Is cadmium paint toxic? Sometimes students ask me in my workshops whether certain colors are dangerous to use. Cadmium-based colors have been around for many years but tend to be among the most often in question. As I’ve researched this, there seems to be some misinformation regarding the toxicity of cadmium in artist paints. But I have to make it known that I’m not a health professional — I‘m just sharing what I’ve learned from my own research. So use the information from this post with your best judgment.
Dangers of Cadmium
Cadmium is found naturally in the earth’s crust but is a relatively rare metal. (Which may explain the high price tag on cadmium paint colors!) Cadmium often couples with other elements in a variety of compounds. Some of these are are extremely toxic and dissolve easily in water, making them dangerous to humans.
Cadmium is also dangerous if inhaled in its dust or powder form. Some of the earliest cases of cadmium poisoning were reported in Belgium in 1858. Workers had inhaled cadmium dust as a result of polishing silver with cadmium carbonate. This kind of exposure can cause severe respiratory distress, emphysema, and even death.
The U.S. government has responded as we have learned more about these dangers. Agencies including the EPA, OSHA and the FDA have implemented regulations for air, water, soil and food in order to minimize cadmium’s impact on public health. According to the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, foods account for more than 90 percent of human exposure to cadmium. On average, people consume about 30 micrograms of cadmium daily through a normal diet, absorbing 1 to 3 micrograms. There is currently no evidence that these trace levels pose a hazard to healthy, non-smoking adults. However, studies have shown that smokers can absorb twice that amount per day.¹
The United States is the world’s primary producer of cadmium, generating an estimated 1,100 tons of the metal per year. Artist colors account for only a small portion of the demand for this dangerous metal. About three quarters of the U.S. output is used in the production of rechargeable Nickel-Cadmium (Ni-Cad) batteries.
But what about us artists?
Pigment manufacturing became big business in the nineteenth century, not only for artists but also for industrial and printing applications. When the powerful, intense cadmium colors were developed, ranging from yellows to oranges to reds, artists eagerly added them to their palettes.²
Since then, artists have become increasingly aware of the importance of studio safety. Paint manufacturers recommended that you don’t eat, drink or smoke while painting in order to avoid ingesting potentially harmful substances from paints, solvents, etc. But what about skin or respiratory exposure? Given the dangers, should we wear gloves and masks while we paint with cadmium colors?
We know cadmium is toxic. But is cadmium paint toxic?
When I visited the M. Graham & Co. factory in 2015, I asked specifically about the toxicity of cadmium colors. They told me that by law, paint manufacturers are allowed to make cadmium colors only a few specified days each year because of the dangers associated with dust from the dry pigment. Therefore, proper respiratory equipment is required during production to prevent inhalation.
However, during the paint-making process the pigment is fused with sulfides and coated in the particular medium’s binder (oil, acrylic, gouache or watercolor). This process renders the cadmium insoluble in water, which greatly limits absorption by the human body. The cadmium does remain fat-soluble, so it’s still possible for us to absorb it if we constantly get a lot of it on our hands or ingest it. (Once again, don’t eat it!) But I’m not typically a messy painter, so I don’t wear gloves while I paint. And cadmium paints don’t give off any dust or fumes, so there’s no need to worry about inhaling anything harmful while painting.³
When to Be Extra Careful
If you’re one of those artists who gets a lot of paint or solvent on your hands, it might be a good idea to consider gloves. And you DO need to take extra precautions if you’re sanding dry cadmium paint. Make sure you wear a NIOSH dust respirator to eliminate the chance of inhaling cadmium particles. (Or any other harmful particles or dust.) You’ll also want to avoid spray-applying the colors, since that also increases the risk of inhalation. The same advice applies if you work at all with dry cadmium or other pigments. (For example, if you like to make your own paint.)
After your painting sessions, please avoid pouring your dirty brush-cleaning water or solvent down the drain or onto the ground. This can introduce heavy metals like cadmium into the watershed, possibly creating problems downstream. It’s recommended that you soak up your dirty water / dirty solvent with paper towels then throw them away in your studio trash.
