Titanium Evil White

So I started a painting of some sunflowers from my garden tonight. I was very happy to see a full tube of zinc white in my paint box which needs cleaning out. ( I hate throwing out old tubes. I keep thinking I might be able to squeeze out just a little bit more. ) Why was I excited, you ask? Well I'll tell you in a ranty fashion. I am out to get titanium white. It is a wicked color that is addictive. Let me tell you why.

Titanium evil white sucks the life blood of the color you mix it with. It dulls, opaques, and makes colors cooler with complete lack of restraint. It is addictive because it is so opaque it covers all changes so quickly and it makes a stark crisp white very easily . Too easily, no building up of colors, no sweated brow. Artist, including myself, have become addicted to it's quick fixing impasto (thick application of paint) ways. No more beautiful thin glazing of Vermeer and Rembrandt. When colors were beautifully rich.

What other options do I have. I haven't explored this too much but I have found two good alternatives so far. Back in the day, when I was a bit more of a marytr to the art cause I used flake white. Flake white was amazing. It made colors so luminous, but considering it is lead based and highly toxic I had to let go. Babies and the possibility of becoming insane led me to zinc white. It is a warmer white and much more transparent than titanium evil white. It takes a lot more paint especially when you have been conditioned by titanium and it is not as crisp a white as titanium. I am trying to use only zinc white for this painting and I already see a difference. Colors are less dull. I am still using max oils to finish them up before I by a new set of paint so the color isn't great but we'll see.

Thank you for listening, Good Night.

P.S. I don't really think titanium white is evil (that's so heretical) and will be using it in the future. I'm just a tad fustrated at the moment.

P.S. Since Faydra and Valerie might be reading this I just wanted to apologize for my lousy punctation and other editing errors of which I am oblivious.