Woodland Walk, Patchings, Wallace Seymour oil colours on Loxley canvas board, 10x12in
Having attempted my first ever oil painting some 40 years ago, I have since had the opportunity to try out and use a great range of oil paints, of all qualities. So, it was with great pleasure that I was offered Wallace Seymour oil paints to try, as they have a good reputation. These paints are handmade on a farm in the Yorkshire Dales by Pip Seymour and Rebecca Wallace. They come in a wide range of colours that are familiar to us all, as well as some rare and unique colours with quite intriguing names, such as Florentine golden flesh and Gauguin orange.
Wallace Seymour Colours
When asked to write this report, I opted for colours that I was familiar with: titanium white, permanent yellow light, alizarin crimson genuine, viridian, yellow ochre, burnt sienna, cadmium orange light, ultramarine blue deep, indigo and Payne’s grey light.
The colours are produced in one litre batches to ensure consistency and quality. The company uses the best-quality pigments that are combined with cold-pressed linseed oil, which comes from a single UK source. Wallace Seymour refuses to use any fillers within the paints, as this can affect the quality of the product, which sets it over and above some other oils. They are also free from petrochemicals and any metal compounds.
It’s noticeable when you squeeze the colours out onto the palette how good the f low characteristics are. Due to the purity of the paint with no added extenders or drying agents, the drying time can vary according to the nature of the pigment used. The bonus is that the high pigment loadings give a greater clearness and depth of colour when painting. So, in addition to the colours chosen, I poured out a small container of drying medium. I then painted Koi Pool.
On more familiar ground, I next completed Harbour Way, Burnham Overy Staithe, Norfolk, after recently running a painting course there. I was greatly impressed by the bright clean colours that could be achieved with Wallace Seymour paints. The thick buttery consistency allowed me to use a palette knife for the tree on the left and easily paint over the wet sky applied previously. The tree on the right was completed by dabbing paint with part of a car sponge, using permanent yellow light to achieve the foliage effects.
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Harbour Way, Burnham Overy Staithe, Norfolk, Wallace Seymour oil colours on Hahnemühle oil/acrylic paper, 10x14in
Alla Prima
I painted Woodland Walk, Patchings in one session, without a break. Sometimes it’s not possible to do this successfully when working with inferior brands, but the consistency of Wallace Seymour allowed me to add the distant background, over which I could paint the fine tracery of the branches without losing any pigment strength when diluted back. It’s noticeable that very little thinner was needed to make the paint runny and workable.
The Wallace Seymour oils performed well with the small round fine-detail brush I was using and allowed me to paint the Monet bridge in one session. After completing the lake using a mix of indigo and ultramarine blue deep, I left the area on the bottom left unpainted, then added the reeds and grasses, using a mix of permanent yellow light, ultramarine blue, yellow ochre and viridian. Finally, I finished the work by scratching grasses into the wet paint with the edge of a palette knife.
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