An Applicable Personal Experience
Several years ago, our cat Edgar (named after the artist Edgar Payne) leapt up onto my palette table and his paw landed in my pile of cadmium red oil paint. He immediately jumped down and proceeded to run all over the house leaving little cadmium red footprints across the beige carpet. (Guess he had a secret desire to live up to his artist name.) He took refuge under a table and began licking his paw to try to clean himself up, getting cadmium red oil paint in his mouth and all over his face at the same time. My panic began — “Ahhh, the carpet!” Then, “Ahhh, is cadmium toxic?”
After doing my best to wash the paint off of Edgar using soap and water, I called poison control. They said that the small amount of paint he ingested would likely not harm him. And sure enough, Edgar is now 13 years old and still going strong. (Although to this day he hates being held upside down on his back, possibly still traumatized by being held that way as I cleaned off the paint!) The carpet actually came clean too after my wife and I spent a couple of hours on hands and knees with a bit of carpet cleaner.
The Good News
So, is cadmium paint toxic? I would say that based on what we’ve learned above, with responsible use, cadmium colors are safe in our studios — oil, acrylic, gouache and watercolor. Even if we happen to get some on our paws. 🐾
References:
- The Facts on Cadmium, http://www.dartmouth.edu/~toxmetal/toxic-metals/more-metals/cadmium-faq.html
- Cadmium Yellow, http://artsupplydepo.com/arc-en-ciel/2017/6/27/arc-en-ciel-vol-viii-cadmium-yellow
- Studio Safety, https://www.gamblincolors.com/studio-safety/studio-safety-create-without-compromise/
73 Responses
Stephanie
Poor Edgar! Very insightful, thanks!
Michael R Baum
Thanks for this informative article and a little peace-of-mind. I wear gloves when I paint and will continue to do so, if for no other reason than to keep my hands clean.
Dan Schultz
Solvents and possibly other oil mediums may still be harmful, so gloves can give you extra peace of mind.
Siacri
I know this is a late response..I am sorry for this..However…I have a related and oddly concerning situation.. I paint and my method is brushless..and totally dependent on the use of my right index fingertip..as well as being extremely reliant upon the use of several “water mixable oil colour” paints that contain either Cadmium or Cobalt.. Not using my finger seems to almost “disconnect” me from the painting.. any thoughts on the danger in painting this way? **I am aware that you are not a doctor and that any response is not intended to be medical advice**
Dan Schultz
Apologies that I just found your comment here — my site didn’t alert me for some reason. According to the research I did for this post, cadmium, cobalt, or any other pigment shouldn’t be water soluble once suspended in the paint. So therefore your body shouldn’t be able to absorb it. However, since you are regularly smearing paint onto your skin, you may want to consider a glove or finger guard of some kind just to be safe? Perhaps long-term repeated contact could become an issue. Maybe latex or some other material would protect your skin while also allowing you to feel the paint. (Solvent could still be a danger if you are using it in your process at all and would also warrant some sort of glove.)
Virginia Beale
Thanks Dan! Great article!
Janis Commentz
Thank you Dan for doing the research! It would be difficult to give up cadmium, especially cadmium red pale! Glad Edgar is fine, too. I enjoy hearing from you, as always.
Jenny Steenkamp
Thank you for doing the research and sharing it. It sure was something to worry about.
Peggy Rohr
Thank you for a very informed article. What about toxicity in other paint materials? Lead white, flake white, zinc white, the blue colours and so on? Can they be absorbed through the skin? Should we wear gloves for those? Turpentime substitute that is non-toxic?
Dan Schultz
You’ll have to do some research of your own — I don’t know enough about each of these. Maybe I’ll do a future post….
Alexandra
I have two cats, too, one of which drank some paint water that was very very saturated with cadmium paints without me knowing. He seemed just fine, though, and occasionally when I’m doing my art homework or personal work, he’ll try to sneak some more.
Michael B
For whoever stumbles upon this after me: I don’t know enough about lead white to comment, but the fact it has been banned in Europe for artists without a restoration license doesn’t inspire my confidence enough to use it. I prefer porcelain white (lithopone) from Williamsburg when I need a transparent white.
