Wallace Seymour oil colours are hand-made in Settle, North Yorkshire by Rebecca Wallace and Pip Seymour — two practising artists who founded the company in 2011 out of genuine dissatisfaction with what mass-produced oil paint could offer. Every tube in the range is produced in small batches of up to one litre at a time, using methods that have largely disappeared from mainstream paint manufacture. This is not a marketing story. It is simply how the paint is made.
Series 1 and 2 form the working foundation of the Wallace Seymour oil range — a broad, carefully considered palette of colours built on high-quality modern pigments alongside traditional earth colours and historical hues. The Series distinction reflects pigment cost rather than quality: every colour across all series is made to exactly the same standard, with the same cold-pressed linseed oil binder and the same meticulous small-batch production. Series 1 contains the core working pigments — phthalocyanines, quinacridones, ultramarines, cadmiums, and synthetic organics — while Series 2 moves into pigments that carry a modest premium due to their raw material cost.
The binder is cold-pressed English linseed oil from a single estate farm — a limpid, free-flowing oil pressed without chemical additives or drying agents. Because no driers are added to the formulation, the paint dries according to the natural behaviour of each individual pigment, which varies considerably across the palette. Wallace Seymour recommend a 10 to 20% addition of their Fast Drying Oil Glaze Medium to balance drying times across colours — and caution against overuse of driers, which can cause paint films to crack, wrinkle, and lose sheen over time.
Depending on the pigment, colours are machine ground, hand-milled, or ground by hand using a glass muller — the method chosen to give each specific pigment the best possible result rather than a one-size-fits-all approach. The consistency is buttery and rich, with excellent pigment load and strong tinting strength.
The Series 1 & 2 colour list spans the full working palette including Brilliant Yellow, Nickel Titanium Yellow, Naples Yellow Light and Deep, Indian Yellow Hue, Chrome Yellow Hue, Flesh Tint, Buff Titanium, Florentine Golden, Venetian Rose Flesh, Fauve Orange, Coral Red, Permanent Red Light and Middle, Alizarin Crimson, Genuine Madder Lake Deep, Magenta, Ultramarine Pink, Ultramarine Red, Violet Grey, Royal Blue Light, Sky Blue, Azure Blue, Sansepolcro Blue, Cobalt Blue Hue, Ultramarine Blue Deep, Phthalocyanine Blue, Prussian Blue, Paris Blue, Indigo, Cerulean Blue Hue, Adriatica Turquoise, Permanent Green Lightest, Light, and Middle, Vert Paolo Veronese, Green Lake Deep, Oxide of Chrome, Green Earth Deep, Bohemian Green Earth, Raw Umber Greenish, Marron Brun, Iron Oxide Yellow, Yellow Ochre Light, Golden Brown, Raw Sienna, Gold Ochre, Brown Ochre, Venetian Red, and more. Available from £9.95 per 40ml tube.
Who makes Wallace Seymour oil paints? They are made by Rebecca Wallace and Pip Seymour, two practising artists based in Settle, North Yorkshire. The company was founded in 2011, formerly trading as Pip Seymour Fine Art Products.
What makes Wallace Seymour oils different from other professional oil paints? The combination of genuine small-batch hand production, single-estate cold-pressed linseed oil with no driers added, and a pigment palette that includes many colours unavailable elsewhere sets them apart from any mainstream manufacturer. These are paints made by artists for artists, with no compromises in raw material quality.
Why is no drying agent added? Wallace Seymour take the view that driers, while useful in the short term, can compromise the long-term integrity of a paint film. Overuse of driers is a known cause of cracking, wrinkling, loss of sheen, and excessive darkening in oil paintings. Their recommended approach is to use their Fast Drying Oil Glaze Medium at 10 to 20% to balance drying times in a way that does not risk the paint film.
What is the difference between Series 1 and Series 2? The difference is purely one of pigment cost. Both series are made to the same quality standard with the same binder and production process. Series 2 colours use pigments that carry a modest premium in raw material cost — this is reflected in the price per tube but not in any reduction in quality or approach.
Can Wallace Seymour oils be used with standard oil painting mediums? Yes — they are compatible with linseed oil, stand oil, dammar varnish, alkyd mediums, turpentine, and low odour mineral spirits. Wallace Seymour also produce their own range of mediums specifically formulated to complement their paints.
