As I’ve been working on my most recent painting I’ve been reading a book on the history of color. It covered how white paint was made using a metal oxide. Lead White was a popular one for a long time and still available, it turns out, even though it is toxic and it has mostly been supplanted by Zinc White and Titanium White on the artist’s palette. Because my martial arts paintings use a good amount of white of some form I was curious about a couple of things. So I went to the trusty internets and did a search.
While I knew a couple of things about Lead White, like it being toxic. I had one misconception. Between the book I just finished, and one I read a few years ago, I thought Lead White was no longer available in 2025. This is not true. Though not many companies make it anymore because of its toxicity. I learned that it doesn’t play nice with some other pigments due to chemical reactions. And I learned that it doesn’t age well. Since I don’t have or use Lead White, none of that really matters. What made it interesting is that I ran into another artist recently who really wanted it because he doesn’t like some aspect of the other whites that are more readily available.
So what are the other whites? Well as I mentioned, they are Titanium White and Zinc White. I have both. And it turns out, I was using them wrong. But first a little more about them. Like Lead White they are made from a metal oxide, in this case zinc oxide and titanium oxide. But since I wasn’t sure if they were still made this way today, because so many colors today are synthetic formulations instead of the historical formulations, I went looking for information to find out. And I found out that they are. You may have read my previous post talking about how I thought I’d ruined my watercolor painting using white, and how white is discouraged in watercolor. In it I mentioned how it seems to sit on top of the paper and not soak in or absorb. Now, I think I understand why.
I found out even a bit more helpful information about the two more common whites today, zinc and titanium. It turns out that they behave differently and there is a reason for there to be two popular whites.
In case you are catching up with what I’m doing artistically and a little confused as to why I’m talking about white paint since I was working in watercolor, my latest painting is in oil. And I am planning to do more oil paintings. I do have one watercolor that I need to finish. But that’s a story for a different post. With oil paints, and I imagine acrylics, white becomes a much more useful tool in the paintbox. But it depends on which one you use and what you use it for.
And this is where I find it funny to come up against my unfounded biases. I didn’t not know that there was a usage difference between the two. To me they are both white, but since there is a titanium buff and the titanium white, in some lights, looks a little less crisp, I thought it was an inferior white. Silly me. It isn’t. It is more opaque which makes it hold up better when mixing, and when using it to cover a darker color, or even just adding bright highlights. Zinc, while it is crisp, it also has some transparency to it which means, it loses itself a little when mixed. And it doesn’t actually get those crisp white highlights. I did test this after I read that. And sure enough, it doesn’t give quite the coverage as the titanium.
What’s really fascinating about the history of art, painting, and the colors used is how, in many ways, artists had to be chemists as well. Because so many of the ingredients of their paints had a likelihood of reacting with each other, or reacting to light, or changing with age. When historical paintings are restored from the years of aged varnish and faded colors people are often surprised by the actual colors. And sometimes downright upset about them. It was also interesting to read about how some artists would use colors because they liked them, they were exactly the color they wanted for that moment, and they didn’t care how they would age and change. Probably an interesting topic of debate with regards to the ephemeralness of art and integrity of artists. But I won’t go there.
If you are interested in reading about color and its history, the two books I have read are: “The Secret Lives of Color” by Kassia St. Clair. And I just finished reading “Color: A Natural History of the Palette” by Victoria Finlay. Both were really good reads and very interesting. The later book is like a journey to different locations and is more of an adventure or detective story as well as covering a lot of history. It’s been a few years since I read the first one, but one of the things that stuck with me from it is where the term ‘white washing’ came from and what it really was.
I’ve just finished, or I am close to finishing depending on whether I think it needs more enhancement, my latest painting, ‘Break the Board: Flying Side Kick’. It is a martial arts action painting. This time I caught the kick as the kicker broke the board. I really like how it shows that moment and the way the pants move as part of the action. It will need to dry a little longer than what I’ve been used to before I can varnish it because it is oil and that just takes a little longer.
I still need to put the finishing touches on ‘Say Cheese!’ which is a watercolor painting. Then I can seal it and take it off to the photographer. As soon as those finishing touches are done it will be time to start on the next painting. I have several martial arts paintings I want to do. At the moment, I’m thinking of either, one that focuses on the Master holding the targets for the kickers, or one that is the wind up for a back spin kick. That’s in addition to a painting or drawing of two students sparing. That’s one I have had in mind for a few weeks now but I haven’t got it started yet. So much to paint! I need to get to it.
Cheers!