For solvents, there is no such thing as a non-toxic solvent. There may be LESS toxic solvents, but it’s important to consider why solvents are toxic. Solvents that are capable of dissolving oil paint will also be capable of dissolving the fats and oils in your body. That is (mostly) what makes them toxic. If you take reasonable precautions and have adequate ventilation however, you should be no worse off than you are from eating fast food, using nail polish remover, and inhaling the fumes when you fuel up your car.
One last thing: there are some companies that advertise all natural solvents made from oranges/citrus/etc. so I have to repeat, if it will dissolve oil paint it will do the same to the oil in your body, so please take the same precautions you would with turps or OMS.
Dan Schultz
Thanks for your input, Michael.
Peach McComb
You are right and thank you for your comment! I spoke with a paint manufacturer about that very thing – citrus solvents – and he said, It is still a solvent and is dangerous if not handled properly. Well, that and the fact that I foolishly poured some lavender solvent in a plastic cup and it immediately melted it. Clued me in immediately!
Kay Zetlmaier
Enjoyed reading and learning about the Cadmiums. I’m going to share with my students. Thanks so much Dan.
John
Thanks Dan for the thorough, in depth research. As a trained researcher as well as an oil painter, I can appreciate that.
My cat “Buddy” also decided to take his foray into the artistic realm by boldly licking Cad Yellow straight from the palette, leaving a circle of residue all around his mouth, whiskers, nose and tongue. Of course I immediately freaked out and did my best to give him a cat-bath, which then left my tongue looking quite yellow (just kidding about that of course! [thank you Steve Martin for the inspiration for that quip]). But once I got off all that I could, I figured that what was left did not pose a great danger and he’s been fine since.
The research I have read on exposure to lead is more ominous, since it accumulates in vivo and leaves (in mammals at least). It just keeps building up over time.
While painting I like to wear a good, thick dishwashing glove on my left hand (since I am right-handed) with the upper portion trimmed about 2″ above the wrist for handling rags and other nasties. I do this mainly because it has always been my habit, and because I don’t like to have that stuff on my hand where it will get onto other things.
Dan Schultz
Haha — cats and their attraction to paint! I don’t think gloves are a bad idea overall, considering potentially harmful solvents and other oil mediums that one might use.
Rob Anglin
Dan:
It sounds like I should resume my use of gloves while painting in gouache, Though I rarely get paint onto my fingers or into my cuticles, it can happen, and my Cadmium Red & Orange pigments are water-soluble, since they are gouache. Cobalt pigments are another set of toxics to be wary of, and I am unaware of any Lead White even being available in gouache (I use Titanium and Zinc Whites), General good hygiene and work habits (including gloves while working in water-based media sounds like a “plan”‘.
Edgar and Claude have a distant cousin named Xeno who lives in our house. (Xeno is a black cat with yellow-gold eyes).
Rob
Dan Schultz
That’s a really great question Rob. I would say to contact the company who makes your gouache and see what they say about cadmium toxicity in water-based paint. I didn’t focus my research in that direction but it would be great to know. I suspect that the paint would not be toxic in its paint form, just like the cadmium in oil paint, due to the manufacturing process and the fact that it has been suspended in whatever binder is used in gouache or watercolor. But it would be great to know for sure.
Dan Schultz
Good news Rob — I spoke to a paint manufacturer yesterday and was told that the paint-making process renders cadmium safe even in water-based media. I’ve updated my post above.
Lew
Gamblin’s cadmiums are the ones I know of that are considered so safe they don’t need ATSM warnings.
Lew
(the only ones)
Elisa
How about Cadmium base water soluble oils? there are more dangerous than the regular oil paints because they are soluble in water???
Dan Schultz
I don’t think water-based cadmiums would be toxic. I think the paint making process renders the cadmium insoluble either way. Just because you can mix the paint using water doesn’t make the pigment soluble in water (as far as my thinking goes). But I will try to verify that.
