How To Light Your Artwork At Home
- June 27, 2022
- by
- John Santos
When it comes to art, showing it in the perfect light plays a major role. Sometimes, art requires slightly dimmer lights that have a cool effect on the painting. While other times a painting might require warmer lights to shine on it. All these factors contribute to accentuating the overall beauty of your artwork.
You might know that art is subjective. Therefore, doing anything related to it should not have any rules or limitations. When you think about illuminating your art, there is not any specific set of rules for that.
However, there are some things that might work best for the kind of art you have. To make you aware of some little things that can make a big difference ahead in this blog are some detailed ideas that might help you in lighting your artwork at home.
Types Of Lighting That Suits The Artwork
Of course, there are plenty of lights available. But, choosing the ones that are only useful for illuminating artwork can be tricky. So, to make that easier for you, here are some of the types of light that you should look for while selecting a light for your artwork:
Track Lights
The ideal lights that could enlighten an artwork beautifully are track lights. These lights are traditional, but in today’s time, they are modernised. As a result, you get the best version of the light which is commonly liked by the millennials.
As for convenience, these lights are flexible as they are easier to move. The downside is that these lights give the vibes of the studio, so as long as you do not have any problem with that, you can install them in your home for your artwork.
Ceiling-mounted Accent Lights
If you want to shed light on your artwork while retaining the aesthetic design of your interior, this one might be the one for you. These lights are easily mounted on the ceilings that are mostly compatible with the ceiling design. As a result, it highlights the beauty of the place and the art even more. Thes lights are surely a classic pick for lighting artwork at home.
Picture Lights
Picture lights are used when you want to put all the focus on the artwork. Doing so will overshadow every other thing present in the room. Picture lights are usually used on the boundaries of the wall that has artwork or on the framing of the artwork.
Installing these lights could be challenging as they hang very close to the artwork. So, if your artwork is made of things that might fade with the energy emitted by these lights, then picture lights might not be good for that.
Wall Washers
Sometimes a dispersed light works more effectively than the light that’s directly focused on the art. Wall washers are the type of lights that enlighten the whole wall with an evenly distributed glare of the light. You can hang these lights on the ceiling, walls or sometimes even on the floors. Moreover, these lights are flexible as you can re-adjust them smoothly.
Things To Keep In Mind About Frames
Framing an artwork is an essential thing. Also, the intensity of light that falls on the surface of the artwork highly depends on the kind of framing you have used. For instance, if your frame is thick, then wall washers won’t work as they will cast a shadow on the artwork instead of illuminating it. So, here are the things that you should consider while choosing the light for your artwork:
Surface Of Your Artwork
Sometimes to illuminate the artwork, artists like to frame their art behind a piece of glass. In such cases, you need to use dimmer lights as you wouldn’t want to illuminate the artwork to the extent that it gives a blinding effect.
Keep The Lighting In Mind
While framing your artwork, you can decide beforehand about the lighting you are going to use. Suppose you want to use picture lights, then it’s essential to choose the frame that can support these lights.
Also, if you are going to use wall washers, then make sure that the frame is not too thick. Otherwise, it will block the lighting coming from the wall washers.
Protect The Artwork
It’s crucial to make your choices regarding the lights wisely. In the long run, some lights might cause damage to the artwork. Halogen lights that are focused over only one painting start bringing the painting away.
You might not notice it immediately, but it’s damaging in the long run. You can put the halogen lights far from your artwork to avoid situations like these. Or you can use UV filters that can help protect your artwork irrespective of the distance of the halogen light.
Do Not Use Natural Light Of Your Home
Surely having an open area in your home would be good for ventilation and natural light. However, it’s not good for your artwork as the UV rays of the sun can fade your painting. That’s why make sure to keep your artwork in a place where the natural light is unable to reach.
Bottom Line
So these are some of the things that you should take note of before installing lights for your artwork at your home. For more wise advice like this, you can always contact Pro Point Electrical experienced electricians for genuine services.