Artist's Studios

Linseed oil. It's a really strong, sweet smell - a little sickly at first, but you grow accustomed to it quick enough. It's likely the artist wouldn't smell it at all.

Also, they'd need some kind of thinner to clean the brushes, but you can get spirit free cleaners that don't smell too terrible.

Depends on the period, and how much the artist cares about smell.

The better smelling cleaners are much more expensive, in my experience.

So you'd probably smell turpentine, linseed oil, and under that possibly varnish. And dust. I've never known an artist who bothered dusting enough

mine always smells of the drying oil paints, especially if the sun warms up the room during the day. The mineral spirits I use do have a distinct smell, but it doesn't permeate the room the way the paints do. And no, I don't dust.

Ah, I could never smell the oils over the turpentine. But that was in a group studio, and the spirit smells all bother me.

Which is why I don't use oils any more, though they are lovely.

My studio smells like a mixture of things, really . . . the heat from a glue gun, drying glaze, a classroom (remember the smell when it was time for "art" and all the glue and tempora paint came out?) and Febreeze (when I've had enough of that, already).

The only one I've been in recently smelled of Turpentine, glue and (at the right time of day) lunch.
Despite the rather clinical, chemically smells, the big windows and warm colours made the room feel friendly.

Yay, an art queston! (That's what my degree is in...)

It depends on what kind of artist they are. Do they work in oils, acrylics, watercolor, etc. You could always go into an art supply store and crack open a jar of gesso, thinner, linseed oil, etc. (Try not to get arrested for huffing).

The studios at the school I went to smelled like...fresh paint. So did our dorm rooms.

ah yes, the hot glue gun - a very distinctive smell. I miss mine. I used it to work with dried flowers, which also have a special smell, especially the eucalyptus. I always thought of that as a craft room smell vs the artist studio.

I remember the dried flowers smell and eucalyptus from my mom's craft room! You're right, it's a very distinct smell and one I also miss (haven't worked on crafts in years). I use my glue gun to get stubborn things to stick to my altered books, altered objects and mixed media paintings . . . and stay put!!

It smells like empty pockets and grumbling stomachs


okay..maybe I should lay off the turpentine.

Linseed oil and turpentine if you work in oils. Lomey if you're a clay-head. Nothing much, if you work watercolor.

I guess it depends on what you use.

don't forget the smell of the canvass, coffee, sunlight and dust

Tiger said:

Linseed oil and turpentine if you work in oils. Lomey if you're a clay-head. Nothing much, if you work watercolor.

I guess it depends on what you use.

Click to expand...

I work in oils, but not extensively, and my studio doesn't smell like chemicals that much for some reason. I work more with watercolors and arylics -- and there is a "school room" smell (I don't know how else to describe it) that overwhelms everything else. It could be that I'm working with light layers of oil, then adding other media. I'm not sure.

Hah... It occurs to me that artists themselves are probably not the people to answer such questions because they might not notice certain smells anymore.

I like, "school room" smell. Maybe that's the smell of water soluable media soaking into paper--or just the aroma of creativity.

LOL Yes, this is very true - much like that old woman down the street who can't smell her perfume anymore . . . but the rest of us in town can, even with our doors closed.