Today, I bring you a short review of the watercolor papers from Jackson’s Art Supplies. In short, the papers are quite amazing for their price. I truly, truly enjoy them and have ordered more since my first order to try them this fall.

I also have a few brushes I like a lot from Jackson’s, so I added these in here. The order I have placed in January hasn’t reached me yet, but I’ll eventually add info on the new brushes I ordered as soon as I try them.

Finally, I have ordered with five other lovely ladies a sample of all of the artist pigment from Jackson…. so at some point, there will be a review on these as well. But heck, as you all know, I have too many projects going on.

To the reviews!

Aujourd’hui, je vous donne mon opinion sur les papiers aquarelle de Jackson’s Art Supplies. En bref, ils sont super pour le prix. Je les aime vraiment et j’en ai déjà recommandé depuis mon premier essai cet automne.

J’ai aussi quelques pinceaux de Jackson’s, alors je vous laisse mes impressions ici. J’en ai commandé quelques autres, dès que je les reçois et que j’ai l’occasion de les tester, je vais les rajouter ici.

Finalement, avec cinq femmes formidables, j’ai commandé un échantillon de tous les pigments d’artistes de Jackson…. alors à un moment donné, je vous en reparlerai également. Mais bon…. tant de projets!

(toute la traduction n’est pas encore là, mais je l’ajoute, promis)

What is Jackson’s Art supplies?

Jackson’s Art Supplies is a UK-based retailer, with a huge selection of art supplies across many art practices : painting, engraving, drawing… they have so many things! Some I need to order online on Jackson’s art’s website because the are not offered locally (I am in Quebec, Canada).

The few times I personally have had to contact the customer service at Jackson’s, I’ve always found them quite helpful. Despite the time differences and some pressure with added online orders and all, truly, I’m happy.

Jackson’s Art Supplies est un magasin de matériel d’artiste basé au Royaume-Uni avec une sélection impressionnante d’articles pour une multitude de pratiques : la peinture, la gravure, le dessin…. ils ont tellement de choix! Certaines choses, je dois les commander via Jackson’s parce qu’elles ne sont pas offertes localement (je suis au Québec, Canada).

Les quelques fois où j’ai eu affaire avec le service à la clientèle, je les ai toujours trouvés serviables. Et ce, malgré les différences de fuseau horaire et la pression additionnelle des commandes en-ligne. Les délais ne sont évidemment plus ceux “d’avant”, mais cela est très respectable.

affiliate links

MOST of the links in this article are affiliate links, they are identified throughout the post. This means I will earn a small commission on each order, at no extra cost to you. 

However, if you would rather not support me and look for the products without going though my affiliate links, no hard feelings. Just go to the Jackson’s supplies website (no affiliate) and search for the product by name.

However, if you would rather not support me and look for the products without going though my affiliate links, no hard feelings. Just go to the Jackson’s supplies website (no affiliate) and search for the product by name.

10% off your first order at Jackson’s art supplies

If you are a new customer to Jackson’s and order through one of my affiliate links, you will have a one time discount of 10% on your first order!

Si vous êtes un nouveau client chez Jacskon’s, et que vous commandez via un des liens de cet article, vous obtiendrez un rabais de 10 % sur cette première commande.

Jackson’s watercolor papers

Jackson’s watercolor papers are made of tree fibers, and not cotton. However, these papers perform very well. Even with quite a bit of water. I really enjoy using them.

• The texture of the papers is very smooth and soft
• On the cold press and rough papers especially, the water is absorbed and doesn’t stay too long on the paper (a plus for me!)
• On the hot press paper, easy to make several washes of paint, very smooth to add line work
• And most cool of all features : they come in blocks!
• The blocks are offered in so many sizes!!!

Yup. The coolest feature is that they come into blocks. This means that the paper is glued on four sides. There is a small space t the top of the block in which you insert a spatula or some flat tool to detach the page.

The advantage of the sheets being glued like this is that the paper is less prone to bucking when painting on it. No need to tape it down. This is a feature you often see on cotton and high end papers, rarely on cellulose paper (in fact, I can’t think of one).

I’ve been using these papers a lot lately. I really need for the post to bring me my next order though…. ’cause I’m running low!!!

• Jackson’s watercolor paper blocks

Jackson’s synthetic brushes

Jackson’s also carries a wide range of synthetic hair brushes. The Studio synthetic line, and Raven brushes are 100% synthetic hair. Do be mindful that the Icon line is a mix of real sable hair and synthetic hair. If you want to be 100% synthetic, do be careful.

I’ve not done a very very serious testing of these brushes, but I reach for them the most often. Thanks to these relatively abordable brushes, I’ve been able to identify I am most comfortable with the synthetic sable hair brushes, rather than the synthetic squirrel hair brushes. They are more stiff, and better for detailed work.

The two icon brushes (synthetic mix) have been with me for a while and I paint almost daily with them. Their point is still very good and I truly love them.

• Jackson’s Studio line brushes – Synthetic hair
• Jackson’s Synthetic Sable and Synthetic mix sable brushes (at the time of writing this, synthetic hair only on the quills and mottler brushes, mix with natural hair in the others)
• Jackson’s Synthetic squirrel brushes

Also, if you buy brushes online, do look up the the detailed info on the sizes. Jackson’s has nice pictures with a ruler to show the sizes of the brushes.

Look in my picture below, a Raven size 6 (the very large one!) and the icon pointed round size 6 (just about the Quill 4) have little in common in terms of size. And I learned that the hard way! I hadn’t looked at the nice sizing charts….

In conclusion

All the products I tested from the Jackson’s brand, I enjoyed very much. I do not have 20 years of painting in me, but I have painted almost daily for the last 2 years and these brushes have played a very large part in this practice.

If ever your experience with these is different than mine, let me know! I always love to hear all point of views.

Remember that if you are a new customer to Jackson’s and order through one of my affiliate links, you will have a one time discount of 10% on your first order!

Rappelez-vous que si vous êtes un nouveau client chez Jacskon’s, et que vous commandez via un des liens de cet article, vous obtiendrez un rabais de 10 % sur cette première commande.