirt cheap and I find it around three bucks for a sixteen once bottle at Aldi’s. Olive oil does great job in cleaning brushes. The problem with it is that, like with Turpenoid natural, you need to remove all traces of it from the brush using soap and water. Unfortunately, all brushes don’t take to water kindly. Take Bob Ross brushes, made from hog bristles for example, once introduced to water the bristle begin to flare. They can be brought back to normal however, with a lot of work and plenty of time.

In my search for the perfect, affordable non toxic brush cleaner, I came across Bristle Magic. Bristle Magic is a paint brush cleaner and re-conditioner. It’s biodegradable, non-toxic, non-flammable and supposedly no fumes. Notice that I didn’t mention no-odor. Neither did the bottle. I had some questions regarding the stuff so I contacted the maker via their web site, even got a confirmation of them receiving it and a statement that they will contact me shortly. Never heard from them. It was up to me to locate someone that sold the stuff. I finally found a couple of sites that carried it.  A thirty two ounce bottle cost me about twenty three bucks which includes delivery cost. But don’t go out and order some for yourself quite yet. Keep reading and the decide if this is for you. This is my initial accounts of using Bristle Magic for the first time and is more of a first impression of the stuff. Your experience may differ from mine considering I’ve had to go thru de-tox for several weeks and still have some issues from using toxic brush cleaners and paints.

The first thing I did after opening the bottle, was to sniff it. Hmm, an odor and it was a familiar one, but just couldn’t place it. I poured enough into my brush cleaning system to cover the screen at the bottom. It also stated that you have to clean the brushes with soap and water after washing them in Bristle Magic. I already had my other cleaning systems ready to go. My paint palette had plenty of dried out oil paint from a painting I did a few days ago so the first thing I needed to do was to clean my glass paint palette. I took a brush, wet it in the solution and brushed it on to the dried out paints. I let it soak for about five minutes or so, took a wad of paper towels and began wiping. Not much was happening so I decided to scrape it using my knife.

It took me about fifteen minutes to clean my paint palette, about the same time as it would using walnut oil in the same manner. Okay so cleaning the palette was nothing to write home about and wasn’t any easier with this stuff. Maybe, it really worked wonders on brushes, after all the bottle says, “artists love this stuff”. The viscosity of this brush cleaner was about the same as the toxic cleaners so the paint should settle to the bottom rather than staying suspended as with walnut or olive oil. Both are much more viscous but eventually, the solids do settle to the bottom of my system. I placed some oil paints as usual on my glass palette and began painting using large brushes, as in wet on wet technique. However, I don’t use Bob Ross brushes except for the liner brush so swishing them In water won’t cause them harm.

After painting, I had a few brushes loaded with paint, wiped the excess on a paper towel and began washing them in Bristle Magic. I have to admit that it did a nice job cleaning my brushes although I had to wash them several times before they were totally clean, Walnut and olive oils did it much quicker in my opinion and I didn’t have to wash my brushes several times. By the time I got to my last large brush, the smell of this stuff was really starting to get to me. I started feeling nauseous and a head ache was coming on, perhaps a migraine, so I thought. It just turned out to be a head ache caused by the nasty smell of the stuff. The maker says that it smells like oil but to me it was something else. After a while, it came to me where I had smelled that odor in the past. Car wax has the same smell except you’re out doors and really don’t notice it. I took a whiff of some car wax I had laying around. The car wax was a little weaker as it was pretty old but had the similar smell. I had another recall of the same smell a few minutes later, so I began searching for the source. I found the old reliable Kiwi black shoe polish and opened it up and took a whiff. There it was, the same exact smell but Bristle Magic was much, much stronger. Low VOC is claimed on the bottle however voc‘s never the less. For some, any amount of voc’s can be harmful. Here are a couple of links. Find out for yourself.

http://cdn.dickblick.com/msds/DBH_05733XXXX.pdf

https://www.epa.gov/indoor-air-quality-iaq/volatile-organic-compounds-impact-indoor-air-quality

Well there went twenty three bucks down the drain as I’m sticking with my walnut or olive oils. They’re cheaper, no odor, non toxic and walnut oil can be used as a medium.

In all fairness to the company, I did have a good experience using the stuff. Forgetting to clean a 2" brush filled with colored gesso, the next morning I found it hard as a rock. I didn't want to just throw it away as it would have been a waste of money and a waste of a decent brush, so I thought I'd give Bristle Magic a try. I let it soak over night,then washed it. To my surprise my brush was like new. All that dried out clumped paint was gone. It actually did what it was supposed to on acrylic paints and gesso.

I found another 1½" brush that had some dried out oil paint by the ferule making my brush a bit stiffer than usual. Once again I let it soak over night and washed it with soap and water to remove the Bristle Magic. Sure enough, my brush was like new once again. Bristle Magic works like it's supposed to. Too bad it smells so damn awful!

