is a transparent white, which is kind of weird because white is not a colour normally used like other transparent colours are used….technically white is not a colour and is used to tint other colours when mixed with them. Zinc white has one tenth of the tinting strength that titanium white does.
so how should it be used…
…time for a bit of play, and as i’m writing this I’m thinking of a way in which I can experiment with zinc white.
My first experiment was a bit of a fail - trying to use zinc white like I normally would use white, mixing it with three primary colours to paint an eye - I ended up getting frustrated and having to add white gesso to add enough strength to the paint for the light tones because the zinc white is so subtle that it’s almost like using a water colour. (there is no watercolour white paint, btw, as the white paint that you get in watercolour sets is actually paint not watercolour. I gave up before I finished.
Then I thought I’d compare zinc with titanium as mixes and on a dark ground.
zinc study 1
the way I paint, zinc white is too transparent to be the only white to use on skin. The thin nature of the zinc pigment is more obvious when painted over another colour.
zinc study 2
comparing zinc with titanium white, mixing them both with red and then seeing how it looks on a dark ground
now I need to think of another experiment…
….also I’m writing this blog as I try the experiments, which is an experiment in itself too :) I feel like a bit of a scientist.
I’ll try it on a bit of fruit…and maybe another eye…
Zinc study 3
It feels moody on a dark background (or is that me ‘cause I’m struggling). A softer brush lays the paint down better than a corse one. It works nicely with layers - light over light to bring it up to lighter tones. I like how you can see the light layers which you normally don’t when using opaque paint unless you add medium. It’s kind of like using a tinted medium really. None of this is really surprising except that it’s white doing these things - like it’s just not how I’ve ever used white before but I see the potential…
Just from these little experiments I understand zinc white alot better. It will be useful when I want gentle shifts of tone at the end stages of an acrylic painting rather than battling with getting the colour match using titanium, or thinning it with lots of medium. It would also be good for opening up dark colours like blue without obviously tinting them, I think.
Zinc study 4
Here I'm comparing the tinting strength of titanium white to zinc white in midnight blue paint. I really notice a lovely effect happening around the mid tones, the zinc makes a cleaner colour that doesn’t look as pastel as it would when adding titanium white, and it’s so much easier to make subtle changes of tone.
The best thing I can do to really get a feel for it and see if I like it is to simply put it on my pallet along with titanium when I’m painting and see how I go, and if I do this for a few months it may become a necessary part of my painting process. We shall see.
note: all experiments were done in acrylic paint.