Another vote for Mark Carder’s Geneva fine art supplies. I have the paints and brush dip. Totally solvent free. I am very sensitive to smells and there’s almost no odor. It has the slightest clove oil odor but very slight. I never clean my brushes but just wipe with paper towel and the dip in the brush dip.
Hi I’m super chemical sensitive but for the past 10 years (and I paint/teach oil painting almost daily) have used Winsor Newton Non Toxic Brush Cleaner with no problem at all. Yes it’s a little pricey but cleans the brushes great (even dried paint) and you don’t need much of it. I do wipe brush on Viva paper towel (my favorite for absorbing oil paint) first and that takes prob. 80% of paint out before cleaning which also helps. That’s for cleaning. For my 50/50 oil+solvent medium I use the Maimeri Eco Solve or Zest It with linseed or walnut. And sometimes the Gamblin Solvent Free gel. All have made oil painting much more enjoyable. Cheers and happy painting!
I attended a painting workshop with a woman who was very allergic to mineral spirits or any kind of solvent. We all used safflower oil as thinner. Sure, it took a longer time for the paint to dry, but there were no ill effects.
The only thing that worried me during that workshop was to keep all oily rags “safe” (not all bunched up where they can potentially spontaneously combust). Actually, one of those red oil cans they have at mechanics shops would work too.
But other than that, painting with oil as a solvent works just fine.