Read my review on Turpenoid Natural next

For more art stuff visit me here:Markku-artist

 

8 essential things I’ve learned about the wet on wet technique no one tells you about.

I paint seven to eight hours a day, seven days a week and have been doing this for several months now. I am totally hooked on painting and like I was as musician, now I eat sleep and shit art.  Art can be even more expensive, as it already is, especially if you listen to other people’s advice who really haven‘t tried it themselves. It’s always easy to give advice but another to live by it.

As I muddle through this learning process in the art world, I’m finding out that many of the so called artists have no clue as to what they are talking about especially when it comes to the wet on wet technique or non toxic brush cleaning..  I’m retired and don’t have money to burn on expensive supplies suggested by someone who is just yapping at the mouth to sound important. Prices on painting supplies are inflated so that the sellers can play games with so called sales. Take a good look at some of these web sites selling art supplies and compare them with a few others. Have you noticed that the msrp (manufacturer suggested retail price) for the exact same thing varies from one site to the next? If those are actual suggested prices by the same manufacturer, then why are they all so different from each other? Those are all inflated prices making you think that the price they are offering is a good deal. Don’t believe it. It’s probably not even close to being what the item(s) are really worth or the actual msrp.

As for me, I’m going to find the least expensive route to enjoy painting. I’m not looking to make this thing my future nor am I going to go to school to major in art. I probably don’t have many years left of life so I’m going to enjoy the time what I have left thru art.

So, what have I learned after 125+ wet on wet paintings within ten months?

1. Don’t let anyone tell you what to paint or how to paint. Art is art no matter if it’s done with a sprayer, finger, knife, little brush or a big brush. Whether you paint cartoons, real life, portraits, animals, plants etc. makes no difference. You are the artist and as one have the license to paint whatever you want and whatever way you see fit on that piece of canvas.

I remember as a little boy in first grade, the teacher told us that we couldn’t listen to jazz. It wasn’t real music. I turned out to be a professional jazz musician for five decades.

2. Art is very personal and you are going to always have critics no matter how well or what style you paint. I’ve known other artists criticizing others in their style or the subject matter. Just like above with jazz, many will tell you that the wet on wet technique isn’t real art. The hell with them. It’s quite obvious to me that they do this to compensate for their own inadequacies in art. It’s an ego thing.

3. One does not need Bill Alexander or Bob Ross brushes to do the paintings.
There are 2 that I can’t do without and that is the no.6 Bob Ross fan brush. I haven’t been able to find anything comparable to it yet. Same goes for the script liner brush. All of the other brushes; round, filbert, 1”,2” and 21/2”, I’ve been able to find elsewhere and have no problems with them. The 1”,2” and 21/2” are bought from the local home improvement store’s paint department. They are simply stain and varnish sash/trim brushes and a hell of a lot less costly.

It has also been said that one can’t use synthetic brushes for this type of painting. Bull crap, I use polyester brushes along with my China bristle blend brushes successfully using non toxic cleaners.

4. When purchasing pre stretched canvases, why do I need double or triple primed ones or the intermediate level ones which cost two to three times more? If I’m just practicing the art form for the sake of learning and improving my strokes etc, it doesn’t make sense to spend all of that money on something that may be thrown out or burned later. Canvas panels work just fine even for the wet on wet technique. I make my own hard board paint panels for a little over a buck off a 24"x48" panel which costs about $3.79. And no let me repeat that...NO liquid white or liquid clear will not soak up into the cardboard. I've done a few tests and found both to be wet even after 72 hrs.

5. One does not need to paint the stretched canvas or hard-boards black using black gesso. If you are practicing the wet on wet technique why spend a lot of money on gesso when black acrylic paint will do the job. One 8 oz/236ml bottle of Apple Barrel black matte acrylic paint cost me $2.50 and the same size bottle of black gesso cost me about $12.50. In the earlier days of Bob Ross he used acrylic paint. You can also use acrylic white and gray paints for the background. I’ve never had a problem with liquid white or liquid clear drying up during a session.

I started using colored acrylic paints for some of my backgrounds, sky, hills, trees etc and use the oils for the fore ground and special effects minimizing some of the hazards. It works fine, just allow the acrylic paint to dry fully.Here a link to better understand about acrylics under oils: http://www.winsornewton.com/na/discover/tips-and-techniques/acrylic-colour/acrylics-as-underpainting-layers-us. I use a hair drier to speed up the process. Sometimes I’ll use liquid clear and sometimes nothing but transparent paint over the acrylics followed by liquid white to bring out the color. Remember that wet on wet is simply layering paints.

I first learned of the wet on wet concept using acrylic paints. In painting with acrylics it is much the same except you allow the paint to dry first. It’s okay. You can still get similar results. They won’t be identical because it’s a different medium but you can still use large brushes as with oils. Sometimes I mixed Slo-Dri blending medium into my acrylic paints to keep it wet and then placing another layer on top. It’s all about the brushes, knives and layers.

