Wallace Seymour oil colours are prepared by hand in small batches in North Yorkshire, using pigments chosen for their purity, resonance, and historical significance.

Wallace Seymour oil colours combine tradition and innovation, using antique pigments alongside native earths and the standard selection of modern manufactured artist’s quality pigments.

Each colour is prepared to its own recipe to give optimum colour resonance. Each batch is made in small quantities (up to 1 litre), so that each batch of paint produced is unique, providing the artist with a different character of paint unlike the homogenised quality of mass-produced oils.

Depending on the pigment, colours are either machine-ground, prepared in a hand-milling machine, or ground entirely by hand using a glass muller. They are then worked into English cold-pressed linseed oil from a single estate farm — a free-flowing, golden oil that allows brush marks to settle naturally into the paint film, without the addition of driers.

Because they are made without drying agents, these paints dry out according to the nature of their pigments. Wallace Seymour suggests adding 10-20% of their Fast Drying Oil Glaze Medium, to ensure balanced drying times across the palette. Don’t overdo it, as over use of driers can cause paint films to fail, leading to cracking and wrinkling of the dried paint, loss of sheen and excessive darkening.

Lightfastness also varies by pigment. Wallace Seymour does not compromise on pigment quality, and the technical information available from their website gives full detail on each colour’s composition and permanence rating.

The range spans cadmiums, cobalts, ultramarines, earth colours, and a remarkable selection of rare and historical pigments not found in mainstream ranges, including native Yorkshire earths, ancient mineral colours, and carefully selected modern synthetics.

These paints are compatible with all standard oil painting mediums, varnishes, and grounds, as well as of course usable with standard artist oils from other manufacturers.

Cadmium Red Light

Ivory Black

Yellow Ochre Light