Art review: Jackson’s Art Pigments

You can find the pigments here. I am not an affiliate with Jackson’s nor do I have a sponsorship so I get nothing out of this at all.

---

I’m sorry it took a while to post this, but I wanted to test the pigments out for a while and then make a review. I don’t know how long this will be.

Heads up!

Most of my art is done in watercolors or water media that is thinned out to work like ink or watercolors, but I’m showing you colors I mixed with a watercolor binder (QOR, Schminke, or just honey). This isn’t an oil paint review nor is it an acrylic review.

Overall opinion:

I think the pigments are great, especially for their price. I am a beginner at paintmaking so I can’t tell you exactly how pigments are supposed to look or whether or not they’re good or bad.

They have some very unique colors to offer as well as generic store bought options. For example, they offer PR233 (Potter’s Pink), PG23 (Terre Verte/Green Earth), PBk19 (Slate Grey), PR259 (Ultramarine Pink).

However, be warned. These pigments seem to be fresh out the laboratory. They seem like precipitates with nothing in them.

Phthalos and Quinacridones: Curse of the Flocculation

So, what you are seeing on those pictures is a mixture of brands. The paint section on the left is QOR, W&N Cotman series, and QOR, the right side is all Jackson’s pigments. These pigments surprised me. I thought I was getting a steal buying them. I really thought they were going to look one toned like the left paintings, but I was mistaken. There’s nothing inherently wrong with flocculation, in fact, it’s beautiful…however, if you’re trying to mix these pigments, they will separate in the mix.

I’m not against granulation at all, unless you’re using water, they’re like when you’re playing with sand at the beach and there’s water in it. I have genuine smalt and while they don’t have the big granule texture, they have the texture of always showing up no matter what. They ride in the water and look beautiful. I think if you’re not into color separation, you could use these for a background.

If anyone can tell me a way to mix and get the colors to mix as one or even just know the name, please leave a comment!

Benzy Orange is another one that flocculated. But I have a huge soft spot for red-orange types. You can imagine my face when I painted it on and saw it move like that. Fascinating! Literally a beautiful color (to me). I am reviewing and not giving much of an opinion, that will come shortly.

Benzy Orange moves with water. This picture is not dry so it’s easy to see it move.

This one (PR101) reminded me exactly of smalt texture, but this one had me upset! I might’ve not mulled it enough (I don’t have a muller. I use a palette knife, I don’t have mulling tools money) but dang it startled me. I actually don’t hate it. It’s just out there. I have to test my creativity with this one. It could be magnetic but I don’t have a strong magnet to test it on. It’s basically just huge iron granules and it’s so authentic that it also has that earthy red and brown undertone.🤤 Makes my paper look like I scattered dirt on it or it got moldy. Still like it though. It’s name is Transparent Oxide Brown.

In general:

I think they’re fun and they’re great, but making paints is exhausting. I think these are worth the price and unless your selling and need a ton of pigment, they sell 10g, 25g, and 100g and a little goes a long way.