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"If you consider for a moment, you will perceive that painting the figure in the open involves a simultaneous attack on nearly every problem in the wide domain of art. You have first of all the out-door questions of atmospheric vibration and refraction, and the consideration of the color-scale and value-scale; then, in addition to these, you have practically all the in-door problems, which include figure-composition and arrangement, in addition to the usual problems of drawing and modeling - the latter presented in a reversed and unfamiliar form, owing to the new and unexpected color-reflections from the sky and surrounding sunlit landscape."
-Birge Harrison, Landscape Painting, 1909
"Well, you've gone and done it--everywhere I look I'm seeing purple! And shapes and value shifts and warm and cool. Last night's well-deserved soak in the tub was prolonged because I couldn't stop staring at the chrome faucet."Awesome. Keep looking at that faucet, Eve. And anything else you suddenly (and correctly) perceive is filled with color.
Not sure what you mean by that so I'll skip over it...Blog Questions: (With the knowledge or assumption that white is inherently cool and the coolest color on a palette)? Is this statement ( True or False)?
With regards to subtractive mixing, when any white is added to a color it not only lightens the value of the color, it shifts the hue towards the cool. (blue) The more neutral the original color was, the more noticeable the shift becomes. For anyone having trouble visualizing this take some Cadmium Red Medium and mix a white into it. You end up with pink, a cooler and lighter kind of red.Did Zorn use lead white?
Yes, for most of his life. The use of titanium white did not become wide spread until after 1921 or so. Although I would venture to say it is possible that Zorn used titanium late in his life, a few years before other European artists, as the first industrialized form of titanium white paint came out of Norway around 1916 or so.Is lead white a warm pigment?
If compared to Titanium, or a Titanium/Zinc white – yes. Color temperature is a relative phenomenon. There must be two or more colors involved to experience it. So lead white will normally appear warmer, or more yellowish, than titanium.Is flake white made with lead and if so is it also warm?
Yes. "Flake White", "Cremnitz White", "Kremer" and "Krems White", and other similar sounding names are now being used as marketing terms or product names in the hopes of invoking a romantic response within the artist at the cash register. Because you know that if you could just buy what the masters painted with you could then be just as awesome, right? Hey, does anyone remember Spike Lee's famous Nike ad back in the '90s? Here is it again, if you don't:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZjFK3L4cvQs
So, once upon a time, long, long ago, in a far away land those names meant something specific. Traditional 'Flake' White was made via a process known as the Dutch Stack Process, which magically created flaky coating of lead carbonate out of partially decomposed dung and urine, and lead coils buried under a layer of straw. (The poo and pee being routinely collected from livestock and army barracks, ewwww!) The white coating that built up over months was then scraped off the lead coils by hand, presumably with fingers pinching the nose, and the flaky lead carbonate was then mulled into a drying oil. Voila! Flake Lead White paint. Back in the day, oil painters felt the Dutch process produced the finest lead paint of all. (Of course they did, they weren't the ones collecting the poo and scraping.) Lead carbonate produced via a stack process method is still available, but rarely, and only from a few dedicated colormen at a high cost. (NaturalPigments is one color house working on a slightly more industrialized version of this method.) So most lead white paint sold today under the name of 'flake white' is made out of a different lead carbonate created in a more industrialized manner, a technology which produces a more consistently shaped pigment. This may sound good to us today, we who consume homogenized milk and refined sugar – but the modern kind of lead carbonate won't handle under the brush the same way and it is more prone to pentimento over time. ("Is it the Shoes? Is it the Shoes?...")
The names "Cremnitz White", "Kremer" and "Krems White" descend from what was once a Hapsburg sanctioned city said to manufacturer the highest quality of lead white in the world. (a town also known as Kormeriz, just to keep things confusing.) Unfortunately, like many towns situated on the border between Germany and Poland, it no longer exists.
Also, since lead carbonate is less inherently opaque than titanium, the oil it is mulled in will have a more significant impact on the color temperature. Linseed oil, which is traditionally used to make lead white, is more yellow than walnut oil. And both linseed and walnut are more yellow than safflower or poppy oil. Look on the back of a tube and you'll see which oil is used, assuming the manufacturer has followed ASTM labeling standards. And BTW, if the company doesn't list the oil and colorant don't buy the paint. Boycott them until they do.
Again, yes, if compared to lead white. Far cooler, unless something has been added to warm it up slightly. (see below.)What property in Titanium white makes it so popular?