Dan Schultz
Good news Elisa — I spoke to a paint manufacturer yesterday and was told that the paint-making process renders cadmium safe even in water-based media. I’ve updated my post above.
Diane
Thanks Dan for this great article. I have been concerned myself about the toxic potential of pastel paints. A lot of painters I know wear gloves, as a pastel artist I have my hands on the medium constantly when painting and of course there is dust. Do you have any insight to the dangers in pastels. I have tried gloves but find them difficult to work in when blending.
Dan Schultz
I don’t have much experience with pastel and don’t have any connections with pastel manufacturers. My guess is that they’re not using metals like cadmium to make their colors but I don’t know for sure. You’ll have to do some research about this yourself. I’d love it if you would comment here with anything you can find out.
Priya
Dan, thank you for this article. I have recently developed asthma so I have been using oil paints without any solvents. That has helped a lot, but I still find mild respiratory discomfort after painting. I am very cautious now of the materials so that I don’t aggravate my condition. I would love to know what would be great alternatives to cadmium yellows and reds. I see permanent red in gouache, maybe hansa yellow to substitute for cad lemon? In oils do you know what the best safe substitutes are for cad yellow and cad red in terms of permanence and pigment strength? Thank you!
Dan Schultz
Sorry to hear about your asthma — it’s a good idea to be as careful as possible regarding your materials. But as I state in the article, cadmium colors shouldn’t contribute at all to your asthma since they don’t give off fumes of any kind and aren’t able to be absorbed by your body. Perhaps linseed oil is what bothers you…. Have you tried using M. Graham oil colors? They are made with walnut oil and don’t contain any solvents. I have a student with severe allergies and she found she could use the M. Graham oils just fine. Might be worth a try.
Crisalida
Thanks so much for the update on cadmiuns. Greatly appreciated. I have been delaying some of my work due to the use of the red and yellow cadmium (silly doubts) but also because my granddaughter would like me to teach her how to paint with oils. So, again thanks so much for the update and research.
Ray Wick
I had a friend, who was an artist that died from cadmium poisoning about 35 years ago. The doctors told him that he had absorbed the cadmium through his skin since he sometimes wiped his shirt sleaves with excess paint. This seems to be contrary to what you have said.
Dan Schultz
I’m sorry to hear about the death of your artist friend. The conclusion I came to in this article was based on my research and communications with paint manufacturers. I have not corresponded with anyone in the medical field so I can’t speak to what the doctors told your friend about his poisoning. Do you know if he ever sanded his paintings or could have inhaled the cadmium pigment from spraying it? Inhalation is what I’ve been told is the greatest danger.
Mandy Dyer
Very sorry to hear about the artist who past away.
Im reading this as I have recently been painting using allot of cadmium yellow. My upper respiratory tract / chest feels tight and a soreness in my throat, I do not have a cold.
I’ve read in articles about the toxicity of cadmium based colours, I’m going to look for an alternative to cadmium yellow. I’ve also read that the use of cadmium was going to be band in Europe?
I’ve contacted the brand I use and expressed my concerns also asking for them to recommend an alternative to cadmium yellow.
This tight chest and sore throat has happened before when I’ve been painting but I thought it was titanium white or the Prussian blue I was using?
I’m learning independently to paint and so am making myself aware of things as and when. I work in a ventilated studio. It’s no coincidence that the use of this colour has affected my health, hopefully just temporarily.
Thanks
Mandy
A
Hello,
The processing of cadmium pigments have changed. Only in the last 30 or so years have they been manufactured to be insoluble in the body. Before they could be absorbed through the skin so were much more dangerous. I got this information from the Gamblin website.
Ray
I got here via “cadmium poison cat” because it frankly never occurred to me these last 35 plus years of using irreplaceable cadmium paints that I’d have a cat who would trip over the palette I left on the floor where I leave it all the time. Washing his rear paws was a pain. He looked great with a smudge of red, though. And I frankly can not exist without cadmium red or cadmium yellow.
