Patrick J. Jones Mindworks paints - 6 months later review

Hi Patrons,

It's been a while since I recieved the Patrick J. Jones paints from Mindworks and since then, I have been wanting to spend more time with them and give you a more informed review than my initial impressions that I shared with you earlier this year.

What I didn't realize at the time was, that I was using these paints completely WRONG.

I sat down to sketch a simple bust focusing on keeying in the skin tones and volumes with these tones straight out of the bottle with very little mixing.

And while these paints have beautiful tones and hues they're not great for sketching.

Instead, I would recommend using these paints for the later parts of your painting process. That's where they really shine! Glazing and refining gradients like none other. It's exactly their weak tinting strenght and transparency that I've come to love.

It makes it so much easier to blend and refine than with traditional miniature paints - and even other heavy body paints that I've used a lot! Monument Expert artist acrylics and Schmincke in particular.

I picked up Susana sculpted by my friend Leila Khalili at Kontrast 2026. Something in the frail and speculative look of the character really spoke to me.

So, I allowed myself some time to experiment and paint a miniature for myself. Trying to expand my knowledge and attempting the ever-humbling challenge of painting female skin.

This time, using mostly the Mindwork paints. I used primarily the Patrick J. Jones set and borrowed Phthalo Green and Yellow Oxide from the Brom set, as well as the orange Leather ink from Kimera velvet.

And of course my trusty Schmincke Titanium white.

These paints allowed me to pivot back and forth between the green and pink tones I needed in the skin. Because of their low tinting strenght and their taseful (near) complimentary tones between Alizarine Crimson and Olive Green - and Cadmium Orange to warm up both ends of the spectrum - I was able to paint this very pale and desaturated color without loosing all life in the skin.

It was a lot of back-and-forth but in the end I was quite happy with how it ended up!

I did call in some back-up for certain parts of the model. The cloth has a bit of Kiwi Brown from Kimera to add better flow to the brush strokes and more of that greenish shadow tone.

Likewise, the hair has a bit of Leather from Kimera velvet. This ink has a lovely warmth and adds a bit of shine to the surface, which is always nice when painting hair.

Similarly, the secondary green light (which was at an earlier stage a blue light using manganese blue + white) got a bit of help from Phthalo Green and Yellow Oxide to lend more richness and saturation to the very desaturated front.

So I don't think the Patrick J Jones set has everything - but I also don't think that's the ambition when creating an artists signature paint set.

Rather, it has some really tastefull additions to a solid set of primaries that you likely already have. It's a paint set for the experienced miniature painter that is not afraid of mixing colors and who understands well the process of blending and refining.

I really enjoyed using the set when painting Susana - but it wouldn't have been possible without borrowing some key paints from my regular palette.

If you want to pick up anything from Mindworks at a 5% discount - you can do so using my affiliate link below. The discount stacks with any discounts that are allready in effect on their site.

This content was not sponsored or paid by Mindworks - I recieved the paints for free as a gift from them and genuinely enjoyed using them.

Happy painting!