Still in the dark about art studio lighting
2 12 2008Now that we have the drywall up in the studio building project, I’m anxious to pick out a paint color and get going on the walls. But since the appearance of the paint color is so dependant on the quality of light you have in your space, I’ve decided I’ll need to tackle the lighting requirements first. I have spent waaay too much time reading about “full spectrum” lighting, color rendering index (CRI), foot candles, lumens, and Kelvin temperature, and I can’t say that I’m that much clearer on any of it!
I knew going into this project that I would not have the benefit of the full natural northern light that is said to be ideal for an artist’s studio. But that’s okay. I’m kind of used to working with different lighting conditions, and in any event no amount of northern exposure is going to help any artist on drab or stormy days or after sundown. But what I want for the new studio is as much diffused natural light as possible, and supplemental artificial light that comes as close as possible to the color and quality of daylight.
From my reading I have learned that the balanced color of natural daylight has a Kelvin temperature somewhere in the range of 5000K to 5900K. Kelvin temperatures numerically lower than 5000K turn towards the yellow and then red ends of the color spectrum, and higher numbers tend towards the white and then blue ends of the spectrum. As a point of reference, standard fluorescent lighting is fairly warm and yellow at 3500K, and standard halogen tending more toward the red at 3200K.
Keeping these things in mind, my aim is to light my studio (and especially my painting area) with a light that is as pure, balanced, and near to a clean white as possible in order to better see and mix accurate colors in the studio. (Paintings are always going to look a bit different under different lighting conditions, but I hope to avoid a massive color shift once my paintings leave the studio). I’d also like light that is non-directional so as not to cause a spotlighting effect or glare on the reflective surfaces of my oil paintings.
I have looked at a ton of options online (to the point of brain overload!) so I thought I’d share the leading options I’m considering below. Each have their pros and cons, so the answer will likely be to choose a combination solution that gives me enough light without breaking the bank!
Option 1: Install one or more Solatubes.
Pros:
- Bright, evenly diffused and true natural daylight when it’s at its best.
- Less expensive than skylights without the spotlighting and worry about “hot spots” sometimes associated with them.
- Uses solar energy, so there’s a potential for lower overall electricity requirements.
Cons:
- Costly to install, so even though they require no electrical power, it would likely take many years to recoup costs with energy savings.
- Just as with studios that have northern lit windows, an alternative light source is required for nighttime work, and even likely on cloudy days.
Option 2: Installing high bay, high output compact fluorescent fixtures. (Note: High bay fixtures are optimal in my case due to the cathedral ceiling height of my studio.)
Pros:
- Offered by many manufacturers in a variety of styles and color temperatures, including “daylight” bulbs. (A few resources are listed here.)
- Availability is catching up to tungsten and halogen bulbs, and daylight versions are even being offered in the big box stores like Home Depot.
- Bulbs last much longer than incandescents, sometimes lasting for years.
- Much more energy efficient than incandescents and most halogens (fewer bulbs/energy required to achieve the same amount of lighting).
Cons:
- Difficult to dispose of. While there are more and more recycling options being made available, these bulbs create a pollutant due to the toxic mercury within. It can also be dangerous if care isn’t taken to handle the bulbs properly in the event of breakage. (The up side of this is that assuming the bulb realizes a natural life cycle, you won’t go through as many bulbs as you might do with incandescents due to the extended bulb life of compact fluorescents.)
- I am not convinced that the fluorescent “daylight” bulbs can achieve the effects of full spectrum light, no matter what the packages say, though these newer bulbs certainly are an improvement with a much better CRI than the old “office” type fluorescents of the past.
- Cost: While the fixtures can be relatively inexpensive in comparison to Solatubes and some track lighting, if high bay fixtures are needed the cost quickly edges upwards. Bulbs touted as “full spectrum” are also on average typically priced much higher than incandescents, ranging from $8 to $15 a piece.
Option 3: Solux bulbs used in track or other fixtures.
Pros:
- Chosen by a growing list of galleries, museums (including the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam and the Musee d’Orsay in Paris) as well as artists for the clean natural quality of the lights.
- Versatile. Bulbs offered in a number of different Kelvin temperatures and can be used in low voltage track lighting to illuminate artwork or work area, or in task lamps that can be moved to different locations.
- Small bulbs are a lot easier to store than 4′ long fluorescents!
- Long-lasting
Cons:
- These are essentially “directional” lights, with limited spread. While they appear excellent for lighting artwork and even small focused tasks such as reading, they are not going to light up a room or achieve a diffused ambient light. And I’d likely have to focus a number of these lights on my painting area to blend the beams for a large enough spread.
- More potential for glare on my canvases, due to the directional focus, though I could purchase the optional diffusers which may help with this somewhat.