Nan
Thanks for the info. My watercolor teacher (a professional artist) told our class that one of his artist friends nearly died of liver failure from cadmium. I have personally had cadmium removed from my body by a physician, along with mercury for medical reasons. The state of California also lists it as a toxic substance on the paint tubes. In view of my personal experience, I never buy cadmium paint and have found the cadmium free paints work and look the same. Perhaps other people are willing to take the he risk, and that’s their choice. Also, rather cynically, I guess, would the paint manufacturer tell us the truth about his products if it meant admitting there was some risk?? Your cat Edgar has a cousin here at my house! 😄. Luckily it was the Alizarin crimson, but we were all traumatized by the removal process which consumed a couple of hours!
Dan Schultz
Hi Nan — thanks for your comment. Cadmium is definitely toxic, no doubt about that. And I think every person probably has trace amounts of it in their system, even non-painters. My goal with this post was to clarify that the danger of cadmium lies in the inhalation of it in its powder form. But as you said, there are alternative colors that work very similarly to cadmiums. So one could definitely choose to avoid cadmium colors altogether. I’m glad your cat survived the paint removal process like mine did! 🙂
Ray
Yeah, how about the new findings of cadmium and lead found in quite a few brands of dark chocolate bars?!
CHARLIE
I m interested in the effects of such solvents as turpentine , paint thinner, and odorless mineral spirits and General Pencil 105-BP , Master’s Brush Cleaner . and Preserver.
Wear gloves?? or mask???
Dan Schultz
I’ll keep those ideas in mind for future posts, Charlie. I don’t wear gloves or a mask while painting. But I know some artists who wear gloves.
Susan F Greaves
Thanks so much for your well-researched and considered article. It verifies what my pathologist husband has said all along, that even if it could be absorbed (from paint on hands) the body eliminates it naturally and quickly without harm.
Why do pets always get into cadmium red? Have washed a very angry cat and a white Dalmatian whose tail slung red spots all over the porch wall of our white house!
Carlos Ramos
I’ve been using true Cadmium oil paint since 1971. The fake cadmium hue pigment is not in their intensity the same. Upon drying there is a visible difference. The EPA is who tried and succeeded in ramping up the costs of cadmium production through perhaps what are intelligent processes, but again, the pigment itself is expensive as is the new methods of manufacture. I used to have heavy metal liver scans every year. I too had a cat who sadly ate my paint. He didnt die, but his personality and agility changed. Poor cat. The computer has contributed towards changing our pigments based artistic form due to popularity and user ease. Personally I dont like that. Also, Italian Art store was thriving when I discovered them in 1990’s. Very good work in laying open that the chief dangers with any material in particulate form such as pigment is dangerous in its dry, atmospheric particulate form. Not when suspended in oil mediums.
Mandy Dyer
Very sorry to hear about the artist who past away.
Im reading this as I have recently been painting using allot of cadmium yellow. My upper respiratory tract / chest feels tight and a soreness in my throat, I do not have a cold.
I’ve read in articles about the toxicity of cadmium based colours, I’m going to look for an alternative to cadmium yellow. I’ve also read that the use of cadmium was going to be band in Europe?
I’ve contacted the brand I use and expressed my concerns also asking for them to recommend an alternative to cadmium yellow.
This tight chest and sore throat has happened before when I’ve been painting but I thought it was titanium white or the Prussian blue I was using?
I’m learning independently to paint and so am making myself aware of things as and when. I work in a ventilated studio. It’s no coincidence that the use of this colour has affected my health, hopefully just temporarily.
Thanks
Mandy
Dan Schultz
Hi Mandy,
Sorry to hear that you’re having respiratory issues! In my experience solvents can be a cause of breathing troubles. Are you using any solvents while painting? The cadmium in your paint should not be any harm to you unless you’re sanding it or spraying it without a respirator mask. Another possibility is an allergy to the oil in the paint. I know a few artists who found they were allergic to linseed oil. If so, there are brands of oil paint made with different oils like walnut or safflower.
Mandy
Hi Dan
Thanks for your reply. No use of solvents or linseed oil and no sanding or spraying. Only a little safflower oil.
