ASW - Lukas 1862 Artist Oil Colors

Essentially, many artists buy oil colors based on reputation, perceived concentration of color and to some degree value. However, you may want to know a few more factors that will greatly enhance your experience.

1862 Oil colors are extremely highly pigmented and if you compare them to the number one brand and most other colors they are similar in intensity and covering power. Per ml they are the best value of any European quality Artists’ Oil color. However the story doesn’t end there.

Lukas 1862 is made from a recipe handed down through the generations and perfected over the years. This recipe is a guarded secret. Van Gogh in a rare letter to Theo, his brother explained that he could have done better if he had Lukas’s color. Lukas colors when dry are so vivid that Van Gogh knew that the finished piece would have had more punch.

In 2005 the company embarked on creating the 1862 line to closely parallel the color palette used by other brands. At that time hundreds of artists started using Lukas 1862 because of the compatibility to their choice color palette and its great value. What they found is that the color has three very nice qualities that are not available in other lines at any price.

The first is its buttery consistency. The word buttery is so often used by all brands but the real buttery feel belongs to Lukas. Lukas’s unique formulated beeswax additive is carefully blended into the recipe to allow for a smoother feel. There is less drag on the brush as compared to other oil colors even though the brush stroke retention is actually better. For larger scale works this is a welcomed feature and a happy surprise for first time 1862 oil color users.

The second thing they found is that the color dries to the touch in 2 to 4 days. Usually 2 days but in very heavy layers it can be as much as 4 days. Other lines can take as much as 2 to 3 weeks for some colors to dry. Compared to the other artists oil colors this is a great time saver as a new layer can be added in less time and the paint film is more cured than with other oils when it is dry making it less prone to having wet spots that can be detrimental to the composition when painting a new layer.

The third surprise they found is that each layer and the final painting is unusually richer in appearance then what they used before.

Clearly you have the choice in picking the oil color you wish to paint with and these happy surprises may not be for some artists. However Lukas 1862 is getting quite a following and the reasons appear to be mounting as artists tell us how much they like 1862 oil colors.