Wear gloves. Or paint like a neat freak.

[turpentyne]

I signed up for wet canvas, intending to just read and observe, but I’ve encountered something driving me to post my first entry.

Many times I’ve seen here and elsewhere people implying we are safe because dangerous pigment particles are too big to pass through our skin. I want to point out that this is patently false.

Context: Our main line of defense is a 10 – 40 nanometer thick layer of essentially dead and partially desiccated skin, along with some keratinized epidermal cells. It’s called the stratum corneum – thinner than a strand of hair. Everything after this layer is much less effective at stopping passage of unwanted particles.

There are two problems with the statement of particles being too large to pass through.

Problem one: The statement ignores the numerous factors that can affect absorption. Everyone is aware of the most obvious one – skin integrity. A scratch or cut is a superhighway for contamination. But, there are many more variables being ignored: Skin thickness, chemical irritations, ambient temperatures, skin temperature, sweat glands and hair follicles that reach much deeper than the stratum corneum. Particle shape matters, as well. So does movement. Studies have found that stretched or moved skin can allow larger particles in.

And that’s all child’s play. There’s also physicochemical properties of the penetrating molecule, and of the vehicle dispersing this molecule, lipophilic-hydrophilic gradient, pH gradient, and isoelectric point. Big words there, so, I’m sure most of us are Not the best people to be saying ‘it won’t happen’

And there’s the combo effects we don’t think about. One ‘relatively harmless’ paint may irritate our skin.. making it possible for more insidious particles to enter.

Even ignoring all of this….

Problem two: Pigment particles can indeed jump the turnstile at larger size than one may think:

Uptake of 30 – 50 micron virus particles was proven in 1940 (Howe & Bodian, 1940).
20-30 micron particles observed passing the barrier in a 1990 paper (Ferin et al. 1990; Oberdörster et al, 1990).

Not to put too fine a point on it, but pigments are smaller than we think. The Natural pigments website points out that, in modern usage, “most artificial pigments, such as cobalt blue and ultramarine, have a particle size less than 1 micrometer.” Automotive paint averages 5 microns. Azurite is ground to different sizes to change its color, going from over 80 microns to below 30 microns. House paint is around 30-40 microns. zinc oxide from 0.1–10 µm.

Many particles that make it past the stratum corneum will diffuse throughout skin cells. But… not all. Tattoo ink has been found in lymph nodes, the liver and other organs.

One specific item:  I notice people pointing out that lead does not absorb through skin. This is false. ***Studies have found lead CAN be absorbed through skin. One study is the ATSDR Toxicological Profile for Lead (2020)***

The good news: This is an easy problem to solve. wear your damn gloves (or, at least paint like a ultra-neat freak)

[MarkSzy]

While I agree with what you say above, the thing I think about is threshold of effect.

Just because a thing can cross a particular barrier, doesn’t mean it causes an effect. There are certain pigments which may be more toxic than others, and most of them, at the levels which MOST people are exposed to, doesn’t reach the levels in the body to cause effects in MOST people. For example, if you are only exposed to a single bacteria or virus, it is unlikely to be virulent enough to cause a problem – though if you are genetically susceptible or have certain co-morbidities  to that particular infectious disease, then you could potentially become sick more easily, or a worse outcome.

A more common example is the ambient temperature- 70 degrees Fahrenheit is comfortable enough for most people and they don’t need to be concerned with hypothermia at that temperature… unless there is a cold driving rain and a strong wind, then hypothermia can be a potential outcome. Exposure to 70 degrees by itself isn’t a problem, but when you add the problems of rain and wind (consider these like co-morbidity of genetic aberration, COPD,  Asthma, obesity, or whatever ) then something which under normal circumstances wouldn’t be a problem can become troublesome.

Its difficult to absorb enough of a chemical load through the skin of most pigments to cause real problems. Potentially, could pigments cause problems? Sure as anything they could. The question I go to is “are they likely to cause problems at my exposure level?” No.  Washing your hands before eating or drinking is a common sense precaution whether you wear gloves or not. Gloves are not immune to  pinpoint holes during manufacturing or abrasion loss of integrity.

If I ground pigment daily, mined the pigment, or was letting the pigment stay on my skin without removing it at the end of a painting session then I might be more concerned about it. I am exposed to FAR more in my everyday life with the potential to cause harm than the pigments I use. Driving a car exposes me to a very significant and life threatening risk, though I take all the reasonable precautions, seatbelts, driving defensively, etc. Do I concern myself with having a four point harness installed into my car, or wearing a helmet and fire resistant clothing in the car? Nope.  The likelihood of needing that sort of protective equipment is small because of my risk exposure – but a professional race driver should have that equipment because his exposure to risk is higher than mine.

