Barite White Watercolor Paint

Rublev Colours Barite White is an opaque white made using the natural mineral barite (U.K. English baryte; chemical name: barium sulfate). British watercolorists used barium sulfate as a body color in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. The synthetic mineral was often called "Constant White" or "Permanent White," and it was ranked as a white watercolor pigment second to Chinese white (zinc oxide). It consists of precipitated barium sulfate or blanc fixe. In the twentieth century, the name was also used for zinc white or mixtures of barium sulfate with zinc white.

Chinese White or Zinc White has the very unpleasant property of cracking when used in heavy coats; that is, the coat splits into small blocks after drying. Barite White is much better in this respect. The single disadvantage of Barite White is that it appears darker when wet and has less covering power after drying when the water has evaporated. Since it is sometimes difficult for the artist to use colors that dry visually different from those produced when they are first laid on, it is best to use Barite White with sufficient watercolor medium to provide conditions that will make the final differences as small as possible.

In the nineteenth century, Barite White was often formulated with both gum tragacanth and gum arabic due to the quality previously discussed and because of the very high specific gravity of the pigment. Rublev Colours Barite White is made based on the same nineteenth-century formulas, using both gums as the binding medium.

Rublev Colours Barite White Watercolor

Note: Color swatches are shown in mass tone at the top, mixed with an equal amount of water, and brushed out toward the bottom. All pictures of color swatches on this website are only approximations of the actual color of the watercolor paint. We have taken every care to match the color in these pictures on calibrated color monitors to the actual color. However, because of the wide variance in color monitors, the results you get may vary.

Composition and Permanence

For a detailed explanation of the terms in the table above, please visit Composition and Permanence.

Notes

Note: Some separation of pigment and medium may occur in Rublev Colours Watercolors. This is a natural process when no stabilizers are added to the paint to prevent it.