Points to Ponder—What About Lighting?

When painting indoors, do you think about how the light affects your work? Northern exposure to natural light has always been considered the ideal. The factors of source, direction and intensity of illumination have a great effect on the colors, definition and mood of your work.

Not everyone can have the ideal set-up with the proper northern window exposure as well as lighting tools, but it is worth giving some effort into using your situation to best advantage.

It is interesting to consider that whatever your lighting situation, the light on your canvas should not be lit to the same intensity as your subject matter. A common tendency is to worry about light on the canvas instead of the subject. If your canvas is kept in shadow,  you’re more likely to work towards a luminous effect.

Editor note: I ran across this topic in a 1971 Palette Talk publication, and I decided this is something I should consider. What do you think? Do you have something to add? or another “Point to Ponder” to share? Let me know.

— joannefrank@icloud.com