Wallace Seymour acrylic paints: an independent art shop review
Most acrylic painters are familiar with the big names — Winsor & Newton, Daler-Rowney, Golden, Liquitex. Wallace Seymour is not one of those names. It does not advertise heavily, it does not sell through supermarkets or national chains, and it does not make products aimed at the mass market. It is a small British company, run by two artists, making paint in small batches with an almost obsessive commitment to pigment quality — and it is, in our view, one of the most interesting and underrated acrylic paint ranges available anywhere.
We stock Wallace Seymour acrylics at Craft and Canvas because we believe they represent something genuinely different in a market that can sometimes feel homogenised. This post explains what makes them special, how they compare to more familiar brands, and whether they might be right for your practice.
Who are Wallace Seymour?
Wallace Seymour was founded in 2011 by Rebecca Wallace and Pip Seymour — both practising artists with over twenty years of experience in the art materials industry. The company began under the name Pip Seymour Fine Art Products before being renamed Wallace Seymour, and from the outset it had a clear and unusual mission: to create the highest quality painting and drawing materials possible, with no compromise on pigment, and to supply them exclusively through independent retailers rather than the mainstream trade.
That last point matters. Wallace Seymour does not sell direct to artists and does not supply to large chains. Their vision, as they state it themselves, is to support independent retailers — which means that finding their products in a shop like Craft and Canvas is exactly what they intended. When you buy Wallace Seymour here, you are buying from the kind of stockist the company was designed to supply.
The range covers oils, acrylics, watercolours, gouache, soft pastels, hand-made drawing materials, dry pigments, and painting mediums. Many of their pigments are sourced from original quarries and processed in their own production — some are literally dug up by the owners themselves. This is not marketing language; it is simply what the company does. The result is a colour range that includes pigments and shades you will not find in any mass-market brand.
Wallace Seymour acrylic paints: what are they?
The Wallace Seymour acrylic range is called Acrylic Colours Extra Fine. It currently includes over 100 colours, available at Craft and Canvas in 60ml tubes.
The paint is formulated using a special acrylic resin designed to capture the maximum tinting strength of each pigment. Wallace Seymour describe it as a "high colour resonance acrylic paint" — and this is not an empty claim. The pigment load is noticeably higher than most standard acrylic ranges, which means colour is richer, coverage is stronger, and a smaller amount of paint goes further.
The consistency is a soft gel — thicker than many fluid acrylics, with a buttery quality that holds brushmarks well and responds well to palette knife work. Applied neat it dries to a satin-gloss finish; diluted with water it produces a more matte result. The dried paint film is elastic, flexible, and hard-wearing, and the drying time is slightly longer than most standard acrylics — typically 30 to 40 minutes for a thin film under normal conditions — which gives a little more working time for blending and adjustment.
The range is divided into four price series (Series 1 through 4) based on the cost of the pigment, which is standard practice across quality acrylic and oil ranges. Series 1 colours are the most affordable; Series 4 includes genuine cadmiums, cobalts, and other expensive pigments at their natural cost.
What makes Wallace Seymour acrylics different?
Several things set this range apart from the mainstream competition.
Pigment integrity. Wallace Seymour are meticulous about single-pigment colours wherever possible, and transparent about their pigment compositions. In a market where many manufacturers blend multiple cheaper pigments to approximate a colour, Wallace Seymour's commitment to using the correct pigment for each colour produces noticeably cleaner, more vibrant, and more predictable mixes. When you mix two single-pigment colours together, you get a clean result; when you mix two multi-pigment colours together, you can get mud.
Unusual and historic colours. The range includes colours you simply cannot buy elsewhere — pigments sourced from specific quarries, historic earth colours, and shades that were common in historical painting but have largely disappeared from modern commercial ranges. For painters interested in colour history, natural pigments, or simply in having a palette that does not look like everyone else's, this is genuinely exciting.
Small batch production. Because Wallace Seymour make paint in small batches and test each one before it goes to retailers, quality control is exceptionally high. There is no compromise to achieve the economies of scale that large manufacturers rely on.
Made in the UK. In an art materials market dominated by large European and American manufacturers, Wallace Seymour are a genuinely independent British producer. For buyers who care about provenance and supporting smaller makers, this matters.
A full mediums range. Alongside the paints, Wallace Seymour produce a comprehensive range of acrylic mediums including impasto gel (gloss and matt), fluid medium (gloss and matt), retarder, varnishes, gesso, acrylic primer, and acrylic size. All are formulated to work with the paint range and are equally well made. We stock the mediums alongside the paints at Craft and Canvas.
How do Wallace Seymour acrylics compare to Winsor & Newton and Daler-Rowney?
This is the most practical question for most painters, so it deserves a direct answer.
Winsor & Newton Professional Acrylics and Daler-Rowney System3 and Georgian ranges are well-made, reliable paints produced to consistent quality at scale. They are widely available, well supported by tutorials and reference materials, and familiar to most acrylic painters. For beginners especially, the familiarity and accessibility of these brands has real value.
