If your new to oil painting (or even if your an experienced oil painter) you need to be aware of the proven, harmful, health effects that working with solvents can produce.

Keep in mind, when working with solvents, is that they have a more more insidious cumulative effect than they have short-term – although you certainly can have some down right harmful short-term health issues.

That being said, you can make better choices. In my continuing research, more and more options are becoming available. There truly is a good, bad and ugly of solvents and this is critical stuff to know.

Just as an example, turpentine is one of THE worst solvents you can use. It has a low PEL (Permissable Exposure Limit) which can be translated into how much exposure you can have without creating adverse health effects and high evaporation rate – meaning the minute you smell it it’s already in your bloodstream.

Just these few distinctions can go a long way toward making more informed decisions regarding the oil painting solvents that you use on a regular basis.

I go into much more details (including my best recommendations for solvents based on extensive research) in the solvents section on my DVD, Oil Painting Tools and Supplies*, so if you feel inclined, feel free to check it out.

In my experience there is a lot of mis-information about oil painting and solvents. From which ones to use, to which ones have more serious health hazards, to “green” alternatives and more.

This is important stuff and it pays to get a true, unbiased look at the solvents you are using.

* Currently on sale through this site. Save 25% (or $11.00) off the Amazon price. Offer good until June 1, 2010.

I used to really get hung up on this, that is, really trying to come up with some creative project/thing that the world has never seen before and that will make me/them instantly rich (and famous).

But, in actuality, most of the wealth created created in the world comes from the reinvention of an existing product or service. Nothing could be more true than in creating art.

Creativity itself is really more reinvention than invention anyway. It’s not something that is just yanked out of a black hat. It doesn’t come from nothing. It’s the art of combining existing elements into new wonderful combinations.

Even Mozart said, “I never wrote an original melody in my life” – He just re-interpreted old fold melodies he heard in his childhood.

One of the most brilliant artists ever, Picasso, was a classic reinventor. He figured, heck, why not USE the rich art history who came before him to totally create new, stunning visual interpretations.

And Picasso knew this. Take a minute to meditate on the wisdom in Picasso’s famous quote: “Bad artist copy. Good artists steal.”

For example, look at Picasso’s reinvention (see above) of fellow Spanish baroque painter Diego Velazquez (1599-1660) This was Picasso’s version of Velasqueze’s famous painting “Las Meninas”

Another example is Manet’s famous painting “Luncheon on the Grass” and Picasso’s re-interpretation of it below.

So how can we use this concept of reinvention as artists and creatives?

Well, if you’re struggling with what to create, then maybe make a list of your own passions. Say painting, Picasso and pointillism. That would be a pretty easy one or sculpture, found materials, bright colors and politics. Make it a game – have fun seeking out these combinations.

What about your studio? Maybe reinvent that. Nowadays, many artist are having live feeds into their studio so patrons, collectors and just interested fans can see them creating live. What about adding a question and answer period at a certain time and maybe include a painting raffle. What about a radical caring for the customer? The combinations are endless. (email me and I can help you brainstorm)

You can do this with anything. Creating is about energetic re-combinations. It’s not about being the the sole-inventor or the true original.

And the beauty of this is that these new combinations will set you apart. No one seems to want to do a quality job with anything nowadays. We see it everywhere. So to re-invent a art product/service to the public, all you have to do is be really conscious of what other people are not doing.

I’m working on my next DVD (which relates to Van Gogh) and have been reading a number of technical reports which give some amazing information on the tools, materials and process of select Van Gogh paintings.

I love these reports. They’re not cheap (yes, you have to pay for them!) but they are utterly fascinating. Keep in mind, whenever I go to a museum, most of my friends and family members take advantage of the many benches to take a quick snooze (i.e.; they could care less about looking at art – but no matter, it’s their loss)

To give you reference to which Van Gogh painting I am referencing – it’s is “A Cornfield, with Cypresses” (see picture above) one of three related versions of this composition, completed in the summer of 1889 not long after he entered the the asylum of Saint Paul de Mausole in Saint Remy de Provence.

A lot of things caught my eye when reading this detailed report (about the 3 versions of the painting pictured) which covers, Cleaning and Restoration, The Materials of Van Gogh’s “A Cornfield, with Cypresses” (including exact pigments used, what support, ground, the likely process he used and more) and The Medium.