6. They will tell you that once you do wet on wet painting that you can’t improve yourself as an artist. FALSE! The wet on wet got me interested in painting and today I paint animals, birds and do portraits in addition to the wet on wet technique. I’ll even add animals and birds to my wet on wet paintings. I’ve never had a lesson.

7, Toxic brush cleaners such as odorless paint thinners, odorless mineral spirits, Turpenoid etc, has the potential of killing you or at the least creating some serious health issues. If it says to use in a well ventilated area, it’s toxic!

After about four months of painting and washing my brushes in odorless Turpenoid, daily, I began having some serious health problems not only respiratory but neurological ones. Currently I’m going through a detox program and my lungs are clearing up. I’m still having some neurological issues and I hope that will resolve itself in time.

They say that the paints aren’t toxic but some contain hazardous materials such as cadmium, cobalt,zinc oxide etc.which if touched by bare skin can go directly into your blood stream as in my case. I now wear vinyl gloves while painting. As the paints dry, they emit a strong odor which for me also helped create these serious health issues. I now place my wet completed art piece into a separate room for a few days to harden.

Many an artist, won’t have any issues using toxic brush cleaners/mediums and paints but there are many of us that will. Do what’s necessary so you won’t have similar issues I’m going through. They have been rough times which also have had an impact on my mental health. I’m thinking about changing my oils to the water mixable ones or walnut based instead of linseed oil but I first need to compare the overall costs. The other possibility is to use more acrylic paints and use oils for special effects and only for the fore front. We’ll see what transpires once I’m fully detoxed. In the mean time I’m back to using acrylics for now getting the paintings ready for oils since I already have plenty of heavy body acrylic paints.

8. Don't believe half of the advice given on the internet. Most of it is unfounded lacking credibility. There is plenty of advice out there for cleaning brushes using non toxic methods. I’ve tried several. Apparently those who gives this advice have never tried them or perhaps use them on small brushes. It’s easy just to throw out some b.s advice without testing it first. A buddy of mine, not an artist suggested I use canola oil.

The viscous oils I’ve tried do not work well with large brushes used for the wet on wet technique. I found myself spending a lot more time cleaning brushes than painting. There was one which used; one part vegetable oil, one part dish washing detergent and two parts of water/ shake well. Worked fine for small brushes, not for large especially where one uses a lot of paint and fills the brush fully as in wet on wet. This method also ruined my expensive Bob Ross brushes rendering them useless. I had some one and two inch BR brushes which I received in a kit for last Christmas.

Walnut oil worked very well, is oil paint friendly and can be used as a medium, but a small 16oz bottle can be pretty costly even from the supermarket. It‘s a bit too viscous. I find that the paint is mostly suspended up at the top of my cleaning bucket and is good for only a few paintings. It is reusable after the muck settles to the bottom after several days of non use. In the meantime, a new clean batch is needed. I will have to try to tweak this idea a bit more in the future.

I tried mineral oil, the stuff baby oil is made from. I picked up a 16oz bottle for only $1.88 at Walmart in the drug department. It’s used as a laxative. Once again it works fine for small brushes but not for large. Making sure that all of the oil is removed from the brushes is critical since mineral oil does not dry leaving your canvas tacky.

Next, I tried olive oil, which did a real nice job cleaning the brushes. I purchased a 16oz bottle at Aldi’s for a little over $3 but olive oil won’t dry either and you need to remove any trace of it off the brushes with soap and water.

Someone had mentioned Murphy’s Oil soap. It was inexpensive enough, non toxic and about $3 for 16oz. It’s fairly viscous and needs to be cut with water so I used two to one ratio, meaning two parts of water to one part of oil soap. Worked great for small brushes. It worked okay for larger brushes but not quite there yet. I had an idea to try the olive oil first followed by a bath in Murphy’s Oil soap and a final wash in clear warm water to remove any residue from both. I even dried my brushes on a paper towel after beating it dry on my brush beater. It worked just as well as the Turpenoid without the toxicity or the cost, but with just a few extra washes. For just a brush cleaner, I like it. Yeah I know, you’re thinking, why doesn’t he try Turpenoid Natural, right? The cost of the stuff is outrages, overpriced and inflated, no way in hell. Besides you still have to wash your brushes in water and it won’t go that far hence you are making Weber rich.

Safflower oil needs to be mixed half and half with linseed oil for it to work well. But the non boiled linseed oil is way too expensive. The boiled linseed oil will yellow your painting after a while if there is any residue.

Sunflower oil is also a possibility which I haven’t tried yet. The cost is up there with walnut oil. I may give it a try in the near future and will post my findings after I do.

For more art stuff visit me here:Markku-artist