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Omphaloskeptic
Joined: 23 Apr 2006
Posts: 855
Location: Merimbula
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 Posted: Fri Sep 21, 2007 12:20 pm Post subject: Potential Problems with Zinc White in Oil Paints |
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| Quote: | | The prevalence of zinc in paintings may present problems in the near future. Mark Gottsegen, author of The Painter's Handbook, wrote, "We think artists who use oil paints, and thus any white oil paint, are going to have problems with their paintings. Maybe not today or next week, or even next year, but within ten years, certainly." |
Whole article is here:
http://www.naturalpigments.com/education/article.asp?ArticleID=127
Once again the deceptive paint names of many companies complicates things a bit for the artist as shown in the table in the article above. e.g. Old Holland Titanium White & Flake White both contain Zinc Oxide. |
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belle
Joined: 01 Oct 2006
Posts: 1016
Location: Newcastle
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| Posted: Sat Sep 22, 2007 10:41 am Post subject: Re - Potential Problems with Zinc White in Oil Paints |
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Oh heck! Just when I've started painting reasonable stuff I also started using lashings of zinc white!
Thanks for posting it though, I'll pass it along to the Art School. |
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The Pook
Joined: 01 Feb 2007
Posts: 2904
Location: Tasmania
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| Posted: Sat Sep 29, 2007 1:10 pm Post subject: Re - Potential Problems with Zinc White in Oil Paints |
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From the same article:
| Quote: | | The problems mentioned above were primarily observed when zinc white was used alone or in excessive amounts, especially in the grounds of paintings. |
| Quote: | | Of course, not every painting containing zinc white will crack and its paint fall off the support. Artists of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood (19th century) often used zinc white in their paintings. One such painting, Ophelia (1852-97) by John Everett Millais has areas of zinc white priming.[29] Remarkably, the painting is in generally good condition and does not show problems due to the reserves of zinc white |
Zinc oxide has been used since the 18th century. I think this is a beat up. |
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art8dave
Joined: 01 May 2006
Posts: 1333
Location: Sydney
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| Posted: Tue Jan 05, 2010 11:59 am Post subject: Re - Potential Problems with Zinc White in Oil Paints |
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I just thought I'd bump this post , as the post is old but the Smithsonian research is still important to all oil painters .....
David Coles from Australia's premium paint maker Langridge was kind enough to contact me in regard to concerns about Zinc white in oil paints.....
Thanks David for your response and knowledge on this subject...
Dear Dave,
Regarding Zinc Oxide pigment in oil: Certainly there is a lot of evidence that Zinc White has a tendency to embrittle with age quicker than many other pigments and this can be an issue especially if films of paint are applied thicker than 0.25 mm. I have read the Smithsonian's paper on Zinc White and this topic is one that has been discussed in great detail on another forum.....
Positions are fairly split on advantages versus disadvantages of Zinc White and when this pigment is used alone or in high proportions the potential problem can become most evident.
In the case of Langridge Titanium White Oil Colour we use a proportion of 8% Zinc White to 92% Titanium White. Zinc White is incorporated to add a shorter, more buttery consistency, as 100% Titanium White has a disagreeable stringy, sloppy consistency once in storage for a couple of weeks. We could add a thickening agent but this would alter the hiding power and visual performance. The proportion of Zinc White added is, we believe, low enough to not be adverse to the long term performance of the paint film. Just to add that virtually all manufacturers of Titanium White oil colour add a proportion of Zinc Oxide for the same reasons that we do. I believe that the Zinc Oxide is not mentioned in their labelling to prevent customers getting overly confused between Titanium White and a true Titanium & Zinc White blend which has closer to a 50:50 mix of pigments. |
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Jade
Joined: 04 Oct 2007
Posts: 536
Location: Mornington Peninsula
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| Posted: Wed Jan 06, 2010 1:54 am Post subject: Re - Potential Problems with Zinc White in Oil Paints |
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| I read that if you use zinc white, that it needs to be used on a hard surface, like a board, as opposed to something with give, like a stretched canvas. This will help lessen the cracking problem. |
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ocker1
Joined: 27 Sep 2008
Posts: 775
Location: NZ
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| Posted: Wed Jan 06, 2010 6:15 am Post subject: Re - Potential Problems with Zinc White in Oil Paints |
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I only use canvas board , I've had no trouble at all ,
but I use --- Winsor @ Newton 77 (soft mixing white)
mixture of titanium - zinc |
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