Studio lighting

[Richard Budig]

I would like some feedback/ideas about how others light their studios.

I'm going to sound like a "poor boy" for a moment, but I've never had the luxury of a north light studio. I've always had to contend with either east, west or south light -- BUT NEVER NORTH LIGHT. That's me screaming. Sorry.

As a result, for the last 20 years or so, I've tried all sorts of things/lighting, and sometimes, just plain put up with bad lighting.

At the moment, I use an overhead neon light fixture with two 40-watt 5,000 degree K tubes, two floods with lights purported to be 5K north light sources, but I'll bet they're closer to 4K or less, and off in the distance is a standard bulb of about 60 watts. My neons are closer, partly because the ceiling is low. I'd guess my overall source light is between 4.5K and 5K. Heck, even Richard Schmid says he paints by 5K neon tubes, so I feel at least half right.

However, one of my persistent problems is that more than I'd like, my paintings seem a tad dark. The old rule of thumb is that too-bright light will make a weak painting, while poorer light will make a stronger painting. I suspect the rationale is that we tend to tone down (gray down?) in bright light, and tone up (increase intensity and hue) in poor light. Thus, one might surmise I have too much light.

Of course, no one can say without seeing my digs, so I won't ask. But what I will ask is how you do your studio, especially those of you not blessed with north light.

Sadly, at the moment, the only place I have (we live in a VERY small condo) is the garage, and there are not windows. So, I use my bank of two neon tubes, two "north light" floods, and a regular incandescant bulb.

Tell me how you solve your lighting problems.

Thanks,
Dick