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What is the Best Lighting for My Painting?
Learn lighting ideas from a professional painter.
Wednesday, August 29, 2012
Your painting will look different depending on what lighting you have for it. Natural ambient light will create a nice feel for your painting during the day, the colors subtly changing as the sun rises and sets during the day. At night, however, you will be fully reliant on artificial light. Have you ever noticed how great paintings look in a gallery setting? Art galleries will use warm or cool-toned spot lighting to bring out the colors in certain parts of the painting, intensifying the light on the painting's center of attention, for example. You can imitate this effect in your home by installing halogen directional spot lighting in the ceiling above your painting. These lights are surprisingly inexpensive to install (an electrician can install them in a few hours), and if you wish, you can purchase the fixtures yourself online. There are lots of options for low-wattage spotlights, as well.
Many houses are already fitted with some sort of recessed ceiling fixtures. These can be adapted to directional spot lighting with minor handyman work. Even without direct lighting on your painting, the artwork will still look good with nearby incandescent lighting. The one thing you want to avoid is hanging your painting behind a hanging chandelier, which will cast a direct glare spot in the middle of the painting without highlighting the natural colors and texture of the painting. A light that is angled from above, or even from the side, will allow you to see the thick brushwork, see each subtle variation in color, and truly enjoy the painting in a whole new light.
A good website to look at directional spot lighting is Lighting Direct.
Discover the artist at the forefront of modern impressionism.
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About Erin
ERIN HANSON is the creator of Open Impressionism, a new painting style taught in art schools worldwide. Hanson is one of the most prolific artists in history, with over 3,000 oil paintings sold to eager collectors. With millions of followers, Hanson has become an iconic, driving force in the rebirth of impressionism, inspiring thousands of other artists to pick up the brush and join her in the Open Impressionism movement.
Hanson began painting in oils at 8 years old. As a teenager, she apprenticed at a mural studio where she worked on 40-foot-long paintings while selling art commissions on the side. After being told it was too hard to make a living as an artist, she got her degree in Bioengineering from UC Berkeley. Afterward, Erin became a rock climber at Red Rock Canyon, Nevada. Inspired by the colorful scenery she climbed, she returned to her love of painting and began creating one new painting every week.
Twenty years later, Hanson now resides in Oregon’s Willamette Valley, surrounded by beautiful wine country. She gathers inspiration for her paintings from the natural landscape around her, photo safaris abroad, and backpacking through National Parks. She seeks the beautiful colors of the golden hour and captures these colors on her canvases. Her painting studio and art gallery is 18,000 square feet (the length of a football field), and is open to the public Tuesday through Saturday.