Lights for painting

Submitted by Slick on 8/17/06 at 10:11 AM. ( zoey624@hotmail.com ) 4.225.238.75

I am having trouble with getting to much paint on the fish I am painting ecspecially the shimmers.I am sure it is the lighting where I paint because if I take the fish outside I can see that I have put to much paint on.
What kind of lights should I get so I can fix the problem.

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You must use incandescent lights

This response submitted by George on 8/17/06 at 10:15 AM. ( georoof@aol.com ) 152.163.100.135

At my spray booth, I have two shop lights mounted on an adjustable height light standard and anytime I'm using shimmers, I turn them on. They allow you to see instantly where flourescent lights will not. They are also very useful to insure complete coverage of your final gloss coat.


One thing to keep in mind

This response submitted by Cecil 64.184.41.234 on 8/17/06 at 10:33 AM. ( ) 64.184.42.8

Is what kind of lighting your customer has. Typically a customer's home does not have "shop lights" and the lighting is subdued. And if you lighting is too bright the customer could take it home and it will look darker there.

I prefer as much natural lighting as possible and don't paint much after dark. I have big windows in my display area and shop where I paint. But of course I do have some of the lighting George talks about.

To each his own but IMHO the shimmers are way over played. Just more paint the suppliers want you to buy.

As far as applying too much paint, with experience you should learn to back off. I don't believe that's a matter of lighting.


Cecil brings up a very good point...

This response submitted by marty on 8/17/06 at 11:25 AM. ( ) 24.15.97.161

I also agree with George.

I've got all "soft, yellow" lights in my painting area with one window to let in some natural light. The key is to replicate as closely as possible the lighting that the fish will hang in. Rarely does this include any flourescent/blue lights. And typically some natural light but not too much as we recommend NOT placing the mount in direct sunlight. I must say that I do have MORE lighting in my painting area than the mount typically would have where hung. Maybe I'm getting old, but I have a hard time seeing to put in the details w/o sufficient, bright lights. BUT, I also take this into consideration and I'll always go a bit lighter with my paints. You can always add more paint, but going the other way around isn't always possible. When close to "finishing" I also bring my mount upstairs and hang it on the wall in my display room. If I don't like something, I go back down and adjust. I amy do this three or four times - whatever it takes until it looks good. Then it goes back up in the display room and hangs there for a few days before glossing IF I wish to make any more adjustments (I almost always DO!) Fyi, my display room has okay lighting, but not too much. I believe it's a fair representation of what the lighting typically would be where my customer's will hang their fish. Any room in your shop/house will work that has similar lighting...


Try both

This response submitted by Monty on 8/20/06 at 8:28 AM. ( ) 69.245.173.84

I asked the same question on this site once and was told about full spectrum lighting. You can accomplish this by having both a warm and cool light in your flourescent fixture. Also, they now sell incandescent bulbs called 'daylight' which closely replicates natural outdoor lighting. I use both types in my paint area now and they seem to help.


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