Thursday, June 22, 2017

P.W. Akkerman Dutch Masters Series

As many of you saw, I recently tried some P.W. Akkerman inks for the first time and that really opened the floodgates. I now own a few bottles and have tried this limited Dutch Masters series of inks. I am very taken by the colors I have tried which is 5 out of 12 and I could easily use nothing but these colors. I like how Akkerman took some Dutch heritage with famous painters and used that as inspiration for each color. Let's take a look.

Israels Zeeblauw (Sea Blue)

This color is based off of the work by Johannes Israels entitled "Children of the Sea" from 1872.  It is an oil painting and I believe you can see where the color comes from here.


It is a very saturated ink with nice flow and some decent shading.


Honestly, this may be my next purchase as this came from a sample vial. I am not normally a fan of teal-like blues but this one is tugging at my wallet.

Steenrood van Vermeer (Red Stone)

This color is based off of the work of Johannes Vermeer entitled "The Little Street" dated 1657-8. Johannes is most noted, in my opinion, for the iconic painting of "The Girl with the Pearl Earring."


Steenrood is a rich red color that is also rich in saturation with good flow.


I have a few red inks but there is something to this one that may cause me to get rid of all of my other reds. It reminds of Noodler's Black Swan in English Roses but with saturation. Beautiful color.

Hals Oud Bruin (Old Brown Neck)

This is based off of the work of Frans Hals entitled "The Merry Drinker" dated 1628-30. A portrait of a man enjoying a tasty beverage.


Now this color is quite intriguing. It is very saturated with exceptional shading and flow. It is a golden brown color that really mimics this fellas skin tone.



What I also find interesting is the name of this ink color. It is named after a style of beer known as Oud Bruin (Old Brown). This referred to the long aging process of this particular beer which could be up to a year. I really fell in love with this color and bought a bottle. I am still surprised as I generally do not care for light browns, but here I am writing non-stop with it.

Van Huysum Sapgroen (Sap Green)

This is based off of the work of Jan van Huysum entitled "Still Life with Flowers and Fruit". I was not able to get a date here on this as this painter was fond of painting flowers and fruit in a still life format.


Now this ink is saturated and also shades like crazy but wow, it is bright.



This green is truly a sap green but you really need to like a bright, defined green to use it. I love green and it is my favorite color but this is too much for me. As far as the color goes for the inspiration to the painting, it is spot on. A very vivid color.

Ruisdaels Stormachtig Blauw (Stormy Blue)

This is based off of the work of Jacob van Ruisdael entitled "The Windmill at Wijk Bij Duurstede" dated 1670.


This is by far my favorite thus far. It is a deep blue black color but has large amounts of purple which means it has a fair amount of red inside.



At times this would come out of the pen as a blue black and others as blue purple but they both dried the same color which I found to be fascinating. It does a wonderful job of representing the sky of an impending storm and Akkerman really hit the mark with this color. Very fascinating and saturated ink. I have a bottle of this one.

These Dutch Master inks from P.W. Akkerman are stunning and I may need to explore the other 7 colors. The bottles are a whopping 120mL and still have the iconic and legendary bottle design that is also fun to use. Try some.


This is based off of my experiences and opinions and I do not represent P.W. Akkerman at all nor am I being compensated in any way.

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