Mark Carder has done more to help artists, both novices and advanced, than any other 10 artists combined that I can think of. Solid technical info and essential issues presented clearly and freely given. Thanks, Mark.
I've been painting for years now and had to learn all of this information through trial and error.... Bless you for sharing your pearls of wisdom! This makes me feel a lot better about what I'm doing
I just wanted to thank you for doing this video Mark. I'm in the process of building my dream studio, and by far, the question of lighting, especially the placement of the lights, has been my biggest challenge. You've just answered all my questions and I can now do the set up with confidence.
This has been enormously helpful, Mark, as my room faces west and gets glaring sun in the afternoon and is otherwise dark. I haven't yet added a dark fabric behind, but did install a track with two 5000K balanced daylight bulbs, one on each side of the track. My easel is now well lit and no more glare. Thank you!
Yes, that may be the only solution in a small studio. There is a bit more on this in the shadow box video, even if you don't want to make one. Let me know if you have any more questions.
This is so helpful! Thank you for your generosity in sharing what you know. I have redone the lighting in my studio and built a shadow box per your instructions and I have no more glare on my palette and no glare on my painting....just a really wonderful improvement.
Very useful information! Glare has been a constant problem for me over the years, and now that I'm in a position to set up my new studio from scratch I will definitely be implementing these strategies. Thanks!
Thank you so much for your lighting tips. I've never had decent lighting. I got a 3 head track light for Christmas, with (3) 7 watt LED's (each 50 watt equivalent/ clear daylight 5000k) and got them mounted 35 degrees from where I look at my easel. It is fantastic! I got it thru Lowes, not an expensive model. Thanks again.
Also, light pointed directly into your eyes (window shining in your eyes even indirectly) will create/worsen the development of cataracts. It also causes your pupils to stay contricted = you see less
Hi Mark. I am so glad I stumbled across you. I'm passing you along to my other artist friends. I live in Puerto Rico and it's difficult to find classical oil painting classes down here that are not taught in Spanish. With my Spanish I am able to order from menus but not get in to technical details about much of anything. BUT, I digress. My studio is a good size space in my home. I love it because it has floor to ceiling jalousy windows on 3 side of the room, which makes for great ventilation and I'm protected from the elements. However, it's also located in the mountains, very close to the borders of the national rain forest park so along with all the light, there's also a lot LOT of green on 3 sides of the room. The fourth side faces off this little mountain so it's basically sky and ocean. As much as I hate to do it, I'm guessing it's best if I hang curtains in order to eliminate glare. I'm not a particularly realistic painter so the glare issue hasn't proven to be a big deal for me while working. Heat and light, however, are but my light is pretty much green because of all the tropical foliage that surrounds the house. Any thoughts? Another issue I have is perception. I have always had a problem trusting what I am seeing.... color or value. I had serious brain surgery about a year ago and it still impacts the way I see and think. Spacial relationships are hard for me to figure out and trusting my judgement is also impaired. I've ordered a proportional tool which I think will be helpful with my spacial relationship problems. I haven't really painted much for over 2 years because of my health problems but I feel that I'm ready to get back in to it. It's pretty much how I make my living so it's critical to become productive again. I'm hoping that by reinventing myself and learning a new painting method I'll find the focus I used to have on my work. I was disappointed to see that Geneva Fine Art will only ship to the continguous US states so ordering your paints isn't an option. However, I'm still going to give your limited palette a try. Actually, that's how I stumbled upon you. I wasn't happy with my colors in the landscapes I was doing so I googled "how to get realistic color in oil paints"and you surfaced. I imagine RU-vid has been huge for you and gaining a bigger audience. I feel like I've gone back to school with the amount of time I spend watching your videos. Thank you so much for your generosity in making them free of charge on your website. What I love about your teaching method is that you obviously teach what you know from experience. I'd much rather that than a regular scholastic approach. I guess I haven't really asked a question, have I? Well, there's a question right there! If you can think of a way that I can get the Geneva paint down to me in the Caribbean, that would be great. If there's something I should be considering regarding the quality of light I described in my studio, I'm happy to listen. In the mean time, whenever you're preparing a video, know that there's a little lady artist sitting on top of a little mountain on a little island in the middle of a great big sea listening and watching intently. Blessings to you and your family.
Great video, really informative. I am leery of what was done to the Warren truss in the photo, to give the light source an unimpeded path to the canvas. The cut truss was shored up to spread the load to the tension members of the adjacent trusses, which has obviously worked at some level, so far. The basic issue there is that the loads are being increased on those trusses in ways they may not have been designed for. Trusses are a lot stronger in compression, than tension so adding to the tensile loads is an issue. But maybe they were vastly over-speced, though trusses are normally pretty economically fabricated. All to say that one option is to replace the cord with some wire rope, or use the wire rope and the shoring. Maybe a wire rope could be thin enough not to mess with the light, particularly if the light was multi source. But I don't know about that, maybe the wire would have made a bad shadow. Another option would be to have built the two remaining truss elements so they cary on down to the floor like an a-frame, braced against the floor and wall, particularly if stone. the a-frame could be sistered to the existing pieces, or it could be at whatever angle is required to drop down to the correct point on the foundation or plate. Of course that would intrude into the space, and might be a problem if it is multi use. It would not affect the utility of the studio function illustrated, but that sure doesn't make it the right idea.
