Using old paint stinks!
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- Опубліковано 11 тра 2024
- It’s Mother’s Day in the US, so I want to first wish everyone celebrating a very Happy Mother’s Day!
And I’m back again this week to bring you another cautionary tale!
I’m having new experiences with old acrylic paint. While working with old wet paint, I notice a strong odor. I figured it would disappear when the paint dried but it didn’t. The whole studio stinks! Turns out acrylic paint in a container can go bad, and even acquire mold! My painting was ruined.
I’ve never had this problem before and experimented with bleach to see if I could remove the odor. I coated an entire smelly acrylic painting with bleach and let it sit. Now, the smell is gone! I’ve painted over it with new paint and all seems fine.
This solution saved me for now, but my advice is to take a sniff test before you work with old paint. And be sure to work with good-quality paint!
Have you had any negative effects working bleach over a painting?
Let me know in the comments.
Enjoy your Sunday!
Nicholas Wilton
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I got so sick from painting. $1000's in medical expenses revealed the culprit was from mold in paint. Lesson learned.... toss is all!
Do not thin with tap water if your are going to store it more than a few days. If you make your own gesso use DISTILLED water only if you’re storing .
I haven’t had an experience with moldy paint thankfully but we had a mold inspection of our home. The inspector cautioned us against using bleach to remove mold, especially black mold because it doesn’t completely remove it. Glad it fixed your problem but you might want to research this more. Thanks for the tip Nick!
Interesting! After over 20 years I never had that problem. My paint also got moldy at times. One can scoop off that layer and yes, there was also a slight odour coming along with it. Regardless, after scooping off the infected layer, the paint adheres up to this date without any unpleasant scent whatsoever, still the same colour and steadfast! Maybe it depends on the paint company??
If somebody does want to trash their affected acrylics, please do NOT dump them into the water or into the normal trash!!! Correct disposal is important!!!
I’d have to wonder about what bleach does to the surface and archival qualities of the paint over time.
I'm surprised the bleach was able to remove that smell, but that's great.
Oh my goodness, I had no idea! I'm glad you managed to salvage the paintings. Thanks for the tip regarding the bleach, but I think probably it's a good incentive to paint faster and have only a just-in-time inventory on hand.
You sure have been going through some challenges. First with your oils and now old acrylic. Glad you figured it out.
Thanks for sharing your experience. ❤
Thanks for sharing the human side of art making. I once heard someone describe an artist as a creative problem solver. I bet those paintings will be amazing now that they have a more interesting backstory! A few of my favorite paintings are ones I really struggled with and almost gave up on. Keeping it real helps all of us!
I have experienced old paint and yes it smells off for sure. And I always throw it out. I believe it comes from using paint from a container and dipping into the paint with a dirty brush and Contaminating the whole container of paint. Not that we artists have ever dipped into fresh paint with a dirty brush! 🤫 I now pay close but not perfect attention to my brush washing.
He seems to use mostly bottle and jar paints. I use tubes almost exclusively, and have not had a problem out of the tube. (Some of my tubes are 30-40 years old!) I have had colors I’ve mixed go bad in a container, but only rarely. When they do, I toss them.
Are you serious you have paint thirty or forty years old? I’m sure artists that have been panting for a long time could. I seriously thought all paint will go bad, I just threw out several tubes of paint just expecting them to be bad, because I’ve had them for four years already😳 I can see watercolor probably lasting longer if I’m only squeezing it into my trays, but acrylic? I am more cautious now I’m buying better quality of paint. Thanks for information 🙌🏻
@@sheilagilleland4312 I think it may be exposure to air that causes problems. Bottles and jars have the surface of the paint in contact with the air inside the container. Tubes pretty well exclude air. I am also sort of OCD with the threads on my tubes and tube caps. If the threads are looking a little crusty, I clear out the threads with a toothpick.
I will admit, when a tube of paint gets to be 30-40 years old, it may take a little “persuasion” to become workable. I have had to throw out a couple of tubes that got so thick I couldn’t get any paint out, but ,that’s the exception.
