Gamblin 1980 Oils - PW6 Titanium White; PBk7 Lamp Black; PBk9 Ivory Black

Premixed Neutral Grays, Bone Black, and Titanium oxide will produce achromatic colours, meaning they have no distinguishable hue or chroma, only value. On the Munsell "egg," a Neutral Gray falls directly in the center, with whites on top and blacks toward the bottom. White and black represent the two value extremes. By adding another pigment to the mix, some may have an undertone of pink, tan, or gold, creating warm or cool grays.

Surfaces with neutral grey colours represent truer hues or are used to tone down or establish depth in a painting. Neutral Grays also allow the artist to adjust the value and chroma without altering the hue colour, producing a balanced value base for mixing with other colours.

PIGMENT COMPOSITION AND PERMANENCE

• Pigment Name: PBk7 Lamp Black (synthetic black iron oxide)
• Pigment Type: inorganic

PROPERTIES

Lamp black is a very opaque, heavily staining black pigment with little covering or tinting power. It is typically the opaquest black in watercolour form. Though a very pure black, it tends to muddy slightly in mixtures. Natural sources may be brownish or bluish in tone because of impurities. When used in oil paints, it is one of the slowest drying pigments and should not be used in underpainting or applied in layers underneath other colours.

PERMANENCE

Lamp Black is very lightfast and permanent. It is used in all techniques in permanent painting.

TOXICITY

Carbon itself is not considered hazardous; however, other hazardous combustion products are often present as impurities when Lamp Black is produced from natural materials. For this reason, commercial preparations of the pigment should be considered.

HISTORY

Lamp Black is a carbon-based black traditionally produced by collecting soot (known as lampblack) from oil lamps. It has been used as a pigment since prehistoric times. It is the black found in Egyptian murals and tomb decorations and was the most popular black for fresco painting until the development of Mars Black.

PIGMENT COMPOSITION AND PERMANENCE

• Pigment Name: PW6 Titanium White (Titanium dioxide)
• Pigment Type: inorganic

PROPERTIES

Titanium White is the most brilliant of the white pigments. It is considered an all-purpose oil colour that is useful in all techniques and the best all-around white. Its masstone is neither warm nor cool, placing it between Lead White and Zinc White.

Titanium white is less prone to cracking and yellowing than Lead White, but it still yellows easily. It dries slowly in oil form, more slowly than Lead White but more quickly than Zinc White. It is opaque in oil and acrylic forms and semi-opaque in watercolour form.

This pigment has good chemical stability, and its tinting strength is superior to Lead White and Zinc White.

PERMANENCE

Titanium White has excellent permanence and lightfastness.

TOXICITY

Titanium dioxide is highly stable and is regarded as completely non-toxic. Animal studies do not indicate that it is absorbed biologically, even after long periods of exposure. The primary safety concern is with the inhalation of fine pigment dust particles.

HISTORY

Titanium is the ninth most abundant element in the Earth's crust. However, mineral deposits that are economical to mine are rare. Titanium dioxide was first discovered in 1821, although it could not be mass-produced until 1919. Widespread use of the pigment began in the 1940s.

Since that time, it has become the most commonly used white pigment. The name comes from the Latin word Titan, the name for the elder brother of Kronos and ancestor of the Titans, and the Greek word tito, meaning day or sun.

PIGMENTCOMPOSITION AND PERMANENCE

• Pigment Name: PBk9 Ivory Black (iron oxide)
• Pigment Type: charred animal bone

PROPERTIES

Ivory Black is a cool, semi-transparent blue-black with a slight brownish undertone and average tinting strength. It mixes well with any colour and creates a range of dull greens when mixed with yellow. It has good properties for use in oil, can be slow to dry in oil form, and should never be used in underpainting or frescoing. Ivory Black is denser than Lamp Black.

PERMANENCE

Ivory Black is very lightfast and has good permanence, though it is considered the least permanent of the primary black pigments.

TOXICITY

Ivory Black has no significant hazards.

HISTORY

Ivory Black is a carbon-based black, first named Elephantium. It was described in the 4th century BCE as being produced by heating ivory scraps in clay pots to reduce the ivory or bone to charcoal.

The deviation in names is because the more expensive varieties of this pigment were made by burning ivory, and the less expensive ones by burning animal bones.

In the 19th century, the name Ivory Black was finally permitted to be applied to Carbon Black pigments made from bone. Genuine Ivory Black is rare in modern times due to the protection of ivory, and the synthetic variety produced today was discovered in 1929. Bone Black is created as an industrial pigment.