Further Information

This section gives you some additional information and useful facts about Artists' Oil Colour. 

Whites
Mixing Colours
Discontinued Colours

Whites in the Range

The nine whites in Artists' Oil Colour ensure that artists have the widest possible array of choices, as in every other part of the spectrum. Because of its paler colour and lessened tendency toward yellowing, most of our whites are milled with Safflower oil. 

The whites in the range

Safflower Whites
The following whites are made with Safflower oil.

Titanium White
The most popular modern white. It is the whitest, most opaque white, softer than Flake White No. 1.

*Flake White No. 1
The traditional lead white in oil colour, Flake White is excellent for painting as a result of its flexibility, durability and speed of drying. The inclusion of zinc pigment improves its consistency. This is the stiffest white in the range.

Flake White Hue
A titanium based formulation which avoids the hazardous lead based Flake White No.1. It has a lower tinting strength than Titanium White to match Flake White and a similar drying rate to the original.

Zinc White
This is a less opaque white, making it ideal for tints and glazing. It also has the shortest consistency.

Transparent White
A titanium based white with extremely low tinting strength, providing the palest white glazes.

*Cremnitz White
Also made from Lead, the absence of zinc gives a stringy consistency. Some artists may prefer a pure lead colour in principle.

Iridescent White
A mica based pigment which makes a pearlescent white. It is effective mixed with transparent colours.

*Lead white in tins: For reasons of toxicity these colours are only available in tins in the EU.

Whites used for underpainting and priming

Safflower whites are not recommended for extensive underpainting or as a primer. When oil colours dry, the paint film undergoes a number of dimensional changes, increasing and decreasing in weight as different chemical reactions occur.
	Brendan Kelly, Portrait Artist

Semi-drying oils, such as safflower and poppy oil, undergo greater dimensional changes than linseed oil. While a safflower oil based white is perfectly appropriate for use in normal applications and mixing, it is not suitable for use with underpainting. The movement of the film can lead to cracking the layers applied above.

Linseed Oil Whites
For underpainting, we recommend the following:

Underpainting White
Titanium pigment ground in linseed oil which is recommended for under-
painting or extensive layering with white. It has added texture to assist adhesion of later layers and is fast drying.

*Foundation White
Lead pigment ground in linseed oil which is recommended for underpainting or extensive layering with a lead white.

Both Underpainting and Foundation White may be used throughout the painting if so wished.

*Lead White in tins: For reasons of toxicity these colours are available only in tins in the EU.

Mixing Colours The three primary colours in the Artists' Oil Colour range are Transparent Yellow, Winsor Blue [Red Shade] and Permanent Rose. These colours are the best selection when only three colours are used. We recommend Winsor Lemon, Winsor Yellow, French Ultramarine, Winsor Blue [Green Shade], Permanent Rose and Cadmium Red when using a six colour mixing system.

Artists' Oil Colour Six colour mixing system

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