I have a couple of tubes (acrylic and oil) that my grandfather used in the early 1970's. Some had the medium separate out (happened with both acrylics and oils) but mixed back up again fine and worked well. I get a good feeling carrying tools of his artistry forward.
@@sheilagilleland4312 You threw out paint EXPECTING them to be bad and not even checking their quality by painting with them? That's a waste of both paint and money!
Spray a clear coat over the painting and it should hold the odor where you don't smell it. I wander if you clean the painting with Vinegar because vinegar and baking soda remove odors, you can try them separately or even together
I had no idea this was even a thing! Thanks for the cautionary tale. I'm glad the bleach treatment worked out. ☮️❤️
I'm glad you were able to salvage the panels!
Back in the late '80s, I had that problem with gallons of acrylic paint for screenprinting fabric. Too toxic smelling to even work with and likely would not have performed well.
Sad to have to dispose of and lose the business expense. Lesson was learned about how much to keep in stock!
I go giving a smell to my buckets, and re-hydrating them -thay last some more. Sometimes if you dispose the superior layer of the paint -a BIG portion tho- the more moist below is sometimes good. I haven't tried bleach yet, maestro!
I have found old paint smelling a bit bad, but the smell dissipated while it was drying. The real problem came the following day when I want to add another layer and the bottom layer didn't stay dry but mixed in with the second. Result: mud. It was a small canvas and I chucked it.
I prefer oil paint, but don't have the proper ventilation here in my small home studio. I've gotten used to acrylic, but it's been a process. I've not had this smelly experience, but appreciate the info!
Good to know. Thanks.
This has happened to me with acrylic paint. I like to make my own gray from all the old paint on my palette but it begins to smell really bad. Ive never noticed the paintings smelling though. I recently tossed all the gray paint I’d been saving, away. Thanks for the tip Nick. A friend said to put hydrogen peroxide into the paint to eliminate the smell but have not tried that yet. I usually only use the gray for the sides after the painting is finished, I’ll give them the sniff test!
I would worry that the bleach would continue to bleach out the color as the painting is exposed to light; especially sunlight. What about covering the painting with varnish instead?
Although I am using ink more and more.
I have had paint go off!! It’s crazy when it happens!!😂
I found that for me, acrylic paint is just not a healthy choice . It contains ammonia and formaldehyde and breathing the fumes caused balance and dizziness problems. It started to feel neurological! Then there's the mold issue, the reason for the formaldehyde. Oil paint with a fan or open window is the way to go for me, also the plastic color of acrylic, even with color mixing techniques, never read as rich as oils. Imho
You know I have been sick with a respiratory problem for six weeks now, I’m an asthmatic so I’m thinking allergies. I’ve been painting a lot, and I may need to pay close attention to my painting habits. I most always leave the door to the studio open, but if it’s cold or hot outside I do shut the door mostly may be only leaving a crack of the door open. And I never run a fan. I love reading these reply’s, I swear I get so much information this way. Thanks for the post.
I tried wearing a mask when a friend wanted to use acrylic in my studio and that helped but I wasn't hanging over it like I was doing my own work. Oil only for me. Best of art and health to you!
I tried wearing a mask and that helped but I now only use oil paint. Wishing you good health and good painting!
Hahaha! So that’s why some of my old paint smells so bad.. I thought it was from the plastic container that originally had food in it.. makes sense.. I’m throwing all my smelly paint out now. 😅
😂
Paint over it with KILLZ(KILZ?? sp??)to reuse canvas
It’s always blue it happens with…really weird! Whatever is in blues!!!
Oh no! The sniff test is not a good idea. Mould up ya nose right there.
This is putting me off using acrylic.
Me too, watercolor is my true love why not give it all I have. 🙌🏻
May I suggest, you just use oil paint, rather than plastic paint. Problem solved.
He switched to more acrylics because oils were causing him a health problem
What’s the best way to use these paint ? Well vented area, try and keep your hands out of the paint. And learn more about how to clean up after the oil paint and wear gloves, am I missing something? Thanks for all the good advice!