Extra Lights When Painting

Brushjockey said:

Lighting is very important- particularly in winter.
I have used a variety of lights, including the halogen. I also found it to be a poor light to paint with.
I invented a light box using 4 100w equivalent florescent that I use all the time. A couple of these will light up a room and are not dangerous for the heat like a halogen.
Here's the idea-

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I am thinking you built that? If you did purchase it let me know where?

Thanks!

Yes- homemade. You can buy florescent work lights, but this just uses the regular bulbs so they are cheap and easy to replace.
Plastic box, a bit of hardware etc.
If you are handy , look at it and recreate.

Just don't judge color by any but the more expensive full spectrum flourescent. Most have absolutely dreadful color rendering indexes. Most halogens, on the other hand, have decent CRIs.

When I needed light, I had the typical cheap halogen worklights but I swapped the bulbs out for some less bright than the 500w ones that come with them. You could also try a theater gel over the lens of the thing (assuming yours has a piece of glass) to diffuse the light some.

You might try aiming the light off the ceiling to see if that provides you with enough?

A friend, a painter, somehow ended up with lots of lights from a photographers studio. They were great and came with diffusers and baffles.

I actually like the halogens. Yes they are really bright and really hot, but, if you angle them just right, they throw a perfect light on the wall. I also have used the very inexpensive aluminum clamp lights. You can put almost any watt bulb in them to shed just the right amount of light.........if you lose it or break it, well, they only cost about 8 bucks. The clamp makes it nice to attach to a ladder or just about anything else to bring the light closer to your work area.

yea i use halogens ,i always have to be careful dogs and cats like to stare at them .

ltd said:

yea i use halogens ,i always have to be careful dogs and cats like to stare at them .

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You also have to be staring to realize someone else is staring. :wink:
Staring at halogen lighting can cause spelling and punctation irregularity disorder. :laughing:

The only real light to paint in is daylight. I've cut in dark halogen lit rooms only to come back in the daylight to question who the hell did that.

I've got an old brass floor lamp my father used, and possibly my grandfather. It has three regular bulbs around a three way bulb in the center. I'm actually thinking it could be a nice lamp if I could clean all the paint off.

Just discovered its called a mogul lamp.