Wallace Seymour oil paints: the brand story behind Britain's finest artist oils
There are oil paints, and then there are Wallace Seymour oil paints. Most commercial artist oils — even good ones — are made in factories, by machines, to consistent recipes designed to produce uniform results at scale. Wallace Seymour operates on entirely different principles. These paints are prepared by hand in small batches in Settle, North Yorkshire, using pigments chosen for their purity, historical significance, and resonance rather than their convenience or cost. They are, without any exaggeration, among the finest oil paints made anywhere in the world today.
We stock Wallace Seymour oils at Craft and Canvas because we believe they are exceptional — and because we think the story of how they are made matters as much as the quality of the paint itself.
Where Wallace Seymour comes from
Wallace Seymour was founded in 2011 by Rebecca Wallace and Pip Seymour, two practising artists with over twenty years of combined experience in the art materials industry. The company began with a clear founding mission: to make the highest quality painting and drawing materials possible, to supply them exclusively through independent retailers, and never to compromise on ingredients for the sake of commercial efficiency.
That mission has remained unchanged. Wallace Seymour does not sell directly to artists and does not supply large chains. When you buy Wallace Seymour at Craft and Canvas, you are buying in exactly the way the company was designed to be sold.
The oils are made in Settle — a market town in the Yorkshire Dales — and some of the pigments used in the range are sourced from quarries within a few miles of where the paint is made, giving certain colours a direct, physical connection to the landscape of the northern English hills.
How Wallace Seymour oils are made
Each colour in the range follows its own individual recipe. Depending on the nature of the pigment, colours are either machine-ground, prepared in a hand-milling machine, or ground entirely by hand using a glass muller on a stone slab — a method dating back to artists' studios in the 17th and 18th centuries.
The pigments are worked into English cold-pressed linseed oil sourced from a single estate farm. No drying agents are added to the oil. Commercial manufacturers routinely add driers to produce a more convenient, more consistent product. Wallace Seymour takes the view that drying agents can affect the long-term stability of the paint film. Their oils dry according to the natural characteristics of each pigment — adding a small amount of Wallace Seymour Fast Drying Oil Glaze Medium (10 to 20%) brings drying times into balance across the palette.
The pigment range
The Wallace Seymour oil colour range spans cadmiums, cobalts, ultramarines, earth colours, and a remarkable selection of rare and historical pigments not available in any mainstream range.
The earth colours include native Yorkshire earths — pigments sourced from specific quarries in the Dales and processed in-house — that produce colours with a depth and granular quality that synthetic pigments cannot replicate. The range also includes a number of pigments that have largely disappeared from mainstream commercial production — finite stocks of colours that were once standard in historical palettes but that modern manufacturers have phased out in favour of cheaper synthetics.
What Wallace Seymour oils feel like to paint with
The hand-milled and small-batch machine-milled colours have a consistency and texture that reflects the particular nature of each pigment — some are soft and buttery, others have a slight body and granularity that comes from the mineral structure of the pigment itself. This variation is not a defect; it is the natural character of the materials showing through.
One practical note: because these paints are made without stabilisers or fillers, some colours may separate slightly in the tube over time, with a small amount of oil pooling at the top. This is entirely normal — simply mix the tube contents thoroughly before use.
Frequently asked questions about Wallace Seymour oil paints
Are Wallace Seymour oils suitable for beginners? The paints themselves are not difficult to use — they behave like high quality oils and respond well to all standard techniques. Painters who are completely new to oils might find it easier to establish their technique with a more conventional range first, then introduce Wallace Seymour colours selectively.
Are Wallace Seymour oils compatible with other brands? Yes, fully. They work alongside standard artist oils from any manufacturer and are compatible with all conventional oil painting mediums, varnishes, and grounds.
Why do drying times vary across the range? Because no drying agents are added, each colour dries according to the natural characteristics of its pigment. This can be managed by using Wallace Seymour Fast Drying Oil Glaze Medium across slower-drying colours.
Shop the full Wallace Seymour range including oil colours and oil painting mediums at Craft and Canvas, Hebden Bridge.