Wallace Seymour sits in a different category — not because the paint is necessarily better in every technical respect, but because it is a fundamentally different kind of product. Where Winsor & Newton and Daler-Rowney are designed for the widest possible market, Wallace Seymour is designed for painters who want maximum pigment quality, unusual colour options, and a product made with genuine craft values rather than commercial efficiency.
In practical terms: the pigment load in Wallace Seymour acrylics is higher, the colour range is more unusual, and the paint handles with a richness that painters with experience of both tend to notice immediately. The trade-off is that Wallace Seymour is less widely stocked, and some of the more unusual colours require a little research to understand how to use them well.
Our honest view: for a beginner building confidence and learning technique, Winsor & Newton or Daler-Rowney are perfectly good starting points and excellent value. For a painter who is serious about the medium, interested in colour at a deeper level, and ready to invest in materials that will reward that investment, Wallace Seymour acrylics are hard to look past.
Which Wallace Seymour acrylic colours should you start with?
If you are coming to Wallace Seymour acrylics for the first time, the Series 1 and Series 2 colours are the natural starting point — these cover the essential working palette at the most accessible price points and include most of the colours you will use regularly.
A good introductory palette would include a warm and cool yellow (Nickel Titanium Yellow is a beautiful, unusual option alongside a more conventional Cadmium Yellow Hue), a warm and cool red, a warm and cool blue (French Ultramarine and one of the Cerulean or Prussian options), a Burnt Sienna or Raw Umber for earthy neutrals, and Titanium White. From those eight to ten colours you can mix almost anything.
Once you are comfortable with the range, the Series 3 and 4 colours — the genuine cadmiums, cobalts, and some of the more unusual historic pigments — are worth exploring. These are where Wallace Seymour's point of difference really becomes apparent.
Wallace Seymour acrylic mediums: what do we stock?
Alongside the paints, we stock a selection of Wallace Seymour acrylic mediums at Craft and Canvas:
Acrylic Gesso — a high quality, water-thinnable primer suitable for canvas, paper, and wood. Flexible and age-resistant.
Impasto Gel (Gloss and Matt) — adds body and volume to the paint for thick, textured applications. Adding 20 to 40% impasto gel to the paint significantly increases its bulk and allows applications of 5 to 10mm without shrinkage.
Fluid Medium (Gloss and Matt) — thins the paint while maintaining adhesion and colour strength, ideal for glazing and smooth washes.
Acrylic Retarder — extends the drying time of the paint for longer blending windows. Particularly useful in warm or dry conditions.
Acrylic Varnish (Gloss and Matt) — a water-based protective finish for completed paintings. Mix gloss and matt in equal parts for a satin finish.
Frequently asked questions about Wallace Seymour acrylics
Where are Wallace Seymour paints made? Wallace Seymour are a British company. Their paints and materials are produced in the UK in small batches, with many pigments sourced from original quarries and processed in their own production facility.
Are Wallace Seymour acrylics suitable for beginners? The paints themselves are straightforward to use — they behave like a high quality heavy body acrylic and respond well to all the standard techniques. The main consideration for beginners is that the range is unusual and some colours are unfamiliar. If you are completely new to acrylics, starting with a small selection of core colours alongside a more familiar brand to compare is a good approach.
What size tubes do you stock at Craft and Canvas? We stock Wallace Seymour acrylics in 60ml tubes. This is a generous size for an artist grade paint with a high pigment load — a little goes a long way, so a 60ml tube will last well even with regular use.
Can you mix Wallace Seymour acrylics with other brands? Yes. Wallace Seymour acrylics are compatible with other acrylic paints and most acrylic mediums. As with any acrylic mixing, stick to water-based products and avoid mixing with oil-based materials.
Are the cadmium colours in the range genuine cadmiums? Yes. Wallace Seymour offer both genuine cadmium colours (clearly labelled, in Series 3 and 4) and cadmium hues for those who prefer to avoid genuine cadmiums. The genuine cadmiums are exceptionally high quality and produce a vibrancy and opacity that hues cannot fully replicate, though they carry a higher price accordingly.
How does the drying time compare to other acrylics? Wallace Seymour acrylics dry slightly more slowly than most standard acrylics — typically 30 to 40 minutes for a thin film under normal conditions. This is a characteristic of the special acrylic resin used in the formulation and is generally considered an advantage, as it gives a little more time for blending and working wet paint.
Shop Wallace Seymour acrylics at Craft and Canvas
We stock a full selection of Wallace Seymour acrylic colours in 60ml tubes, along with the full mediums range, at our Hebden Bridge shop and online at craftandcanvas.co.uk. If you would like advice on which colours to start with or how the range fits alongside other paints you already use, come in and talk to us — we know this range well and are happy to help you get the most from it.
Craft and Canvas | 3 Carlton Street, Hebden Bridge, HX7 8ER | craftandcanvas.co.uk