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Using 'killer' white in paintings

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David Stead

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Dear all, I'd like to highlight an issue that affects many of my students so thought it might be of interest to you: the issue, as the title suggests is the use of white to lighten colours in paintings, particularly when applied to greens and yellows and the resultant flat, powdery look. I made a video touching on the subject which can be accessed HERE or better still -  direct through the 'community' section of this site. Best, David
With Sarah, Phil, Ellen, Rose the dentist, and the granddaughter whose name I forget.

Robert Jones, NAPA

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Good point - a bit o' yeller is better than a lot of Titanium White....... unless you want that ghastly institutional green that used to feature in government buildings and made you feel nauseous the moment you entered them.

Alan Bickley

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Agree about too much white, I often prefer to use unbleached titanium white, depending on what colours I’m mixing of course.
With Sarah, Phil, Ellen, Rose the dentist, and the granddaughter whose name I forget.

Robert Jones, NAPA

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I don't know if it's worth adding this or not, but .......... well, even though it might not appeal to many, I will. While there probably isn't an art school or tutor in the country who would take the risk of recommending lead white, it doesn't have the major disadvantage of Titanium White, which is that TW can be very chalky-looking, and butcher colour, especially the more delicate tints.  Cremnitz White, for example, is a lot less chilly, and less overpowering.   I realize though that A) the majority of us, just not little me, only use Titanium White, not lead; and B) that the advice in the video about using a yellow to lighten green - among other things - is still sound: better to use a colour than a tone, just as I would never use Black or Payne's Grey to darken any natural colour (though might well use black to make a green, just to complicate things nicely).   Unbleached T. White, or Buff Titanium, is indeed a very useful tone - and a simulation of it can be mixed.  It's not so shocking a statement pigment as PW6 in its usual form - though I do find it still a little inclined to swamp other colours in mixtures; so would normally not use it other than on its own, or slightly modified.

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by Robert Jones, NAPA

Alan Bickley

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I tend to use it (UTW) that is, primarily for mixing with my earth colours in landscapes. It can give me a whole new range of interesting warm subtle variations to paint with.

Peter Davison

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i learnt through hard experience not to use titanium white other than for highlights and never in the underpainting or modelling phases. Unbleached titanium is very useful  as Alan says and i will watch David's video with interest.

Peter Davison

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David makes the point very well in the video but doesn't mention the ultimate 'white crime' which in my view is that it kills any transparency in other colours.

Alan Bickley

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Yes, a point that is definitely worth mentioning again Peter, I’m talking about adding white at the initial underpainting stages -  and I have seen it done!

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by Alan Bickley

With Sarah, Phil, Ellen, Rose the dentist, and the granddaughter whose name I forget.

Robert Jones, NAPA

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We've all done that, I imagine - and struggled with the consequences.  I might use a little lead white in underpainting (which isn't to say I recommend it) but only in areas where I know minimal overpainting will be needed - the Bob Ross method, of coating the whole canvas with a liquid form of Titanium White (plus, presumably, something else) and then painting colours into it, would drive me nuts (not a long drive, I admit).  
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Tony Auffret

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I suspect I am not the only amateur to be unclear about the difference between different whites, there seem to be plenty of them before the addition of 'Killer' white.  But browsing through several paint manufactures I came across titanium white (of course, and I suspect the most popular with amateurs) but also flake white, zinc white, mixing white, even underpainting white, and Robert has added in Cremnitz white.  Buff/unbleached titanium looks quite yellowish on the (on line) colour charts, though I am tempted to give it a try to lighten colours, if only to see if 'a bit of yeller' really is 'better than a lot of titanium white'.  Most, if not all, of these whites seem to be labelled opaque, or semi-opaque at best, which I though would make them all suspects in the 'white crime' of killing transparency.  Can anyone offer some simple insight into the characteristics and recommended uses of this array of whites?

Linda Drury

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I am as confused as you are Tony, my colour mixing is rubbish at the best of times when using oils, but I have taken Roberts advice on mixing a little bit of yellow with titanium white for the clouds in my latest WIP. and I must say it works well, and I keep making notes of different colour mixes from the experts which I have found really useful. I have a very limited supply of oils which I really need to build up.

Alan Bickley

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Basically you need to stick with Titanium white, that will do everything you require. I won’t even attempt to delve into the others, Robert will enlighten you all much better than I can!
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