- Cost. These bulbs are relatively inexpensive if used selectively, but could be prohibitive if used widely, as bulbs range in price from around $8-up, and the fixtures are not cheap. Task lighting fixtures are also rather expensive.
- Halogens generate a lot more heat and use more energy than compact fluorescents to achieve similar lighting levels.
- I have heard reports that colors shift over time towards the warmer end of the spectrum as the bulb ages (but this is true of most halogens and fluorescents too.)
So there you have it. Okay so I may be overthinking this, but since lots of quality light was on the top of my “ideal studio” list from the get-go, it’s pretty important to me. But even after all of the research, I’m not sure if I’ve really shed much decisive light on the subject! Ideally I’m leaning towards a combination of Options 1 and 2, with #3 reserved for the occaisional supplemental light, if I happen to install tracks down the road. But let’s face it, I also have the very real consideration of a budget to deal with as well, so I’ll have too see how well reality meets up with the ideal. I would really welcome any additional suggestions, thoughts, ideas or experiences on this topic, so please feel free to leave your comments on the blog.
P.S. This is part of a series of posts I’ve explored while building my new art studio. For my additional in-depth analysis on studio lighting for artists, go here and here.
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Although none of this applies to me right now, I am in awe of your findings and the options available. I really enjoy your research posts. It’s how I found you!
Yikes! I’m glad to find a bulb when one blows! I guess I need to get a bit more serious…. I thought I’d change to a “reveal” bulb to get a more natural light. Now I know that is like using a Crayola Crayon instead of oil paints. lol Thanks for all your work and sharing. Maybe someday I’ll have the funds to get serious…..
Thanks Bonnie- It’s good to know that my OCD tendencies can serve a purpose other than driving my husband crazy !
Marilyn- Note the above comment, with emphasis on the obsessive! But, hey, I figure if I’m setting it up from scratch, might as well get as close as I can to “studio Nirvana”. LOL. (Within reason, of course!)
Light bulbs aside, artists find a way to ignite that creative spark whether or not conditions are perfect. If you’re painting, you’re serious! (Uh-oh…where does that leave me these last few weeks?!)
Hello Jennifer,
I recently had to work out the best lighting for my new studio -actually studio sounds a bit grand - it’s a room at my dads haouse where I paint. I did the same research about colour temperature of different lighting products and in the end, after a lot of indecision, I went for Philips Graphica Pro fluorescent tubes. I have used 6×58W T8 tubes in standard twin fittings with diffusers in a room that is about 12ft square. I am more than pleased with the result.
Hi Keith,
Thanks for sharing your experience. If I go with fluorescents, I need to decide on whether to do T5 high output or regular T8 fixtures like yours (only the high bay kind). The former puts out more light but the lamps must be ordered online (I can find no local source that carries these bulbs, let alone daylight ones). The T8’s can be readily purchased locally even in the 5000k daylight variety (Philips, Sylvania, Ott, etc.), which reduces the danger of damage during shipping and associated shipping costs for bulb reorder.
I do have a question for you…do you find the diffusers help a lot to reduce glare? Do they reduce the light output by very much? Thanks again for your thoughts.
Jennifer,
I’m also in the middle of building a studio and large house addition right now (they are taping drywall today). I’m not one for fretting over decisions so after a big of investigation decided on indirect fluorescents - bouncing the light up off the ceiling (10ft walls w/ cathedral ceilings - I think the highest point is a bit over 12 feet). I’m currently planning on starting with the 5000K lights - with 8ft tubes mine and I’m hoping they will suffice cause it will be pricey to replace them.
I’m also putting in 2 rows of tracks to light my design walls (I work on a wall not easel). Not sure how much I’ll use these but wanted to get things wired for them now. I have 6 banks of lights that I can switch off and on.
I considered solatubes but decided they won’t give me as much light as a I want without putting in a ton and they are very pricey. I also question how much light they would provide when installed 12 feet up on a ceiling. And I work a lot at night and early morning, so they are pretty useless during those times which means I still need a powered lighting solution.
I would really have loved an LED solution but couldn’t find one that would work. I’m doing all LED can lights in my kitchen along with solartubes.
Lisa- Looks like you and I are on similar paths! Since this post I have finally (I hope) settled on a lighting plan. My ceiling peaks at 15 ft., so it’s even higher up, but overall I’m doing something very similar (blog post to follow.) I am leaning your way about the solatubes. They are so costly and it sounds like I’d need more than one to really make an impact. They’re also not all that compatible with my metal shingle roof.
I also looked into LEDs and while they’ve come a long way, they aren’t there yet in terms of a practical solution for my situation. So for me too, it’s fluorescents and tracks combined. More to follow soon!
I ditto the thanks to you, Jennifer — for doing all this research! I also found you just now while doing a rigorous HELP WITH LIGHTING search.
