New lights! How lighting can help with colours
Those of you who follow my blog or my work will know that my unusual angle is my colour blindness. What you may not be so aware of is how light can also affect the colours one sees, whether or not you're colour blind.
I've been painting a wide range of different subjects including night scenes, snowscapes and even cats. When I was reviewing some of previous artwork I noticed that there were differences in the colours that came out, even in similar paintings. This was actually highlighted when I was interviewed on BBC Radio about my artwork: I showed three floral pieces that all had blue skies. Or so I thought. It turned out that all three were noticeably different, but not to me. So what was going on? It was time to investigate.
It turns out that there is a lot of information available on the subject of colour temperature and how it can affect an artist's work. Rather than simply copy and repeat what's already out there, if you're interested in learning more read Dan Scott's informative blog. In summary, it all means that the colours you see depend entirely on the ambient light around you at the time.
So how did I end up painting three different coloured skies? Quite simply, it was the time of day! I painted all three on the same day. However, the first was painted in the morning when it was still dark outside and my studio was illuminated by a tungsten overhead bulb and two LED lamp lights to the side. Both gave off a warm, orange-like colour. The second was painted around midday and, with the curtains open, the north-facing room was bathed in a cool flat light. By the time I painted the final one it was still light outside but significantly dimmer and so my side lights were back on. So you can see, three paintings on the same day with totally different lighting resulted in different skies. So, what's the solution?
I needed to have a consistent light source with the same colour temperature and, ideally, one that represented daylight but also that might be found if my art was displayed anywhere. The solution was daylight bulbs. However, I did a lot of research and almost bought some relatively cheap LED panels from Amazon. Until, I looked at unpaid reviews and comments; cheap LED panel lights are small, not very powerful and not fit for purpose (in terms of art studio lighting). Instead, I found daylight studio lights from Heamar. (My blog is not sponsored so this is just honest commentary). They arrived within a week of ordering, were quick and easy to assemble and appear to be very good qualiry. And they are powerful with their 32W equivalent bulbs. I bought two at a cost of £176. So, did they work? Read on to find out.
Heamar daylight lamp stand
Grammar daylight bulb
I've recently been working on a painting of a cat and to my dismay found out that some green colouring had made its way into the picture. Not good when the cat is meant to be creamy-ginger colour! Under my less-than-ideal lighting I just couldn't see it. Now, with my new daylight lighting setup even I can see something is wrong. To be honest, I can't see the green but I can now see the areas where the colours are not matching. The image below is of the unfinished painting under the new lighting. Clearly, I have some more work to do!
Green cat? Daylight lighting showing the true colours
