Turpentine is the traditional solvent used in the oil painting. It’s actually based on tree resin and has a very fast evaporation rate, releasing harmful vapors. It could also be absorbed through healthy skin. Try using only artist quality turpentine as the industrial variety you will find in hardware stores probably contains impurities; it needs to be colorless, like water. It is also known as excellence spirit of turpentine, oil of turpentine, genuine turpentine, English turpentine, distilled turpentine; double rectified turpentine, or even simply turps.
Resins are used to increase the shine of oil paint, reduce the color, reduce drying time of a medium, and add body to drying oils. The most used one is a natural resin known as Damar that should be mixed with turpentine as it would not thoroughly dissolve when mixed with mineral spirits. Damar could also be used as a varnish.
Mineral spirits is based on pure petroleum and has a moderate evaporation rate, releasing harmful vapors. It is not absorbed through healthy skin like turpentine. Mineral spirits is less expensive than turpentine. Mineral spirits is a stronger solvent than odorless mineral spirits, also called as white spirits.
