Lead (Cremnitz) White in Oil Painting and Substitutes
Formerly Titled “Dreaming in Lead White”
About Mixing a Substitute for Lead-Containing White Paint
I'm sure some of you can sympathize with lead white addiction in painting. When I discovered it years ago, I was able to walk around with a knowing expression...I'd found one of the secrets of the Old Masters.
However, as I recently started running low on tubes of my lead white, I was a little nervous about ordering more. Some may argue that it's fine. It's a heavy pigment and therefore isn't floating or being inhaled. But I work at home a fair amount. I work in my kitchen fairly often. I have children and a lap dog. I just would rather avoid it for a while.
SO! I was excited to find this blog post. I'm going to experiment a bit and see if I like the home brew lead white substitute as described.
http://paintingperceptions.com/sounding-technical/the-great-lead-white-shortage
Wilson's Medium from Natural Pigments gets sticky and rich quite quickly that can add some texture within one session. Perhaps this lead white sub and Wilson's can get together and make something lovely!
(Edited April 10, 2023) Another idea would be to add a small amount of powdered mica (I think still available at Natural Pigment - one bag may last me a lifetime!) to your titanium mixed with a tiny bit of yellow ochre. You can add chalk and wax in small quantities to adapt the texture to your liking, the mica will add a bit of sheen, but the thing that is HARD to replace is that lead whites don’t make warm colors turn cool to the degree that titanium will.
More on that below!
How I Use Lead-Containing White Paint
I’m updating this blog post years later. NOTE: I AM NOT A MEDICAL EXPERT, PLEASE DO YOUR OWN ADDITIONAL RESEARCH.
My children are grown and our family dog passed on, sadly. Where did the years go?!!
Anyway, I never fully quit using lead paint because I used the following safety guidelines.
Lead particles are heavy and in paint they are held together in oils or mediums. They aren’t floating into your nose and mouth. The danger points where you’d need a special mask is if you were to sand a painting or substrate that had lead paint on it or potentially when mixing your own paint with a glass muller.
If you’re a messy painter wear rubber gloves when you paint, and make sure you wash hands before eating or touching your face.
Wipe brushes well with paper towel before cleaning.
Personally, I then rinse dirty brushes in a jar of mineral spirits to get the heaviest particles out.
Wash brushes in a utility sink, not a sink used for dish washing!
Lead White Recommendations
I buy most of my artist colors from NaturalPigments.com, and they have excellent videos on each white they make and sell. I highly recommend the company and watching the vids.
Lead white (Cremnitz White or Flake White) has amazing qualities, and the marvelous thing is, depending on the carrier medium or oil, the texture will be different.
Do you want really stringy, ropey white (think Dutch masters)? Short, stiff paint? quick drying? Almost transparent? Yes, you can get whites just the way you want them.
You can also get the additive elements to adapt what you chose. For example, in my cupboard I have mica powder and calcium carbonate (artist’s chalk). I also have mediums (also from NaturalPigments) which are quick-drying alkyds. I can add mica for an almost glittery sheen, calcium carbonate for transparency.
One of the most amazing things about lead-based white paints (besides texture) is that they hold warm tints much better than titanium white. This is incredibly wonderful when working on portraits or florals when there are bright and warm colors needed.
This is probably the least imitatable quality of lead paints, the ability to lighten color without turning it chalky colored. The texture we may be able to imitate…
Here is a fantastic video made by Vicki Norman comparing Michael Harding brand whites (there’s a note saying he no longer uses zinc in his mixtures).
Hopefully this has all helped you a bit. Please write if you have a question for me.
(I use lead whites, but in place of pure titanium white, I still use Permalba’s Orginal White which held up well on a white color test where it placed 1st or 2nd for being the least yellowing. I mostly use hard substrates and the part of Permalba that is of concern is that it is a mixed white which contains zinc. Zinc is known to flake. I personally don’t worry about this. It’s not zinc on its own and my 20 year old paintings have no evidence of yellowing or flaking.) My own processes are always in flux. I may change away from Permalba’s Original soon, and I may experiment again to find a non-lead formula that suits me.
What’s your dreamiest, favorite white paint?