Studio lighting

In a perfect world every artist has a large studio with windows facing north. But since this isn't a perfect world my studio is pretty small and has windows on the north-east. I work at home, so we kinda live in the studio. A few years back I worked in the studio of an absent friend for about a year. Lots of room and the light was great. I got on my bike every day and drove there with my lunch box. After a few months I felt like I was going to work... It was a productive year though, but I didn't mind going back to my home studio.

Anyway, windows facing north-east. That means the morning sun shines directly into the studio and that's pretty annoying, in particular when I'm working on the wall easel. I have to block the sun with a curtain and that means less light. Additional lighting is a necessity. Normal fluorescent tubes are to blue and light bulbs are to yellow. A fellow painter gave me a valuable tip: True-light natural daylight lamps. I bought five true-light tubes, et voila, problem solved. I can paint under any circumstance, even at night if I wanted to, which I don't.

On the easel the painting I've been working on for the past few weeks. If you want to see the final result, please go to my website. On the wall to the right the preparatory oil sketch on paper. Outside the lilacs in full bloom. Not bad, eh?

Reworking a painting

Been away for a week. Before I left I started a large painting (33.5" x 59.1") but when I got home I didn't feel like getting on with it right away. So I started reworking a small painting that got back from an exhibition. Hadn't seen it for quite a while and sometimes that is what you need  to get a fresh look. I felt the clouds were interrupting the sense of space, so I thought I'd replace them.

This is what it looked like:

Beach with Summer Clouds, oil on panel, 7.1" x 11.8"

And this is what it looks like now:

Airless, oil on panel, 7.1" x 11.8"

Had to change the title too. I really like working over an existing painting, even though sometimes I'm not sure the changes are for the better. It gives me a sense of freedom, probably because there is not a lot at stake.

This one is a case of 'you win some, you loose some'. The clouds add to the sense of space now, as does the reflection. The feeling of a summer day has faded a bit, probably because of the loss of contrast between the fluffy clouds and the blue sky.

Gonna start working on the big painting today...