Lukas Acrylic Impasto Paint Review

I was rather surprised in testing the Lukas Impasto Paint.  This paint is crazy different from any other acrylic paint I have tried.  The best way for me to describe it is “sticky”.  At first this was a turn off to me, but as my painting progressed I began to understand and appreciate this unique characteristic.

Officially named, LUKAS CRYL pastos, this paint is specially formulated for thick, impasto style painting.  It dries quickly; quicker than most other brands.  This is an advantage for the impasto painter who may want to add additional thick layers on top of recently applied thick layers without smearing what is underneath or waiting for under-layers to dry. See our article, How long does it take for acrylic paint to dry?

LUKAS is manufactured in Germany.

See LUKAS company profile.

Gets Thick FAST:

This paint didn’t seem unusually thick straight away out of the tube, but it’s stickiness tends to assist in applying it thickly and cleanly.  After just a minute or so on the palette this stuff got thick fast.  And continued to thicken rapidly. So much so that I was tempted to abandon the palette and use it “out of the tube”, holding the tube in one hand and my brush with the other.

I had better results with stiff bristle brushes.  I couldn’t seem to do much with a softer brush, but I am not an experienced impasto painter – you may have better results with softer brushes.  Many impasto painters rely exclusively on palette knives to achieve the thick, juicy look they seek.  I think Lukas pastos are well suited for knife painting.

Pigment Load for LUKAS CRYL pastos:

I was very pleased with the pigment load of this paint.  The colors were bright and the opaques covered well.  The transparent pigment was beautiful and glowing, as it should be.  This line is touted to be professional quality, not student-grade, so pigment load is high.  Hues mixed cleaning and as expected.

Marketing Hype – The Promises:

Here are some of the descriptions for LUKAS CRYL pastos which I have found online and in art catalogs.  I tend to overlook most of this descriptive, verbal lusciousness and stick with my actual studio tests.  But sometimes marketing description can help you get the “feel” of the paint without actually investing in it.  BEWARE, these words are designed to entice you to BUY; and therefore puffed up a bit.

From Jerry’s Art-a-rama and ASW websites:

• Paint in thick layers without shrinking and cracking.
• Unadulterated pigments in the highest possible concentration.
  
• Pastos is made with real cadmiums and cobalts.
• Innovative and useful product concepts.
• Highly reliable and superior product quality.

From the LUKAS website:

• Thick and buttery consistency (Editor Comment: if I had a dime for every time I have heard a paint described as buttery !)
• Versatile in application, from the thinnest glazes to palette – knife techniques (Editor Comment: I must disagree here, glazing with the impasto paint would be a lot of effort to thin it.  Suppose it could be done, but why bother?  I recommend buying something else for glazing.)
• Unadulterated pigments in the tradition of old masters.
• Extremely high solid – state concentration of approximately 70%

From the GreatArt Website:

• The high quality pigments are carefully chosen and used unmodified.
• A pure acrylate dispersion serves as the high quality binder.
• This film dries glass-clear, is resistant to acid and alkali and does not yellow.
• Highly versatile from the finest glaze right up to palette knife technique or impasto work.
• Lukas Cryl Pastos has a butter-like consistency with a high solid content of approx. 70%. (Editor comment: again with the butter  – Argg !)

Where to buy?

Jerry’s Art-a-rama claims to be the exclusive seller of LUKAS CRYL pastos in the United States.

From looking at the LUKAS website, it appears these paints are readily available in art stores throughout the EU.  I have yet to see them in any retail store in the USA.  If you know of one that carries it, please us leave a note below in our comments section.

In the UK, get them online from GreatArt.

Use or Lose?

I vote use for this one.  Especially if you enjoy painting thick, impasto style.  The unique stickiness makes if worth trying even if only for experimenting.  Sort of like falling in love, how will you know if you don’t try it?