Whites

[Richard Bingham]

Just my humble opinion, but when you sign up to study with someone whose work you admire, you'll get the most from the course by complying with their request for specific materials.

Although Martin F. Weber has been in business making paint since the 1850's, Sargent had only four years of life left to enjoy "Permalba" when it was introduced in 1921.

It's a proprietary mix of pigments based on titanium white. It's a bit transparent, which indicates zinc white, and the handling character no doubt owes to pigment additives, perhaps blanc fixe. It's a useful, pleasant-working "mixing white".

Safflower oil is the vehicle, and the paint comes in a plastic "bladder" tube like toothpaste nowadays . . . both of which I find annoying.

[David Clemons]

It's my dream to find a perfect white that isn't tinted somehow either yellow or bluish. Holbein has a good selection of whites that include some made with barium or strontium, as well as the other types. Their Ceramic White is made with stontium titanate and seems like the best behaved of the ones I've tried. The oil is poppy, but they also have a foundation white with linseed oil.

[Sharon Knettell]

Thanks David,

I was wondering about that ceramic white. Is it soft or rather stiff. Just how bright white is it?

I have been using www.studioproducts.com Optical White recently. It apparently had silicon nanospheres in it. It does not grey the colors like the standard white and makes really luminous skint-ones. The color does not sink in when it dries. It is absolutely wonderful in reds, they lighten up without becoming ashen.

I was surprised at how loose the paint is. I was used to a stiffer texture. The softness of it is a blending delight. It meshes one subtle tone into another without the use of a feathering brush. It has really helped me with my heads.

Love the stuff.

[David Clemons]

The ceramic white is a good tinter with some opacity, similar to a titanium/zinc blend I suppose. Definitely not stiff. I've been curious about the nano-white from SP, but I've got so many tubes now I should paint a few polar bears in a snow storm to use them up first.