I've been using lead white for twenty years and every time I'm forced to use titanium, for some reason, a workshop, a student's palette, I ran out and the shop only had that, I remember why I hate it. Too chalky. Sits on top of everything. You can't get that translucent glow in the highlights, it just sits there like a wall.

People tell me it's more stable, less toxic, whatever. I don't care. The handling is everything. Lead white has a buttery quality that nothing else matches. You feel it in the brush before you even put it on the panel.

I know I sound like a purist crank. But I had a student last week mix a passage with titanium and I couldn't even look at it. I made her scrape it and start over with Cremnitz. She was annoyed. The painting was better.

Maybe I should keep a tube of titanium around for the moments I need to be humbled. But I won't.