I spent some time with William Whitaker. Bill paints a lot from life. Here is a bit of the talk we had about the importance of light - specifically natural light in painting from life:
First, thing Bill did when I came into his studio, was talk about light. His studio has one mostly north-facing window with a blind that adjusts from bottom to top and no form of artifical light - yes, that's right - no lights other than natural daylight.
He rolled a table into the light and placed a skull cast on the table. The high light from the window fell on it and it was just wonderful to look at. Light, he explained, is one of the holy grails of art. Daylight, natural daylight - our eyes are programmed to see in it. It is never too harsh and it models forms perfectly. It is how the old guys worked - it is the source of "Rembrandt Lighting". They didn't work by candle, torch, or lantern or lamp - they worked by daylight. From Bottecelli to Rembrandt, to Bouguereau - they painted with the natural light and when it got dark, they went to bed.
Our world is different from theirs. We have all grown up with photos, tv, magazines, etc. All of these things render forms under artificial lights. Almost all forms of artificial light are going to render any form much differently than what we were seeing in his studio - too warm or too bright. That is why we have so many orange portraits running around - natural light is much cooler and skin is much grayer than most of us think.
And, since we don't paint things, but the "light on things", it stands to reason that if you see it under a light that is too warm or too bright - then that is how you will paint it.
The other thing about North light is the fact that it will never be too bright. You will never get a highlight that is brighter than the white on your palette.
What is North Light?
The reason North facing windows have been preferred is because of the constantness of light coming in from a North window.
The sun rises in the East and sets in the West. During the day, at least in our hemosphere, the sun travels through the more Southern sky. This means that a true North window will get consistent daylight, but no direct sunlight.
This constant even and somewhat soft light source is why North windows are so coveted. Even better is if the window is quite high so you get a raking light angling down on your subject and your painting.
My window is at about 320 degrees North/NorthWest, so I get good light from about 8 a.m. to about 3 or 3:30 in the afternoon. It is not nearly high enough, but we make do with what we have.
Hope that helps!
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