Nickel Titanate Yellow | Matisse Acrylic Paint

One of the new class of high performance mineral pigments, first developed in the 1960’s and slowly establishing itself as a valuable member of the artists pigment family. It is produced by heating oxides of titanium, nickel, and antimony together. The resulting color is a clean and bright semi-transparent lemon yellow.

This provides a welcome alternative to the older pigments in this shade range such as Yellow Light Hansa which can be prone to fading in very light tints, especially in watercolor effects. This is important because it is very common to use these more transparent yellows when glazing or for watercolor washes. In that case the small extra cost of the Nickel Titanate Yellow pigment is worth it since it is absolutely permanent even in thin washes.

This is the first time in the history of art that such a high degree of permanence has been possible for thin transparent lemon yellow colors. Lemon yellow has always been valuable when painting flowers but it is also important for mixing light lime greens and greenish yellows which approximate the visual effects of sunlight on foliage, and in the man-made world numerous objects from cars to houses which crop up in paintings all too often. For very delicate transparent lime greens try mixing Nickel Titanate with Matisse Emerald or with Cerulean Blue for added body.