Verdigris

Verdigris

Reading Time: 4 minutesA long time ago I decided to try and make verdigris. Verdigris is the common and historical name to for a number of salts of copper and acetic acid, or more simply copper acetate. Salts which could be characterised as copper acetate have a number 

Rosa Watercolours

Rosa Watercolours

Reading Time: 4 minutesI have been meaning to try out Rosa Watercolours for a while, in my general quest/obsession to try every colour or preparation on the planet. Rosa are a Ukranian brand, with a good reputation. They are also very inexpensive, and lets face it buying Ukranian 

West End, Colourmen and The Turner Appreciation Society

West End, Colourmen and The Turner Appreciation Society

Reading Time: 4 minutesLondon, day 2. The general itinery seemed to split itself into West End, East End, and today we head off towards Covent Garden and the west end shops. I have enduring memories of visiting Covent Garden Market as a child, though my last quick visit 

London… Lets ‘ave yer!

London… Lets ‘ave yer!

Reading Time: 4 minutesI once read an article on Youth Crime, which had a wonderful quote from a teenage participant in the 70s, along the lines of “someone gets a wierd idea and then it just goes from there. As you will know, we like to break up 

Inside the Sketchbook Vol. 1

Inside the Sketchbook Vol. 1

Reading Time: 5 minutesOne feature I very much enjoy on the Jacksons Art Blog is the insight into other artists sketchbooks. Often this is something very personal and many artists would flinch at this idea – it is reputed that Turner once chased a woman round a table 

To Temu, or not to Temu, that is the question…

To Temu, or not to Temu, that is the question…

Reading Time: 4 minutesIt’s probably impossible to have escaped knowledge of Temu over the last couple of years. The site that (apparently) lets you “Shop Like a Billionaire” became the darling of the younger Gen Z and the oldest Gen Alpha, amid concerns abouy Viruses, data protection, poor 

Mungyo “Passion for Masterpieces”

Mungyo “Passion for Masterpieces”

Reading Time: 9 minutesAfter picking up the Munyo “Nostalgia of Pastels” set a while ago I was interested to find a larger Mungyo set in The Range for £11.99. While I keep a large “professional standard” pallete it’s always nice to have a few more paints, and I 

Avocado Ink

Avocado Ink

Reading Time: 3 minutesPrompted by my continual playing with natural pigments in my paints, I made a batch of Avocado ink the other day. This is perhaps one of the better known vegetable dyes, creating a relatively stable and lightfast dusty pink colour. I’ve brewed up a couple 

Reflections on Making Watercolours

Reflections on Making Watercolours

Reading Time: 12 minutesIt’s been a few months since I started off on the journey of beginning to make my own watercolours and I thought it was time of a bit of a review of where things are up to, as I have learned quite a lot and 

Lemon Yellow (Nickel Titanate) – Winsor and Newton

Lemon Yellow (Nickel Titanate) – Winsor and Newton

Reading Time: 3 minutesThis is a cool yellow containing PY53 as a single pigment. It is: Pigment(s) PY53 was developed in the 1960s and is may be known as as Nickel Antimony Titanium Yellow Rutile or Nickel Titanium Oxide. It has the chemical formula NiO·Sb2O3·20TiO2 – this is 

Dr Round’s Bespoke Watercolours

Dr Round’s Bespoke Watercolours

Reading Time: 5 minutesSo after the first tests with purchased pigments, I have gone up a level and foraged a few of my own and had a go an processing these as inspired by Found and Ground. Ultimately what you are doing here is getting the raw material 

Making Watercolours

Making Watercolours

Reading Time: 4 minutesI’ve been thinking about making watercolours for a few months now. I am not sure why I make things difficult for myself at times, as this is plainly not the easiest way to acquire paints. I think some of this was stumbling across the interesting