The smell of turpentine is basically my happy place and I don't care if that's toxic
My husband walked into the studio this morning and said "you know that's probably giving you brain damage." I said "fine, I'll die happy smelling like a painting." He's not wrong but also, there's something about that first hit of solvent when you walk in, before you've even touched a brush. It's like the room telling you it's ready.
I've tried the odorless stuff. It's not the same. It doesn't signal the same thing to your brain. Maybe that's just conditioning.
Anyway I bought a new bottle of the real thing yesterday and the cashier at the art shop gave me a look like I was buying cigarettes for a child. I told her I've made it to 44, I think I'll survive. She didn't find it funny.
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the odorless stuff is a scam and i'll die on this hill. it's like decaf coffee, technically serves the same purpose but you know you're lying to yourself the whole time.
that first hit when you crack the bottle is 50% of the ritual. the rest is just painting lol
You're not wrong about the ritual part. But odorless has its place, I use it for a specific sealer coat on stone sometimes when I'm working indoors and don't want to gas out the whole house. Everything has a job.
That said, I keep the real stuff around too. Turpentine tells you the room's alive. Odorless just sits there.
Bof, I'm not saying it's a scam. It's just not the same thing. You use it for what it is, not what you wish it was. But yeah, that first crack of the bottle, nothing replaces it.
Exactly. It's like decaf, why are we pretending? The ritual matters. That first breath when you open the bottle tells your brain "ok, we're working now." Odorless just smells like… nothing. Or vaguely chemical. I don't trust it.