Artificial Lighting and the Artist Studio

Natural north light lit studios can be hard to come by. That’s particularly the case here in the south east of the UK where the price of property can be prohibitive. There are though modern electric lighting solutions, and whilst they still don’t compare to the real thing it is possible to establish a perfectly adequate set up. I’ve found information on the subject hard to come by so I thought I’d share what I’ve learnt. Perhaps it might be useful now in particular for those of you wanting to set up a painting studio at home.

Our first studio used artificial light only. Nowadays we use a combination of artificial and natural light in our smaller studio, and natural light in our larger studio. I’ve therefore had to do a lot of research over the past few years and have experimented a lot, with mixed results. The subject can become complex and most electricians and even specialist electric lighting providers are not familiar enough with it to offer much help.

The Natural Light Studio

Before exploring electric lighting solutions though it’s useful to understand the ideal lighting environment for a representational painter.

Form is primarily revealed through light and shadow. Lighting - its direction, quality, colour, intensity - should therefore be one of, if not the, primary concern when setting up a project. (I’m often surprised at how little thought seems to be put into the lighting in some art studios!)

John Singer Sargent’s studio, 33 Tite Street, Chelsea, London

Ideally both your subject matter and canvas would be lit by the same light source, so that colours and values placed on the canvas would be seen under the same light as they are observed in nature. Working sight size (with the canvas placed alongside the subject) allows for this by design.

In the northern hemisphere, a north facing window will provide a cool light in a relatively unchanging direction. By using north light you avoid having direct sunlight shine into the studio while you work, and your subject matter and painting will be seen in the same cool atmosphere.

Light from east, west and south facing windows is constantly changing and is therefore not conducive to painting from life. These conditions can be managed though - attaching a translucent paper (such as tracing paper) or similar to a window can help diffuse direct sunlight, and carefully choosing your painting hours around the movement of the sun across the sky can help manage any change in direction of light.

A larger light source will produce more diffuse shadows, whereas a smaller light source will focus the light and produce more defined shadow edges. A light source approximately 1 metre square works well.

The angle of the light is important. A high light source can reduce glare on a vertical canvas but if too high creates deep shadows in the eye sockets, and under the nose and jaw of a sitter, which can be unflattering. A side light (90 degrees) tends to flatten form, and can be difficult for a sitter to look into. It can can also result in substantial glare on a vertical canvas. Low lighting (below eye level) can sometimes provide an interesting effect but is atypical. When working sight size a balance may need to be found between the desired lighting conditions of the subject and those that work well on the canvas. Light from an angle of around 35-45 degrees tends to work best for both subject and to manage glare.

Women’s life drawing class at the Art Students League, c. 1903. Archives of the Art Students League of New York

The placement of the subject and canvas in relation to the light source is also important. If the subject is placed close to the light source, shadows will be longer and more intense. Whereas shadows will be softer and more diffuse at a distance.

Even with the ideal light source, managing the amount and intensity of direct light and reflected light is important. A good studio would usually be equipped with a variety of blinds, curtains or drapes to manage the amount of direct and reflected light entering the room. Reflected light inside the room can managed with dark non reflective walls, floors etc. Blocking off the lower part of a window will stop light reflected from objects outside and using a hood above the window will block light reflected from the ground outside onto the ceiling and into the studio.

Rembrandt’s studio, Amsterdam - note the hood above the far window

Of course even north light is constantly changing. It is cooler in the morning and warmer in the early evening. Shadows are darker and edges more diffuse on overcast days whereas there will be more reflected light on bright days. Since nature is constantly changing, even in ideal lighting conditions it is the painters job not to merely copy but to learn to select from a variety of ideas presented over the course of the painting.

Electric Lighting Solutions

If the intention is to approximate the ideal natural light painting conditions then an electric lighting set up should bath the subject and canvas in a cool soft light of sufficient quality and intensity at an angle of between 35 and 45 degrees.

The colour temperature of a light source is measured in Kelvin (K). Colour temperatures over 5000K are cool (blueish), while lower colour temperatures (2700-3000K) are warm (yellowish). A regular household incandescent bulb gives a warm light and measures around 3000K. An artificial light with a Kelvin of 5500K gives a white light and one with a 6000K gives a cool blue light closer to north light. 5000k-6000k work well in an artist studio.

Colour rendering index (CRI) is a measure of the ability of a light source to reveal the colours of various objects faithfully in comparison with a natural light source. So for artist studios artificial lights with a high CRI, ideally over 90 and as close to 100 as possible, are desirable.

Brightness is measured in Lumens. The brightness (total Lumens) you require will depend on the size of your room, positioning of lights (height and distance from subject) and other factors. The calculations are complex but broadly, for a medium sized room, a total of 5000-8000 lumens should be sufficient.

Depending on the size of your studio, a metre square high north light source could therefore be approximated using one or more 5000K-6000K CRI90+ lamps positioned a little back from and above your subject and canvas, such that the angle of light to the subject is 35-45 degrees. Ideally these would be dimmable to allow for different effects or moods and to fine tune brightness.

Once difficulty with low or medium height rooms can be ensuring sufficient brightness in the room as a whole whilst maintaining a diffuse soft light on the subject and canvas. Of course this can also be an issue in a natural light studio. To manage this additional electric lights could be added to the far ends of the room away from the subject, being sure to block the light from these onto the subject with well positioned blinds or drapes.

What are the Options?

To my knowledge no current electric lighting solution can compare with the beauty of natural light. However, daylight replicating solutions do exist. You can find fluorescent, compact fluorescent bulbs and LEDs with good CRI and CCT numbers online or in specialist lighting stores. LEDs tend to be the most energy efficient but can sometimes struggle rendering red colours. If using LED light fittings consider those with high CRI and a particularly good R9 value.

For small studios a simple solution is to use a few compact fluorescent lamp bulbs which can be easily screwed into your existing fitting.

If you want to be able to move lights around your space then track lighting is a good solution. Track lighting comes as either 1 or 3 circuit track. 3 circuit track allows you to have 3 different circuits with different luminaires on each track all controlled separately. It is a little easier to install (apparently) but is more expensive.

Track luminaires are typically spot lights which tend to focus the light and so are more useful in a gallery setting to light individual artwork. A handful of spots placed together, specialist spot lights with an adjustable diameter or ‘wall washer’ luminaires should be used to avoid provide the even, uniform wash of light required in a painting studio. Fantastic specialist track mounted luminaries exist, such as those supplied by Erco and Illuma amongst others. But GU10 LED lamps with GU10 LEDS can also be used with 3 circuit track.

I hope you found this blog post useful. If you’d like to ask me a question, or if you can offer more information on electric lighting solutions for artist studios do let me know.

Jason