ORIGINS

The color first came to popularity in the 1960s. It came to life as a mistake – the result of a manufacturing error when making titanium white artists’ paint. Without knowing, the makers had stumbled on something useful. The new ‘off’ color had a chameleon-like character and adapted to all sorts of purposes. It went on to be recreated using a mix of pigments and became unbleached titanium. You can find it also called Buff Titanium, Titan Buff and Titanium Buff. 

UNBLEACHED TITANIUM IN PRACTICE

What can you use Unbleached Titanium for? Where you might reach for a white when painting, switch it up for Unbleached Titanium. It’ll add a naturalistic warmth to any subject without taking over the composition. If you’re painting a low-light scene, Unbleached Titanium is great for highlights. It brings a paleness that blends in naturally, rather than being stark. Excellent for clouds, it’s also great for shadows and is opaque, so will easily cover darker colors. Try it as a base for sand, skin tones, botanicals, landscapes or summer scenes.

It’s highly opaque and a mid-value mixing maestro, making it super useful on the palette. The earthy golden buff color is ideal for mixing and lightening when you want a warm result. It doesn’t give the cool tint range you often find with whites. Mix it with blues for a good spectrum of muted and subtle gray blues. Green blues mixed with Unbleached Titanium delivers a handy range of teals. Try it when lightening up browns – the end result is rich and warm. With reds and crimsons you’ll get soft peachy pinks with real subtlety.

Unbleached Titanium is a Series 1 color. Find it in Liquitex Professional Heavy Body Acrylic, Soft Body Acrylic, Spray Paint, Acrylic Gouache, Acrylic Marker, Basics Acrylic Fluid and Basics Acrylic Color ranges.