Most artists value titanium white for two reasons: its higher opacity, which surpasses both lead and zinc; and its more benign toxicity, as compared to lead white. But in truth, if handled with reasonable care, lead white is safe to paint with. I have it on my hands a lot as I work because I tend to hold a rag, and unlike some other colorants, it won't pass the skin barrier unless the skin has been cut. I just make a point of washing up before I eat anything or when I am done for the day.
With regards to Titanium's opacity, many paint manufacturers really are marketing a titanium/zinc blend, or a titanium paint cut with an inert material such as calcium carbonate. I say cut, and not adulterated because in this case reducing the opacity of titanium can be a good thing so it doesn't overwhelm whatever it is mixed into. Also, titanium, alone, has a tendency to create a spongy film, and not one prone to longevity.If I want to use a warm white- what white should I choose and what are the trade offs compared to Titanium White? I use Titanium white now.
There are several factors to consider when choosing a white. But first and foremost, each manufacturer offers a white with different handling properties, opacity, and longevity. So please accept the following information as generalized statements. The best way to determine which white is for you is to buy a bunch and try them out. Then research the safety and longevity issues.
1. Opacity. Many outdoor and indoor alla prima painters prefer using a titanium white because it allows them to overpaint darker passages more readily. Meaning, they can bury their mistakes. (That's what I do. Ha!) However, titanium's opacity can become a detriment as well. "Chalky color" in a painting is due to adding too much white in a mix, and titanium can easily push the inexperienced painter into that territory. Lead white is more translucent and thus less prone to chalking. So if the other colors on your palette are biased towards less saturated hues, such as umber, sienna, ochre, and terre verte, you may find lead white to be a better fit. If you prefer to paint with highly saturated dyes and pigments, such the hansas, pthalos, perylenes, and dioxazines, iron oxide reds, indian yellows, and more, then titanium might be the ticket for you.
2. Temperature. During most of the day, plein air painters who pay attention will agree direct sun produces highlights which are cool in nature. However, this doesn't necessary hold true for middle values in the same scene as those colors often appear warmer than the surrounding darks and the highlights This is why I carry both lead and titanium white into the field. I am more likely to use lead in my mid-value mixes, if I use any white at all.
3. Texture or build up of the paint film. Lead white will create and hold finer texture than titanium, assuming equal amounts of oil or mediums are involved. Despite what some manufacturers might advertise, Rembrandt would not have been able to produce such clear textural effects without the use of lead white. Titanium tends to slump a bit following a brush stroke or knife-work, so in my opinion the impasto work in theMan in the Golden Helmet would not have been as crisp without his PbCO3.
4. Lead White will 'dry' more quickly than Titanium White. I put 'dry' in quotation marks because an oil film does not dry in the sense a water color does. The fatty acids in a drying oil latch onto oxygen in the air and convert into polymers. This process can be accelerated with other siccatives but the salts found in lead white are the safest. So I often include a little lead in a mix to speed things up. Also, conservators will tell you the presence of lead carbonate in an oil film not only speeds up drying, it strengthens the polymers, which maintains elasticity, which increases longevity – although the actual chemistry involved eludes me. (As an aside, the presence of zinc white in a paint film has recently been shown by conservation science to prematurely embrittle it, so I try to avoid using zinc for work I believe will be important. The breaking point seems to be around 10% of the combined colorants by volume. But I simplified my digression. )
5. Cost. Due to all the hysteria surrounding exposure to lead since the '60s, and recent legislation prompted by children's toys being manufacture in China, there is now only one major manufacturer of lead pigment in North America. This has driven the cost of the lead white paint up and many color houses are dropping it from their line. This is sad and disturbing because no other oil color has played as important a role in the history of Art – and it would not surprise me to see it legislated out of existence within our lifetime! An individual could make their own flake white at home the old-school way but doing so is not only dangerous it is time consuming. I don't recommend it. Your risk of exposure is at its highest level when lead carbonate is in a powdered form. Like when you are scraping and mulling the flakes.
A number of paint manufacturers now offer a flake white substitute based on titanium, which I personally find somewhat oxymoronic. I have yet to find one that compares to the real thing. The closest equivalent I have tried comes from Gamblin Artist's Colors, and it is essentially a heavily loaded titanium white paint that has been warmed up a bit.
Something you can do yourself at home.
You are welcome. I hope it was informative.
