Barite White Full Pan

Series No. 3

Rublev Colours Barite White is an opaque white made using the natural mineral barite (U.K. English baryte; chemical name: barium sulfate). Barium sulfate was used by British watercolorists in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries as a body color. The synthetic mineral was often called "Constant White" or "Permanent White," ranked as a white water color 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 with 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 the ones produced when they are first laid on, it is best to use Barite White with a sufficient amount of 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 in the binding medium.

Rublev Colours Barite White Watercolor

Note: Colors swatches are shown in mass tone, at top, mixed with an equal amount of water and brushed out toward the bottom. All pictures of color swatches in this web site 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.

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