My only white is titanium, and I don't touch zinc based on the research of its conservation issues. But I'm curious about having a warmer and/or more transparent alternative for a couple of reasons:
- Titanium can be chalky. Mark gives some good advice around managing this, but titanium is apparently worse than lead white for this.
- Titanium is cool. It can slightly kill some of the warmer tones. I'm doing a big portrait of my four kids and noticing on my youtube research what appear to be strengths of the warmth of lead white for flesh tones. I lack the experience to know how MUCH of a difference the white makes or whether it can be compensated appropriately
- Titanium is is not transparent. It is wonderfully opaque. But sometimes you want transparency (without using zinc.)
I only want an artist / professional* quality paint. I would consider TWO paints to achieve both the transparency and warmth in different situations. I notice that Langridge have a Tinting White (Synthetic Baryte / Titanium Dioxide) which is transparent. I've also noticed some warm whites and unbleached titanium.
What has been your experience with whites that deal with the three issues I've listed above?
I'm loath to include lead white in my palette since its toxicity is a bad match for my carelessness, although I may consider it. I do have cadmiums, after all.
(* An aside. I notice Alex Tzavaras divides paints into student/ Mid-range (artist grade)/ professional grade. I've not seen that before.) Source:
You tube - Simplify Drawing & Painting: Oil paints - what colours and brands should you use.

Comments
Gamblin has a Flake (lead) White replacement.
I bought a tube of transparent white from W&N a few years back.
Regarding temperature Gamblin goes on to say;
Linseed oil whites are warmer; safflower oil whites are cooler in color. For most oil painters, the color temperature of the white, which is determined by the oil the white is made with, is not an important consideration.
But this will be an important consideration for artists who routinely paint passages of pure white. This is especially true for abstract artists who use white as a color and not as the light within a painting.
Denis
Yes, predominately for misty glazes, but also seeking an alternative to the chalkiness of titanium white.
Worked fine for the glazing. Never got back to the mixing issue.
I have since learned to reduce titanium white to a minimum and to employ greying complementaries.
Denis
@Abstraction – I would suggest that you reconsider using lead paints. I reached the conclusion that they are easily used safely in oil painting in normal ways: no hazmat protective clothing, no vent hood, etc. I did a lot of research on this, and reached these conclusions, but don’t have the sources handy right now. I have had blood tests for heavy metals and the results were no heavy metal poisons.
Normally, poison can enter the body through skin absorption, inhalation, and ingestion. How effectively it assimilates in one’s body is based on its reactivity. Both lead oxide PW1 and lead sulphate PW2 are fairly inert. Both paints can’t be effectively absorbed through skin. Both are more easily assimilated through inhalation (but lead dust is much more poisonous than lead paint particles because in the paint particles, the lead is encapsulated in the oil) – so don’t sand or spray your lead paint. I don’t grind my own paints either.
Ingestion: this is slightly more of a problem, so don’t eat your paint. I routinely eat and drink in my studio. I sometimes get lead paint on my hands; when I do I wipe it off and then wash my hands.
If you have children in your studio, then take extra care. Disposal of contaminated rags: your trash service will have information on how to dispose. Usually this means paying a hazmat fee and separate processing.
I know that what I suggest is against common wisdom in the art world.
@tassieguy –
Cadmium is not easily absorbed through skin. I have trained myself to be careful (more careful than I normally am because I am clumsy!) in the studio and check my hands and equipment a few times an hour while painting. Similar to lead and other metals, ingestion is the best route to poisoning, but even then, it is not really feasible unless you suck your paint tubes.
I use a lot of heavy metal paints and love them. I don’t wear gloves or finger stalls. I collect all my paint-contaminated rags and paper towels and dispose at the same time. This prevents downstream environmental contamination.
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT CADMIUM, HOW IT AFFECTS YOU AND WHAT YOU CAN DO TO REDUCE YOUR RISK (dhhs.tas.gov.au)
Dermal toxicity and percutaneous absorption of cadmium in rats and mice - PubMed (nih.gov)
Cadmium Toxicity and Treatment (hindawi.com)
A little care and common sense will see you through. The cadmium toxic risk is related to large scale industrial and mining settings. The dry pigment is the problem substance.
