White is the heart of any line of artists' colors. Between half and three-quarters of the paint on most oil paintings is white, so the white color holds most paintings together.
When selecting white oil colors, consider tinting strength. The more opaque the white, the higher its tinting strength and the more it will "reduce" the color. The higher the tinting strength, the lighter the value of the color/white mixture (tint).
Radiant White, our most buttery white, and Titanium White have the highest tinting strength. Excellent for direct painting styles, they make the brightest, most opaque tints and will reflect the highest percentage of light off the painting surfaces.
The Flake White Replacement project evolved from a prominent artist's request for Lead (Flake) White, which had been the only white pigment commonly available until titanium dioxide was produced in 1920. Not surprisingly, the artist wanted Flake White's working properties without the lead. Challenged, Robert tested all the Flake White oil colors on the market and found tremendous differences among them.
To make Gamblin's version, he matched the working properties generally considered typical of Lead White: warm in color, a dense and heavy paste with a long and "ropey" quality, and a unique look to the impasto stroke.
Whites are arranged from most opaque to least opaque.
Radiant White: A good choice where the color white is critical, our newest white-the brightest and whitest-was formulated for painters who want a "refrigerator white" white. Same tinting strength and opacity as Titanium White. Excellent for abstract paintings. Bright and opaque Titanium Dioxide is bound with poppy oil, the clearest oil binder. Because poppy oil is almost colorless, the bright white of the Titanium pigment shows through Radiant White.
Pigment: Titanium Dioxide (PW6)
Vehicle: Poppy oil
Lightfastness I, Series 2, OPAQUE
Titanium White: Reflecting 97.5% of all available light, this most opaque white is the perfect choice for direct painting. Monet would have loved it because he wanted his paintings to look soft, like velvet. The covering power of Titanium White is useful for creating opaque layers, but T-Z White is preferable for color-mixing.
Pigment: Titanium dioxide and a small quantity of zinc oxide (PW 6, PW 4)
Vehicle: Alkali refined linseed oil
Lightfastness I, Series 1, OPAQUE
Titanium-Zinc White: Most useful all-purpose oil painting white. An excellent mixing white, T-Z White combines the soft texture and opacity of Titanium with the creamy transparency of Zinc for less "chalky" mixtures. Consider using T-Z White for color-mixing because it takes so much color to tint Titanium.
Pigment: Titanium dioxide, zinc oxide (PW 6, PW 4)
Vehicle: Alkali refined linseed oil
Lightfastness I, Series 1, OPAQUE,
Quick Dry White: The perfect solution for painters looking for an underpainting white with good working properties and quick dry time. The binder is based on alkyd resin, making it a "fat" white that should not be used as a foundation white. This is a perfect choice for "alla prima" painting and should be considered when painters prefer a glossy surface.
Pigment: Titanium dioxide and zinc oxide (PW 6, PW 4)
Vehicle: Oil modified alkyd resin
Lightfastness I, Series 1, OPAQUE
Gamblin Flake White Replacement: The first true nontoxic alternative to Flake White. It's the leanest of the Gamblin whites and the best underpainting white. Its beautiful opalescent quality is of special interest to portrait painters. Flake White Replacement has all the working properties of traditional Flake White: long ropey stroke, warm color, translucency and short brush mark. Not only does our FWR come without the lead but it also doesn't suffer from the fast drying time of traditional formulations, which contributes to the cracking of oil paintings over time.
Pigment: Titanium dioxide, zinc oxide (PW 6, PW 4)
Vehicle: Alkali refined linseed oil
Lightfastness I, Series 1, OPAQUE
Zinc White: The most transparent white, Zinc is recommended for glazing, scumbling and alla prima painting. Compared with all other whites, Zinc White has less hiding power. Zinc White dries slowly, so painters who want to paint wet into wet over a long time will find it useful. Because it's brittle, painters should not consider it as a general painting white unless painting on panel.
Pigment: Zinc oxide (PW 4)
Vehicle: Alkali refined linseed oil
Lightfastness I, Series 1, SEMI-TRANSPARENT
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