I’ve lived in a dark cavernous space (read: inexpensive urban loft with few windows) for over 30 years, have never focused on optimal lighting, and now that my eyesight’s getting a little weaker, I’m forcing myself to be serious for once. I’m sure the darkness has been a factor in my painting slowdown…. over decades, sad to say.
I’m going to think good and hard about all of your fluorescent suggestions. Thank you to everyone else for providing specific technical info with their experiences. I’ve hardly found any other site that was this useful!
I’ll be checking back to see if other people join in the challenge.
Stanlee,
It does me good to read that my posts have provided you with some help and insight towards a solution. I finally had to just make a decision. I won’t know if it was the right one until after the lights are installed…which should be this week! I will continue to post my experiences after that point, for better or for worse. Hope you’ll stay tuned.
So confirming. I have a new studio and chose the combo of flourescent and track with 10 ft ceiling. What is the best (strength, ability to move, etc) value track system you have found?
I do “assemblage” - paint, 2-D, sculpture.
Thanks.
Hi Maddy- I don’t have a ton of experience with track lighting. At my last studio I just used the “Hampton Bay” type from Lowes. This time around I knew I wanted to have something that would work with the Solux bulbs, so I chose the low voltage type that have their own transformers in the fixtures. There is a company called Environmental Lighting I found via Google that sells a number of these fixtures- and they are designed to work with the Solux bulbs. I bought some of their track as well as their basic, less expensive fixture models. They work fine, though I don’t like the way the light leaks out of the back of the fixture, leaving a little pattern on the ceiling.
Solux sells their own fixtures too (at a higher price), but it’s unclear to me if theirs will prevent this light leakage thing I’m talking about. Solux also sells special bulbs with black painted backs that are designed to address this problem, but those bulbs are even more expensive than their “regular” ones. Maybe someone else with more experience about this will chime in here.
jennifer -I really wish I had looked into this earlier.We are just finishing a new build and a supended track has been put in onto a 13 ft or so ceiling of what is to be my painting studio. I think I need fluorescent as part of the lighting but the ones which come with the track system are very expensive. my electrician and my husband think that fluorescent strips on the ceiling will look naff (I think that may be a British expression ) but I cant think of another way without overspending the budget
Laura- I don’t know if you’ve read the follow-up posts to this one, but because I ended up changing my mind about the lighting midway through our plan, it did cost me more to install after the fact. This is because the electrician had already done the wiring and hadn’t accounted for additional fixtures at the peak. Basically we had to have him back to do the wiring AND pay to patch the dry wall (which had just been installed). I felt bad about that but at the same time I also felt rushed along as my husband called the electrician out to do ALL the wiring when I hadn’t really finished researching my lighting plan. So lesson number one, have your lighting plan before you call the electrician or the drywall contractor!
So my advice is, if you haven’t already done the drywall NOW is the time to add the flourescents if you think you will need them. Yes, flourescent fixtures that look halfway decent can be expensive, but once they’re in, they are very low maintenance and energy efficient. I’d stand in your space, maybe with some artwork in position, and imagine yourself working there with just the track (if they are operational.) If you have any doubt that there won’t be enough light, you’re probably right.
Now that my lights are in, I find that I have hardly used the track because the do cause a glare on my paintings. So the fluorescents are invaluable to me and they do a good job of “blending” in with the natural light that I have coming into the space.
If you already have suspended track and you determine that you need fluorescents, you might look into flush mounted options which are less obtrusive. And yes, you may indeed go over budget if you pick out fluorescent fixtures that are high output and/or are anything other than “shop lights”. But on the other hand, adequate lighting for detailed work is critical. Your eyes will thank you for it (see some of the articles I’ve sited in subsequent posts for research regarding lighting in the workplace.) And your paintings will likely thank you for it too
I’ve worked in all manner of studio environments and most of my other spaces had inadequate lighting. So the lights were the one area where I knew I didn’t want to compromise. The thing is, if you start out with inadequate lighting, it’s not going to get any better with time. You may find you have to supplement with standing fixtures on the floor or lights clamped to furniture (which is what I had to do with past spaces). And talk about naff–cords running everywhere look even naffer. (Thanks for teaching me some new slang! I hope I used it correctly. LOL!)
Best of luck with your new studio!
-Jennifer
thanks jennifer, the trouble is,of course, with all the other ten thousand decisions in connection with the house ,the studio lighting was not considered enough in advance,the house is nearly finished. i am now hoping I can put in high output compact fluorescents into the track fittings in place of ordinary spot lights(without looking naff!) -Laura
Laura- Sorry, it looks like you are further along than I thought. I’ve seen compact fluorescents for track at the big box stores but not “in action”. I know they are more expensive than regular track lights but not too out of line in price with the Solux bulbs. I haven’t seen any CF track bulbs that are the high output type–do they exist? I hope you’ll keep us updated on your findings.