Cool White and Warm White

Painting Light

Cool White and Warm White are formulated for painters who want to factor the color of the light into their color mixtures. The color of the light source influences all of the other colors in the painting’s subject matter. Using a white that replicates the temperature of your light can create a consistent quality of light and color harmony throughout your painting.

When to use Cool White or Warm White (vs. Titanium White)

Cool White and Warm White are perfect for painters working in warm and cool light situations, respectively – mimicking the warm light at sunset or the cooler light of mid-day or a north light studio. The graphic below illustrates how the temperature of light changes throughout the day, as well as plots our Cool White and Warm White within this spectrum. In warm light situations, highlights are warm and shadows become cooler. The opposite happens in cool light situations, where highlights are cool and shadows are warmer by comparison.

Warm and Cool White in temperature Kelvin

Formula

Based on our Titanium Zinc White formula, these whites have a perfect balance of yellow, orange and blue pigments to lighten and warm/cool other colors, while maintaining their hue.

Warm white titanium zinc white and cool white mixed with quinacridone red

Warm White, Titanium Zinc White, Cool White Mixed with Quinacridone Red

Florida artist Deborah Elmquist’s still life paintings explore the many subtle nuances of white. Objects are placed in fields of white lace and her paintings explore the subtle variations in temperature and value within the limited color range of her subject matter. Deborah lights her studio with warm light, which accentuates the warmness of the aged, yellowed fabric. She uses Gamblin Warm White as her primary white, which perfectly captures the warm highlights in her painting. “It holds the warmness when mixed and does not cool the color or make it chalky like some whites. It glows with a sunlit warmth I’m looking for.”

The painting below on the left is dominated by the blue of the vase and similar cool hues weave their way throughout the shadows of the fabric. Deborah balances these cool shadows with warmer areas of light using the Warm White.

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