03/30/2008 12:07:43

Hi Steve,

Your question about lighting to paint by is one that I have found a few good answers to. If you are selling in gallery environments, they almost universally use quartz lighting, which is close to incandescent in color temperature about 28-3300 Kelvin or warm light. North light (daylight) being the most consistent natural lighting is about 5600 Kelvin or blue cast.

If you paint under ‘daylight’ like the Ott-lights you are attempting to reproduce north light. Unfortunately the Ott-lights are overpriced and low wattage so you don’t get much illumination. A great alternative to them is using a standard 4’- 4 bulb florescent fixture mounted on your ceiling using Excella bulbs. They put out 10 times the light, last for years, are 5600 k and do not flicker! You also get even illumination. Humans can see clearer and judge color better with north light. The downside to north light is that you never really know what your work will look like in the gallery.

If you work under quartz or incandescent lighting you get to see how the work will look under gallery conditions. Most collectors also use quartz lighting for there homes too. The downside is your warmer tones might look a bit washed out and getting even illumination can be tricky.

Personally I use both.

I have a strip of quartz track lights angled from the ceiling at about 45 degrees to my easel with 4 Excella florescent lights behind them. My palette is in the daylight while my canvas is mostly bathed in gallery light although there is quite a bit of over lapping. Currently they are on the same circuit. I’m using a big sheet of black foam-core to block the florescent bulbs when I wish to check gallery lighting. I’m planning on separating the two soon so I can control this better.

One very important thing to keep in mind is the distance between the lights and your work. If you have high ceilings you will have less light, low ceilings more light. If you stand and paint your canvas will be closer to the lights than sitting. It can be quite a shock when you bring a painting into the gallery and it looks washed out or too dark because of this effect. This is just something to keep in mind.

Warm Regards,

David