The manufacturer of the brand has replied to me and suggested for me to try paints with “hue” on the colour name and advised these do not have true cadmium in.
My skin on my face can sometime become irritated during and after the use of oils so maybe I do have an allergy to oil paint.
I’ll just use oils for sky and acrylics for foreground with a medium to thin them out and extend drying time.
Maybe I’ll try watercolours at some point.
Shame, I do love the colour oils offer.
Thanks
Mandy
Dan Schultz
Hi Mandy,
I don’t know for sure, but I suspect that some of the oil paint companies may include some solvents in the paint. When trying out one of the safflower oil brands I was pretty sure I smelled solvent in the paint. I reached out to them about it but never got a response.
So perhaps it still could be a solvent issue, or it’s possible that you could have an allergy to safflower oil. Either way, I hope you can figure out a good workaround so you can paint without any problems.
Give M. Graham oils a try if you haven’t — they’re made with walnut oil. One student of mine with pretty severe allergies found that she could safely use M. Graham oils, but not brands made with other kinds of oil. (She stays away from solvents too.)
Anyway, good luck to you in figuring it out!
Mandy
I’ll look up M Graham oils. I’ll work around it and find a solution. Thanks
Fen
As an artist who lives with animals, my main priority is to keep my pets safe at all times. Whenever I work with anything that I know or suspect to be toxic or otherwise harmful, no animals are allowed in the room. I continue to hear people´s storys about their animals being hurt, poisoned or having come into contact with potentially dangerous materials, and I just don´t understand how people can allow for these things to happen in the first place. If your cat can jump on your palette, you do not need to worry about what´s in some specific paints, you need to to worry about you allover workplace safety, period.
Aeternabit
I don’t have any pets, but I am still a little jealous that you have a separate room to paint in.
I use the dining table (which is in the lounge) and have to finish in time to clear everything away before my children get home from school…
Diana
I’m interested alternatives to cadmium colors if anyone has any suggestions.
Grace E.
Winsor and newton released a line of cadmium free paints, apparently they are extremely close in colour to the real cadmium paint.
Katalina
Thank you for the info but ESPECIALLY for Edgar’s tale. My new cat, Sir Royal Smudge, was looking at me with some lipstick on his white cheek… he pawed the Cadmium red and traipsed around the apartment. He has 4 red smudges on his white spots even after soap and water! Thank you for giving me some peace of mind!
Kris
Hi Dan, thanks for the article, I think this is an issue many of us are concerned about. I’m a scientist and artist and unfortunately need to clarify that chemicals do not need to be water soluble for our skin to absorb them. Heck, even our beloved vitamin D is not water soluble– it, like our favorite oil paints, is fat soluble, and there are easy ways for fat-soluble molecules to diffuse across the skin barrier. Though the cadmium in our paints is at a lower concentration than it is in dust/vapors like you mentioned and therefor less harmful than pure cadmium with no binders/fillers, prolonged or continuous exposure to the paint version can still cause issues.
Dan Schultz
Thanks Kris, I definitely want all of us artists to use safe practices with our materials as much as we can. Perhaps I’ll make an edit to the article to mention your thoughts.
Paul Harbutt
Craine says that cadmium had found its way into landfills and water courses but this was because of nickel cadmium batteries. “Cadmium will have been banned unnecessarily; artists have been hit by a punch that was intended for a bigger fight. Cadmium is not used by amateurs, it is used by professionals who take great care and the product is expensive. Artists are not polluters, it is coming from other sources,” he says.
Many artists have signed a petition against the ban. The landscape painter Emily Faludy says that it would be a “disaster” if she was unable to use cadmium paints. “Often they are simply essential” she says, adding that it is “sunshine in a tube”. Fellow artist Michele Del Campo agrees, saying there are no valid alternatives.
The only organic alternatives – dubbed “cadmium hues” – largely fail to measure up to cadmium’s vibrancy. Janice Robinson, of the European Council of the Paint, Printing Ink and Artists’ Colours Industry, says: “They are indispensable to artists to create works of art with bright colours. Many of the beautiful Impressionist paintings of the 19th century would look very different today without their cadmium-based yellows, oranges and reds.” And a world without such works would be a very dull place indeed.
