Thank you Anthony. As for the item # 00430-1013 Titanium white from Winton range, i wonder what your thoughts are about its permanency since it contains Zinc Oxide PW4 mixed with Titanium white PW6, also would like to know what you’re using in your palette as white and the basis of oil paints brands selection. Thank you.
While there are a good number of reasons to avoid any oil paints with zinc oxide (see: (https://www.naturalpigments.com/artist-materials/zinc-white-oil-paint-color/) I am not overly concerned about its inclusion in the Winsor&Newton Titanium Whites. At the risk of sounding like an argumentum ad populum–the majority of white oil paints available today seem to include zinc oxide and the Winsor&Newton Titanium Whites seem to have only zinc in the 5-10%. As such I am not willing to toss out a white paint that provides many advantages that I really enjoy.
In addition, George O’Hanlon states that a number of the early problems he lists in his paper “were primarily observed when zinc white was used alone or in excessive amounts, especially in the grounds of paintings. It appeared that the cracking and embrittlement of dried paint films could be minimized or eliminated when zinc white was mixed with other white pigments or used sparingly*.” (although admittedly there are other problems that he attributes to paints containing only small amounts of zinc.)
Personally, I would be much more concerned about the drying oil that is used. Thankfully, Winsor&Newton Titanium Whites use Safflower Oil which, generally speaking, has been shown to yellow much less than other drying oils.
If you have concerns regarding the zinc oxide in W&N paints then by all means use a different white. There are many out there to choose from and you may end up finding one that is similar to my favorite that you can recommend to me.
To be honest, i used Winton Titnium white much before i read about its problems, and i recently bought a 200 ml. tube of it that i used a little then omitted using it for painting at any stage hoping that i can order a white that’s easy to work with and overcome problems, if there’s any, including the brittlness one, and survival of paint film for at least longer time, also taking in mind that titanium white does also make brittle paint film, may be better than zinc a little, but when mentioning enjoyment in painitng then Yes,i used lead white but i didn’t like its thick consistency, i wish it works easily with brush like titanium or zinc white. I also used Old Holland 60 ml. tube white that i purchased online but not sure if it’s my favourite, it works fine with brush for smooth brush strokes, and it’s opaque like Winton, may be. But we all have used zinc white – not? In work, one can’t differentiate between a titanium with zinc and one with no zinc mixed with it. I’m doing a painitng and i used Winton naples yellow as a mixed white :0 by caliberation to my reference, as you know it’s a mixed white with titanium PW6 and other pigments in it but no zinc. because i didn’t want to use the tube of Titanium with zinc in it. But when i reached the areas with higher values white, i now couldn’t resist using it because it’s the only pure white i have. But knowing that you use Winton, i decided to know your thoughts, may be i can have a justification to use it again
Have you used other whites to select Winton white as a favourite?
i was under the impression that the brittle nature of zinc in paint isn’t so much the problem as the canvas/panel/support it’s painted on and moreover the stresses it encounters. it’s like saying you should only use metal cups for drinking out of because china or glass can smash - yes, but only in very specific situations.
though there’s an increasingly zealous movement around the archival nature of materials which folk seem to get a little preoccupied with. i’d rather focus on not making a horrible mess of a painting that will last 500 years. if old master works are still around in spite of the rigors of time, rolled, being carried across multiple continents on horseback, unrolled, cut up, etc, and still hold a lot of their charm even with some significant deterioration. i don’t think our work will suffer half the abuse, even if it has a bit of brittleness due to zinc or potentially other modern additives with hidden drawbacks we don’t know about yet.
As an extra note, due to the increase in publicity generated regarding the wariness of zinc white, manufacturers are already choosing to remove it from their paints (except for actual “zinc white” of course) and pre-gessoed surfaces, Michael Harding, Golden, Frederix, and Old Holland I know of are doing this or have already done it, I expect there are more brands to include or on the way. There’s a lot more info about it on the Traditional Oil Painting group (run by Virgil Elliott) on Facebook where they are really hard core on this kind of stuff.
it seems to follow that if you can use a more future-proof white without drawbacks, you probably should.
Hi Yasser, Absolutely. Over the years I have experimented with many different white paints (I remember Permalba White being popular in the studio for some time quite a few years back) but I have always gravitated back to W&N Titanium whites.
– not? In work, one can’t differentiate between a titanium with zinc and one with no zinc mixed with it. I’m doing a painitng and i used Winton naples yellow as a mixed white :0 by caliberation to my reference, as you know it’s a mixed white with titanium PW6 and other pigments in it but no zinc. because i didn’t want to use the tube of Titanium with zinc in it. But when i reached the areas with higher values white, i now couldn’t resist using it because it’s the only pure white i have. But knowing that you use Winton, i decided to know your thoughts, may be i can have a justification to use it again 