How To: Mixing White VS Titanium White

9/11/2013

I had been painting for several years when I finally learned the difference between my whites. As I turned out, all whites are not the same.

Left to right: Equal parts of Mixing white and Cerulean blue VS Equal parts of Titanium white VS Cerulean blue

Left to right: Equal parts of Mixing white and Cerulean blue mixed together VS Equal parts of Titanium white VS Cerulean blue mixed together

Mixing White (aka Zinc White)

Slightly affects the value of the colour
Transparent
Great for glazes

Titanium White

Greatly affects the value of the colour
Opaque
Great for coverage

Wow! Can you believe the difference?! It turns out that all whites are not the same at all! Next time you reach for a white, make sure you're grabbing the one that's right for you.

11 Comments

Miriam

9/11/2013 04:06:46 pm

Genius!

Jacqueline link

9/14/2013 12:23:18 am

I still don't understand why you would ever bother to use mixing white? Other than the fact that you would use up less of your coloured paint.
Can you explain that?

Samantha daSilva

9/15/2013 03:54:53 pm

I suggest you try it for yourself and see!

The titanium white tends to turn the colours a bit "pastel" looking. When you use mixing white, this doesn't even come close to happening.

Also, mixing white is great for creating glazes. A glaze is where I would use mixing white plus a gloss medium to create a mixture to apply all over my canvas to create harmony and "togetherness".

Normand Lemoine

1/26/2014 11:10:43 am

Thank you for this crystal clear explanation. I had tried to find the explanation on W/N website (which is great by the way) but could not find it i.e the difference between mixing white and titanium white. W/N could upload your explanation onto their website. That could stand for any lengthy scientific explanation.

Eric Peacock

10/16/2016 09:34:38 am

AWESOME INFORMATION!!!! I've always been very partial to Winsor and Newton paints. Be it watercolors, acrylics, even gouache's, I just find that their pigments are always spot on and very vibrant.

I recently just started to do a piece and when I was gathering my palette I noticed I had two Artist Acrylic whites. One label mixing white and the other titanium white (which your picture is spot on to what I have as the newer w&n artist acrylics have different tube designs). Wow was my mind blown to see the color difference between the two whites when mixed with other colors. I think I'll always have a tube of mixing white from now on. Art has been such an amazing learning experience and relaxing outlet. Thanks again for the pictures and information, as anyone who's got eyes can very well see the HUGE difference the two whites make.

gwaai edenshaw link

8/11/2017 06:11:16 pm

another way of describing what you have already (very clearly) described, is that mixing white gives you a lighter version of the same color, while titanium changes the color. for example red becomes light red, vs red becomes pink.

Ali

3/21/2018 12:51:15 am

Excellent comment!.Thank you.

Connie Simmons link

4/7/2018 08:26:38 pm

HI. Have you been reading the articles that are discussing research about the flaking and delimitation properties of Zinc White? If you google it you can read different studies. I haven't used Zinc white, but it is an interesting read. Best, Connie

William Atkinson

6/6/2018 02:09:31 pm

Fasciating and very helpful

Carol watts

4/11/2019 11:08:22 am

I sure appreciate your picture, it tells a 1000 stories of the two Whites!

Jeanne Mills

10/19/2019 10:25:23 pm

Thank you for the clarification between the two whites. I am a newbie painter so I am still learning what's what. Now I can experiment on canvas paper to figure out between titanium, mixing white and gesso white.