Cadmium in oil paint is fused with sulphides and bound in the oil medium, making it insoluble in water and less able to be absorbed.
Lead white is a bit warmer and more transparent, using it for skin tones and they look more natural than with TW. It's rather expensive too
Ive never used a genuine Lead White though.
As you like the way they mix then I agree you probably can't find anything exactly the same. But if you do want to switch from Cadmium's you do have some options
@Abstraction – Excellent questions! For decades, I used Permalba original white (PW4 and PW6) made with alkyd and oil. It was wonderful! Not too strong, not too weak, not too warm, not too cool, and I liked the viscosity and quick drying. However, I gave it up because of the zinc oxide, even though I paint on firm surfaces and suspect the alkyd would help keep it from cracking and delaminating from the zinc oxide soaps later on, the way natural resins kept the pre-Raphaelite’s zinc oxide intact.
I had always used lead white as well, but after I gave up Permalba, my replacement for the Permalba was lead oxide, lead sulphate PW2, and titanium oxide. I also bought but seldom use lithopone (PW5 – barium sulfate and zinc sulfide) and a few other kinds of white. However, I didn’t get any more usefulness out of these other whites, and I actually don’t enjoy figuring out a bunch of different types of white. I found a way to use the lead and tit whites in different combinations based on what I want, and will stick with these.
I don’t like thinking about my paint chemistry and the nuances of different chemical formulas all for the same color. If I need a white a little warmer, cooler, more transparent, etc., I just add a little of another color (warmer, cooler, etc.) to it and move on. So, I think the coolness of tit white can be adjusted by adding some warm color; and its chalkiness can be adjusted by using less or adding some less chalky white (lead oxide) to it. For the portraits you are doing, I think a warmer white than titanium would be a lot easier to work with.
I have a studio routine which I have had for decades, so the very little extra care I take safety-wise is part of it from the beginning and just invisible to me. It is no extra effort because I have always done it that way. I get my paint from Blue Ridge Paints here in the US, and it is usually 30%-50% as expensive as premium paints (Old Holland or Harding, for example) so it is inexpensive and excellent paint from the drawdowns I have done.
If the Permalba tit-zinc white was proved to be good for making robust paintings, I would go back to it.
@Abstraction – You have encapsulated my thoughts exactly - except for the violent Tourettes that thinking about zinc oxide triggers in me.
I am not a chemist, and decided a few years ago to not try to explore paint chemistry anymore. At my level of access to primary data sources (no central repository and many sources are not in English) and personal understanding of paint chemistry, it is not a topic I will pursue. This kind of stuff is truly a rabbit hole for my personality because the conclusions are going to be indeterminate and likely indeterminable.
I really wish someone in the commercial paint industry would take this research on – and oh God my Tourettes is starting again [email protected]#$@#%$$%^%$^
Tourettes, I loved his work, particularly his blue language period.
@tassieguy
Thank you Rob
MichaelD - Yes, Tourette's blue language period was epic and informed all schools of art: Impressionist/Tourette, Dutch Golden Age/Blue, Cave Art/Blue Ugh. I wonder if Mr. Doak will come out with Tourette Blue oil paint, with his famous secret ingredients.
I suspect that zinc oxide will not cause delamination (or not enough to care about) in situations with all the following: a firm substrate like ACM, a lead oil ground (even if an acrylic ground is applied first) the paint is applied in thin layers, lead is used throughout, and an alkyd or other non-yellowing resin is used throughout. However, I have given up and moved on. It is a pervasive enough problem, and the solution in not using it is easy.
Like all our 1980 Oil Colors, Transparent White contains marble dust (calcium carbonate) as a colorless extender for the pigment formula. We also have other proprietary extenders used to make the normally opaque titanium dioxide look transparent. We developed this color as a flexible alternative to Zinc White. The benefit of our Transparent White compared to Zinc is that it impart flexibility and is not brittle like zinc. Transparent White works well as a standalone transparent white but is also excellent choice for a mixing white with a very low tinting strength.