I could go on and on (and probably will in future posts) but as I was researching the what ground because as I looked at the close-up of the picture via the National Gallery in London website I noticed, what appeared to be raw linen. The warm linen color looked beautiful behind the cool greens/blues in the swirling sky.

You can check it out for yourself by going to the National Gallery site and using the enlarge feature to actually see this. For your convenience just click this link: Van Gogh Painting: “A Cornfield, with Cypresses”

Come to find out the “pre-made” canvases that Van Gogh often used would come with a very light white lead ground when they were purchased.

It appears, some manufacturers in the 19th century put on just such a ‘wash’ to stiffen the canvas a little, over a layer of (glue) size, the intention being for the artist to apply their own proper thick ground on top.

So, what is fascinating to me is that Van Gogh didn’t even do this. Of course, a glue size is actually enough to oil paint on but it’s not ideal.

I find, many times, even myself fussing over the stretcher (typically I build these myself) but since reading this technical report I have realized that it’s about doing the work.

If a pre-made stretcher, bought off the rack, is good enough for Van Gogh (and has held up quite well over time) it’s probably good enough for me.

The big lesson being: just getting into action. I always had a strange phobia about buying “pre-made” artist canvas from Utrecht, Pearl Paint and all the other art manufactures (and even some of the craft chains) I thought they “appeared” cheap.

Well, since reading this report I have decided to use them and spend much less time building (and worrying about the perfection of artist materials) and spending more time creating and painting.

I had a nice conversation the other day with painter Robert Genn about the struggle between making your art and making a living as an artist. I have hit upon this issue before in a recent article called Who You Know versus What You Do

Robert, as many people know, puts out a wonderful newsletter, called The Painter’s Keys – that is always fun to read but we were taking about marketing your art and the often disdain with anything related to art and money and commerce.

And, if your not worried about it, that’s fine but what if you are. What if you do want to sustain a living as an artist. Should you NOT be thinking about that?

Robert shared the sometimes fine line between being a producer or art and wanting to get it out there in the commercial marketplace. He mentions this principle frequently which can be summed up as – “Go to your room”

So what the heck does that mean, “Go to Your Room”? – My interpretation of it it is to go into yourself. When trying to formulate a career strategy and trying to promote yourself and getting on all the social networking sites and trying to get your work “out there” you might be best served by going to your room or going into the silence of yourself.

There you will find everything. Silence can be very pregnant. It can give you power and clarity and direction. Yet a lot of us “run” from it. It doesn’t make us comfortable – as if comfort is now our new metric.

So if your struggling as a beginning artist about wanting to produce art and making a good living at it – first of all, it can be done and IS being done by many, many artists – second, take this time to really ground your work and to spend your time and creativity on the work itself.

Robert’s advice (and mine too) is to put your focus and your energy into the work itself – and you need time and silence to do that. Don’t worry about all the peripheral stuff at this point.

You won’t HAVE to do all this other stuff when your work is so strong people cannot help but take notice and be inspired by your work. You can’t do that AND be on social networking sites all day.

It’s often this little studio accessories that make all the difference in the world – it seems everyone has their favorites  – and, of course, I do too.

A studio accessory (to me anyway) is a time saving tool or supply that solves (or assists with) a specific art studio problem. What’s great about sharing information like this is that you might not have known an item like this even existed.

You may have been doing the same bloody thing aver and over without realizing it could be solved in a better way! And, I am not saying YOU personally, the same applies to me.

I have been caught off guard a number of times but then I would see (or hear) about the product and be like “Man, I wish I knew about this earlier . . ” but glad nevertheless that I found it (or it found me)

I outline at least 10 of my favorites on my new DVD, An Introductory Guide to Oil Painting Tool and Supplies – some of them I am sure you’ll be surprised by.

One featured on  the DVD is the simple paint tube squeezer. A lot of people know these exist but surprisingly very few have them in their studios. I say this because I did an informal survey and only a few had these.

I think it’s a pretty invaluable accessory as with paint being so darn expensive it seems a shame to waste it – and with this simple and inexpensive device it make it SO easy.

Another is a mahl stick. Again, many people do not need these because of the type of work they do but if you do need a steady hand to do precise detail work, there is nothing that works better. Plus these be found very inexpensively on Ebay.

Studio accessories can really make your studio life a lot easier and a lot more efficient.

Please share the ones you have found to be most useful.