(oil painting)question about linseed oil flammability

[littleboo]

Hi all,

This question might sounds stupid but i just wanna make sure not to do anything stupid before starting oil painting first.

Im very new to oil painting and i planned to use linseed oil(and poppyseed oil) as my main medium. Im avoiding the use of solvents mainly because i live in a badly ventilated room. However, i read much about linseed oil that it is actually flammable and linseed oil is used as a paint binder in most of the tube oil paint we have today. does this mean it is dangerous to paint on canvas even without linseed as medium(since the oil paint itself already have some linseed oil)? im living in a pretty warm country and i dont want my room to catch fire :D

Do i missed out something important? Please shed some light on this and much appreciated if anyone do so!!

Cheers!

[Art_Addict]

Hello littleboo,

I have never heard of paintings catching fire all of a sudden.. :) so I think you don't have to worry about that.

From wikipedia: "Rags soaked with linseed oil are considered a fire hazard because they provide a large surface area for oxidation of the oil, and the oil oxidizes quickly. The oxidation of linseed oil is an exothermic reaction, which accelerates as the temperature of the rags increases. When heat accumulation exceeds the rate of heat dissipation into the environment, the temperature increases and may eventually become hot enough to make the rags spontaneously combust. Linseed oil soaked rags should never be stored, least of all in an enclosed container, which allows the heat to accumulate. Instead, rags should be washed, soaked with water, or incinerated."

As long as you do not store them or accumulate them to large quantities you should be fine. Just dispose of them after each painting session.

[littleboo]

Hello littleboo,

I have never heard of paintings catching fire all of a sudden.. :) so I think you don't have to worry about that.

From wikipedia: "Rags soaked with linseed oil are considered a fire hazard because they provide a large surface area for oxidation of the oil, and the oil oxidizes quickly. The oxidation of linseed oil is an exothermic reaction, which accelerates as the temperature of the rags increases. When heat accumulation exceeds the rate of heat dissipation into the environment, the temperature increases and may eventually become hot enough to make the rags spontaneously combust. Linseed oil soaked rags should never be stored, least of all in an enclosed container, which allows the heat to accumulate. Instead, rags should be washed, soaked with water, or incinerated."

As long as you do not store them or accumulate them to large quantities you should be fine. Just dispose of them after each painting session.

HI there!

LOL thanks for the reply. Maybe im just thinking a lil bit too far. As I could not find any oil painting class here, i had to find info about oil paint from the Internet. I hope i could get my oil painting progress moving on. By the way, off-topic question, is it a good idea to cover your work-in-progress oil painting if you are going to leave it for a few days to dry? Im worried it might collect dusts.

Thanks again!!! :mod:

[Art_Addict]

Turn your canvas frontside to a wall in order not to let dust specks settle into the wet paint. It's best to do that with dried paintings too before varnishing.

Best Regards,
Tom

[DSillustration]

Do not confuse combustible with flammable.

Your clothes are more flammable than linseed oil.
Try setting both on fire, see which catches first.

No?

Well, if your clothes don't spontaneously combust, then I think you're safe.

[Zazerzs]

since you mentioned you were new to oils maybe a little book on pallet control and a mixing technique might be helpful :)

http://www.conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?t=157251

since you probably wont spontaneously combust :)

[littleboo]

hi all. thanks for all the kind replies! and thanks for the little book about palette control too! really hope i wont spontaneously combust too lol! :mod: