Jackson  was a life-long friend of the Middleton born architect Edgar Wood (1860-1935). As boys, they went together on sketching expeditions around Middleton and shared a love of the vernacular  architecture of the area. It was probably because of Jackson's friendship with  Wood that he was given the opportunity to paint murals. As an architect, Wood  was influenced mainly by Ruskin, William Morris and the Domestic Revival. He  took part in the Arts and Crafts Exhibition held in Manchester in 1895, was a  founder member of the Northern Art Workers Guild and, like Jackson, was its Master for a time. In  1892, Jackson designed a mural entitled 'Seedtime and Harvest' for the Old Road Unitarian Chapel, Middleton (demolished 1965), which he painted with the help of Wood. In 1894, Wood designed the house,'Briarcourt' at Lindley, Huddersfield for  his brother-in-law, H. H. Sykes. Included in the decoration was a frieze painted  by Jackson. Other commissions included a mural for the living-room of Wood's own  house, 'Redcroft', Rochdale Road,, Middleton (built in 1891), and a frieze of The Holy Grail for Birkley lodge, Huddersfield, built in l901.