Using 'killer' white in paintings

Those whites - Cremnitz and Flake White, together with a few others (Stack lead - made by an interesting and slightly messy process - Flemish White, Silver White) are basically lead carbonate, milled to different consistencies, but usually offering a cool to warm white.  They are still available, but you have to search them out, they are quite expensive now, in Europe at least, and they are all toxic, so care needs to be taken with them.  They're less startlingly opaque than Titanium White, and don't overpower colours in mixtures, as T. White does.  They're also good for the paint film - i.e. they strengthen it, especially when bound in Linseed Oil.  They will all answer to PW 1 (Pigment White Number 1); avoid any which contain PW 4. Zinc White is best avoided altogether in oil - it is PW 4 - is a slow-drying, transparent white (known as Chinese White in watercolour)  that dries to a very brittle finish, and can create metallic 'soaps' in combination with other colours or on its own.  This can cause paint to delaminate and crack - intriguingly, it doesn't always do this, and no one as yet knows why: If you do use it, apply sparingly in the uppermost layer - not ever in underpainting.  Should add that it's only in oil that Zinc White presents problems: it's quite safe in watercolour, acrylic, and gouache.  Titanium White, PW 6, is the standard white today - but it is extremely white, and it can smother colours and cause them to lose their subtlety.  Having said that, it's not notably toxic, it's the most used white, and apart from its chalkiness and extreme opacity, it has few real drawbacks - though it does make a softer paint film than lead whites.  You can add Titanium White highlights over lead white, if needed - not a problem.  But again, look out for PW4 on the label, and try to avoid it if it's in the paint: not every company lists its addition, either!  Jackson's artist paints didn't, but now they do mention their Titanium White contains some Zinc Oxide, on their website.  Which is why I try to avoid it; I hope in time they'll remove it (it's included because it improves workability, and lessens Tit. White's opacity to some extent: but it's really not safe to use, especially on flexible surfaces.  It's not easy to find a genuinely Zinc-free Titanium White - Michael Harding's is the only one I can remember; there may be others).  I'll come back with more on this if I can find them.   There are also whites listed as 'replacement Flake White', or 'Flake White Hue', 'Flake White substitute', and some other variations on the same theme.  Again, look out for PW 4 in them: those made just with a modified Titanium White are generally fine for what they are - although I wouldn't have said they behave much like lead white - they are a shade warmer than the usual T. White, though. The dangers of lead white are well known, but they apply almost entirely to those who actually make it - proper precautions need to be taken if you mill your own: respirator, and latex or other gloves.  Really, all the artist need do is avoid (always!) shaping brushes with your lips, getting lead paint on food, drinking vessels, end of your cigarette or cigar, stem of your pipe: and don't eat it, however peckish you may be.  Wash your hands after use, but then - you would anyway.  There are far more hazardous substances in the average kitchen than lead paint.  One last thing - I have only found one brand of Naples Yellow (Hue) that does not contain Zinc White: this is a great shame, because genuine Naples Yellow contains lead white, and is now quite expensive; and Naples Yellow is a useful colour - but always avoiding Zinc (and I know not everyone agrees) is basically a good idea.  The Hue Naples Yellow which doesn't contain Zinc is, again, a Michael Harding colour.   Right then!  Any further doubts about the whites?  I certainly haven't covered everything, so there may be.  Ask, and I shall endeavour to answer.

Thank you Alan and Robert.  Sounds like titanium white is it, but better with a little 'bit of yeller' as Linda now does.

I understand the dangers of Zinc White delaminating but I have not seen anyone suggest a timescale as to when this might happen if, indeed, it were to happen. Robert says that no one knows why this happens, but has anyone any experience of when it might happen?   Perhaps this is only a concern for those selling their work?

Thank you Alan and Robert.  Sounds like titanium white is it, but better with a little 'bit of yeller' as Linda now does.

Generally speaking yes Tony, a slight touch of YO or RS just knocks the edge of it.  I do use pure white but only for say a small highlight as a focal point - and definitely not scattered all over the painting which would not only lose any impact but also distract the eye!

Trevor - it's more a case of no one knows why it DOESN'T always cause problems - it is known why it does.  Timescale - depends on so many other factors, the most important being the substrate - it can happen quite quickly on stretched canvas, i.e. from 2 to 20 years, because of the strains this imposes on the paint film.  Conservators and museum staff report some modern paintings shedding bits of paint, to the extent you can find flakes of it lying on the floor beneath a picture.... I hope that's a very rare occurrence, but as I'd rather it didn't happen to one of mine, I just avoid Zinc White: and I can't say I've missed it. PS - as to whether it matters only to those who sell their paintings: well, obviously it DOES matter to us (I say 'us': it's been a while!) but even if I didn't, I still wouldn't want my chef d'oeuvre falling to bits on me.   

Might as well finish this off - the other lead whites are Underpainting White, which is used in portrait underpainting, usually: e.g. of the kind which employs an old technique of producing the finished, modelled form with a mix of that and Terre Verte or other low-chroma green before glazing the skin tones over the top; and Foundation White, which was used to provide a white ground over the sizing of rabbit-skin glue: some still use it today. Other whites you'll encounter, called 'Liquid White' or 'Magic White' are made for the Bill Alexander/Bob Ross wet-in-wet technique.  They're Titanium White mixed with, probably, Linseed Oil or even Stand Oil - you paint into that liquid, or 'slick', base.  It's a process which only really works with extremely thick paint, which - oh the surprise! - just happens to be the very brand which the Alexander and Ross empires sell.