How Do You Illuminate Your Art Studio?

For acrylic portrait painters, and all artists, there is a truth we can’t hide from: we can only paint as well as we can see.

So, how well are we seeing in our art studios?

Here’s a question I got from one of my art students:

“I would like to paint in the evening but find out the next day my skin tones are off. I have the room overhead a one lamp with the daylight bulb but doesn’t seem to be enough. I do have cataracts which may be part of the problem but can’t have that fixed until next year. You said you currently have no windows in your studio so what do you use for good lighting? I’m sorry to bother you with a question like this but I was quite upset this morning to see what I did last night!”

Thanks so much and God Bless.

Sharon

Here’s my answer:

Hi Sharon,

It’s annoying to not have enough light. I remember when I first started painting, I would work with those old yellowish incandescent bulbs. When I took my painting outside to photograph it I said, “That’s NOT how it looked in my studio!” The colors were off, and it looked grainy.

Now with LED bulbs being so inexpensive (to buy and to run) I have 10 lights in my studio with 100 watt-equivalent daylight spectrum bulbs. Best part is they only use 14 watts a piece, so it’s pretty energy efficient!

They are simple clamp-style lamps with metal reflectors that you can buy at your home improvement store for about $5-10 a piece. You don’t even have to buy them all at once. You can do it like I did. Every time I ran to Menards, I would buy another lamp. I spaced it out over the course of a couple years!

Here is a shot of my messy, well-used studio with the lights aimed at the ceiling. The reflected light works great to illuminate even a large painting. While I’m working there are virtually no shadows from my hands and arms to interfere with my painting.

I do have a window in my studio now, but it doesn’t do a lot. It’s mostly the light bubs that illuminate everything for me.

Question: How do you illuminate YOUR studio?

All the best,

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