Dan Schultz
Thanks for the great comment, Paul.
Peach McComb
Very informative. I’ve been very concerned about cadmium paint and believed it could be absorbed through the skin. Your article lessened my fear. Plus I really enjoyed the cat paw story!
Tori Quinn
Ah! Thank you for the little snippet on Edgar!! My can, Zen, did the same exact thing today with yellow. I was also in a panic to wash it off and worried about toxicity!
🤙
Ingrid horsburgh
Thank you. Very sensible and helpful.
I’m a cad yellow addict – but I don’t inhale!
Michael R Baum
Great article, Dan. I’ve come to the same conclusions, but as a sloppier painter, I wear nitrile gloves. Have you ever noticed that when pets or humans step in paint and track it all over the house, it is always one of the intense, staining pigments?
Dan Schultz
Yeah why is that?! Why can’t they step in the same color as the carpet? 🙂
Gayle
Hi Dan. Thank you for this valuable information. Always enjoy your newsletters. Gayle
Monique Paiement
I just looked at a video by the artist Mary Krentz Gilkerson. She paints with oils, but tries to work in a toxic free studio. She washes her brushes with walnut oil (the ones you buy in grocery store) in a silicoiled jar and then rinses them with Ivory soap. To condition them, she uses Murphy’s oil. She warns not to use grocery grade walnut oil to dilute your paints. They sell a purer walnut oil in art stores. She doesn’t use any oil paints with cadmium, nickel, etc. in them, she uses alternative colors.
Annabelle Valentine
Nitrile gloves! They are amazing and fabulously thin and strong.
I have also used Zest-it as a brush cleaner and medium for many years, smells gorgeous and virtually no waste as it settles clear after a few days so can be decanted into a clean container.
My fluffy cat walked over a palette of turquoise oil paint, walked it all around the carpet of the rented room that I lived and worked in, then he tried to groom himself, eek. Thankfully he lived until very old, and the carpet survived too.
I’ve high lead and nickel, and some cadmium on my toxic metals test amongst other things, my internal detox system doesn’t work properly so I accumulate nasties.
Peach McComb
This article is well thought out and researched. I have been very nervous about cadmium paint for a long time. This makes me feel more confident about using them. I don’t eat paint either, so they should work well for me. Thank you!
Titch
A very useful article and a conversation that followed. I am a retired professor who started to paint as a hobby. As a result, I developed a cough and some asthma-like lung conditions when I used acrylic paint. I asked the paint shop about this, and they said oil paint does not contain toxins. This discussion is contrary to what was told by the paint shop. Anyone who knows how to make paint manually -the traditional way- would be a good thing to know.
Dan Schultz
Interesting, I haven’t heard of others having trouble with acrylic paint before. And with oils, I think most of the trouble people can have is caused by the solvents, not the paints. However, I think most paint manufacturers recommend painting in a well-ventilated area to minimize any issues. Painting outside is even better.
Diane
Acrylic might not be toxic but you can be allergic to it. I am — and not just to paints, also clothes. I sneeze, get choked up, and clothes itch! I don’t have any trouble with oils.
Dan Schultz
I appreciate you adding to the discussion here. I’m glad you’ve discovered that oils don’t bother you even if you have to stay away from acrylics.
Flower Drawings
i was concerned about it too. thanks for clarifying.
C-Marie
This great article is about cadmiums, but I wanted to add that Liquin caused me to have difficulty in my lungs which was diagnosed as asthma causing the need for inhalers to be used. I knew it smelled awful, but I did love its usefulness. When I stopped using it, after some many weeks of stopping, I no longer needed the inhalers. Now it is extremely rare that I need them. I use Poppy Seed Oil instead.
God bless, C-Marie
Dan Schultz
Yes Liquin is strong-smelling stuff. I’m glad your asthma improved when you stopped using it.
Bonny
Thanks for great information. Really enjoyed all the thoughtful comments.