Great info, I had most of this wrong and was actually trying to paint with no light except the glow through the curtains, to avoid the glares. Now I know how to fix most of my problem, thanks.
this practical info suits my thinking. Im really anal about light and colour and what is going on around the work place. Be it outside or inside. I work my sketchbook when on location and bring it back to the studio. Location artists choose the light conditions outside and your vid took this further by the correct light conditions back in the studio. Inside / outside equally important thankyou.
I am constantly drawn to this site for learning and application. I am about to paint the Savior and wanted to use the best paints possible... But 255.00 is way out of my range. Do you ever have give aways or contests? If not I will just use my Georgians. Thank you so much for this site! I am self taught and am going to set up a serious studio space, with the lighting and color checker and mixing tutorial suggestions.
Hi Mark thanks so much for this video as per usual! Two quick questions for you: A. I'm left handed so I would assume I would ideally just mirror the setup? That makes sense right? B. Do you not get the shadow of yourself and your hand/brush on the canvas as you are painting based on the light being behind you? Thanks again!
Watch out on the kinds of light bulbs you choose. After painting under a CFL 85 Watt light for 1-3 hours a day, I have noticed dry eyes, insomnia and fatigue. There are lots of articles about the harms can be done by using LED and CFL light bubs. This is one article for your reference: www.naturaleyecare.com/blog/reason-lightbulb-choices-matter/
So where is a good place to have a north facing window in the studio? My new studio has a big window on the north side and I am trying to plan layout and lighting to accommodate it. I prefer natural light as much as possible.
i would love to one day have a studio to set up. however, right now i live in a studio bed room with one window and would have to make do with what i've got. what do you suggest i do to create the best working area for my current situation? thank you very much for all your videos
could you not put the ligth from the side instead of from above and get the same effect? As long as the angle relative to canvas is the same. Is that right?
How much watt should have the 5000 k light bulb? And should it be a fuoresent-, incandescent-, LED-, or Halogen light bulb? There are all these option and I am not familiar with the differences. Can you please clarify? Thank you!
Hi Mark-I live in a standard 8' high drywall ceilng 1 bedroom apt.I am NOT allowed to cut through drywall to mount a smaller 5000k circular light into my livingroom area where art studio is located.How can I mount(could you give best recommedation)a bulb with fixture of 'best possible scenerio' under these circumstances?Thankyou,Ron McNally
my ceiling is really low and studio light was hitting into my shadow box,also my shadow was visible on canvas, so somehow I positioned my studio light more on behind left side. Is that ok?
Many thanks Mark for the advice. What do you think about having a neon light in the studio? I don't know what is the equivalent to 5000 K in The Uk. We have 100 watts, etc. Please advise.
I've found the 80w 5000k bulbs but no luck in finding a lighting fixture for it short of a 500$ one I found in a photo store. Any suggestions? Also what kind of bulb for the light box?
So then is a studio wthout windows and artificial light in the right "color" and angle and distance from your paintng surface better than using the natural light from a northern facing window? also what about lighting your subject?
I have built a shadow box to the specifications Mark has provided ,plus added some ideas myself, my problem is that no matter how I move and adjust the light I cannot get a good effect of light and shade on my objects. Does anyone know what tpe of globe to use,currently using a 5000k bulb?
Hi Mark. Hope you are doing well. I have gained a lot of knowledge from your videos, good information of how to become an artist. My question is how to focus a light to our still life subject to paint from live.What bulb should I prefer and of wat Wattage. Thanks and Regards Syed Shahbaz Hussain.
Hi Mark, thank you great video. You suggest a 5000k bulb, for 8 an foot ceiling height. I am confused with the amount of lumens one should aim for when buying a 5000k bulb. A shop light with 5000k and 8000 lumens would be great, but probably a little to bright and expensive for my humble beginnings. You suggest the 5000K spiral type of bulb - but, what lumens does it have? My local hardware store sells 5000K LED bulbs but with only 350 lumen light output.
Old masters used only candles to illuminate their studios when painting at night.They also took advantage from the lights coming from the dawn. I havent heard or read Northern lights or aurora borealis can be useful or not in a painting process. Why dont you just use a low bulb and put it where you cant get glare rather than powering a high consuming electricity bulb and move away from it? Advice from this video is impractical and its almost like Mr. Monk.
