Blue Ridge Oil Colors Review

I’m sure that you have heard the expression that good materials do not make a good artist, many times. Must disagree with that one. Yes if you don’t have it in you nothing will make you good but still, there is a big difference in working with good quality materials and those that are not that good.

Using good quality materials help you fulfil your potential much easier. This goes for oil colors too. It is much easier working with colors from which you know what to expect each time you use them. One of the great artist grade oil colors I can recommend you are Blue Ridge oil colors.

Blue Ridge oils are produced in a small American company founded by an artist who knows and understands the needs of today’s artists and does his best to fulfil them. The company was founded in 2007 and for such a young brand they achieved a lot and I can freely say they are there alongside the heavy hitters in the oil color industry.

Price of the Blue Ridge paint is more than reasonable and that does not come due to the lack of quality in materials used for producing them but due to the fact that this is a family company and they maintain a low number of employees which allows them to have such a good price for an exquisite quality they offer.

All the paint is made by hand from carefully chosen pigments, tubes are prepared by hand, even the names of the colors are written by hand on the tubes which are filled by hand and sealed by hand giving you one perfect product made with care.

Blue Ridge colors are sold only on the internet directly from the manufacturer. Customer service they provide is the best I have ever seen and if you ever happen to have any issues with the product, which I highly doubt, rest assured that good people from Blue Ridge company will do all in their powers to resolve it to your benefit.

Appearance

The tubes come in two sizes 150ml and 40 ml. Paint is filled into them by hand. On each tube, you have the color marked by hand next to the lid, under that there is a label with a company logo alongside with the name of the company followed by the handwritten name of the color.

The color on the tube is an exact match with what you get when using the paint. The paints are sold only individually there are no sets available and only on the internet, you can not find them in any shops. They are made in small batches so all the paint you purchase from Blue Ridge is always fresh.

There are 70 different colors available and they are Blue Ochre, Cerulean Blue, Cobalt Blue, Cobalt Teal, Cobalt Turquoise, Cobalt Violet, Mars Violet, Prussian Blue, Quinacridone Magenta, Thalo Blue Gs, Thalo Blue Rs, Thalo Turquoise, Ultramarine Blue, Ultramarine Violet, Burnt Sienna, Burnt Umber, Indian Red, Mars Red, Mars Violet, Raw Sienna Red Shade, Raw Sienna Yellow Shade, Raw Umber, Raw Umber Yellow Shade, Sinopia, Terra Rosa, Transparent Red Oxide, Transparent Yellow Oxide, Venetian Red, Yellow Ochre, Chrome Oxide Green, Emerald Green, Permanent Green, Thalo Green Blue Shade, Viridian, Alizarine Crimson, Cadmium Maroon, Cadmium Orange Dp, Cadmium Orange Md, Cadmium Red Dp, Cadmium Red Lt, Cadmium Red Md, Cadmium Vermillion, Indian Red, Mars Red, Mars Violet, Naphthol Red, Permanent Crimson, Pyrol Red, Pyrol Ruby Red, Quinacridone Red Rose, Sinopia, Ivory Black, Cremnitz White, Flake White, Flemish White, Titanium White, Titanium Zinc White, Cadmium Yellow dp, Cadmium Yellow Lemon, Cadmium Yellow Lt, Cadmium Yellow Medium, Hansa Yellow, Indian Yellow, Naples Yellow, Transparent yellow Oxide and Yellow Ochre.

Performance

Blue Ridge oil colors are ground in alkali-refined linseed and walnut oil blend. only for the white paint, they use walnut safflower combination of oils.  Linseed oil used with the clarity of walnut oil creates a densely pigmented color which offers the clarity and richness of color.

The paint has very good handling. It is blended to a smooth, brushable consistency,  nice and creamy not too thick or too thin. One thing you should have in mind if you are going to use them with other brands that are a bit glossier in the finish is that they seem to have a semi-matte finish when dry. 

 The vast majority of colours are lightfastness I. The colours are highly pigmented and the pigments chosen are very beautiful. The price of the colors is more than reasonable and the quality is outstanding.

Cons

• There is not a single thing that I could find about Blue Ridge oil colors that I could state in here 

Overall Opinion

All in all excellent brand of artist grade oil colors. In such a short period of time, this company managed to prove itself and stand side by side with some of the big names in oil color industry. From packaging to paint quality, pigment strength and saturation and excellent customer service this is a product I would recommend to anyone.

With around 70 different colors that you can choose from, you can form your pallet from this brand alone or can use them with Winsor and Newton which are in a similar price range and also of good quality or any other artist grade oil color which has the same a bit mate finish.

I usually use more than one brand of oils because all of them have some very unique pigments specific for their brand so would be a shame limiting yourself to one brand alone. 

If you have any questions regarding the subject feel free to leave them below in the comment section and I will be more than happy to answer them.