So while I understand and appreciate your point of view, I take a pragmatic approach to my pigment exposure. I do use a respirator when mulling paint because of the airborne pigment particles. I wear gloves when transferring the mulled paint to tubes, or if I buy a bulk amount of paint and am tubing many different colors ( I don’t like to have to keep washing my hands when tubing 5 or 10 different pigments.)

So I personally don’t use gloves to during my painting session, but I do don them if I am cleaning my brushes in the field. I have been painting for over 45 years and have learned over time how not to make a mess out of myself, but I don’t really worry about if I get paint on me and will use my fingers and/or hand to remove passages or to create a particular effect.

you are free to work in any manner you like, but I live 1 mile from one of the largest chemical plants in the country… I smoked heavily when I was younger, I work with radiation 5 days a week for 8 hours a day,  I drive for over an hour at highway speeds to get to work, I work in one of the highest crime areas in the state, I eat too much and too little exercise, and I have a stressful job.  Pick any one of those and they are far more dangerous to my health than 4 hours a day painting during the week and 8-10 hours per day painting on the weekend. As long as I am not sucking the juice out of the paint tube, at my age the likelihood of effect is negligible.  But if you want sweaty hands while you paint, or think it’s important to wear gloves then I think that’s fine and you should wear them. I just think it’s a tiny risk at worst for most painters and our lifestyles are of far more risk that we tend to severely underestimate. Gloves though are great if you like ‘em!

Painting was easy until I learned how.

[turpentyne]

To some degree, I agree with your thoughts about exposure over time and it being up to an individual to weigh the concerns.  My main concern is with erroneous data points many have used to make their decisions, such as claims that the pigments are too big to pass through skin and – more specifically – lead’s ability to do so.

An artist’s decisions on what level of caution they care to take, should have a factual starting point and not be based on anecdotal statements.

[Ohmo]

Some fascinating and verifiable facts provided.  I think, though, without context in the studio. Much like stating one can be killed by a bullet – fact, but much too large a statement to be useful in the studio.

For the information to be useful, more verifiable information is needed:

• What specific toxic pigments can cross the skin barrier and at what sizes? Avoiding the toxins is the only certain way to not get sick. Latex is not 100% reliable.
• How much of the pigments is necessary for them to have an adverse affect on someone exposed to them? Are there any aggravating or mitigating circumstances? What are the upper and lower exposure limits for each toxin (UEL, LEL)?  Are the levels time-weighted, and if so, what are those limits?
• Is there any verifiable evidence artists have become ill or died due to absorption of toxins in the paints/mediums they use? Were the toxins the primary or secondary cause or just that the toxin was present during an autopsy?  An acquaintance of mine died two days after receiving his first Covid-19 vaccination – however, the cause of death was the drunk who smashed into my friend’s motorcycle and not the vaccine.

What factors actually mitigate the transmission? Gloves, yes, but not completely, and the paints themselves prevent absorption. The binders/carriers lock the pigments in place so that washing hands after a session or when paint is noticed on the hands reduces the chances of being effected by toxins in them to near zero.

Here’s a great read on the issue at artsy.net.

Inhalation is, probably, a much greater hazard than absorption through the skin, yet wearing a full face mask with forced air delivery is seldom recommended or even suggested for painting.

Yes, the sky really IS falling, and it has been falling for thousands of years.  To avoid being crushed by it, act based on the facts within context of what you do.

 

Skill is nothing more than talent practiced relentlessly.

[John humber]

I used to smoke. Smoking became recognised as the antisocial habit that it is and I was told that I was poisoning—killing, even—other people with the smoke.

However, up until I was well into adulthood, smoking was permitted on the upper deck of  double-decker buses. As kids we always went up onto the top deck because the view was more interesting. I used the bus every day, people smoked in cinemas, shops, cafes…pretty much everywhere and anywhere really.

It’s quite remarkable that there are any of my generation still living—even more so my parents’ generation. In fact the vast majority of us have survived. I use a similar reasoning in the studio; just as I don’t care to hit myself over the head with a hammer, I don’t open trups bottles and inhale the fumes, I don’t poke pastels up my nose, I don’t consider cadmium red a convenient luch-time snack.

PLEASE how do I make these dreadful yellow things go away?

www.instagram.com/john_humber_artist
www.instagram.com/john_petty_letterform

[Emily King]

Thanks for the really thoughtful and thought-out info!

 

I agree — I personally prefer to err on the side of caution than wish I’d done so later!

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Dream-out-loud

[Dan]

Yayy science…ppe saves lives folks.

[Author]

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