ikea, a series called jansjö, built in LED, different models for tabletop – clamp/wall – USB; extremely long lasting, 3000 kelvin.
https://m.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/art/70386305/

these are very affordable, but if you move them around a lot be gentle. when they break it’s the entire armature that breaks, not a bulb you can change. mine are three years old, the clamp model, i move them around sporadically. very happy with them.

I used to use 5500k fluorescent tubes (approximate noon daylight) for some decades.
Happily, with the availability of LED floods, I have made the switch.
I acquired the bulbs over time as they became more common.
My studio has 9 floods aimed at the easel.
They range in temperature from 4100k to 5500k.

3000k light is way to warm to work under unless you need to simulate the average home or gallery.

Fluorescent lights have peaks in their spectral curves, and LEDs have gaps, possibly leading to metameric failure. (Colours that look identical under one light but different under another light.)
If you’re concerned with matching colours while painting, I wouldn’t recommend these no matter what the CRI is. (CRI is not a good indicator in this regard. A candle has a CRI of 100 but would be difficult to mix and match colours under.)

My recommendation is Solux M-16 halogen globes. (Run on 12 volts).
They come in different colour temperatures, but I think the best is 4700K.
I know this is different than average lighting conditions in a home, but lighting would vary considerably. You have to also consider what the artwork will look like throughout the day with natural lighting.

So I recommend 4700K because it is good for colour mixing and matching.
They are currently the best you can get to simulate natural light with a flat spectral curve.
Of course, they run hot unfortunately.

Location Location Location. I saw a Sargent being removed from a US art gallery in Boston many years ago, to go on a travel to Europe. As it left the building it looked so DARK it was pretty horrible, all the values were lost. You need to know where the painting is going to end up if not in a museum. Thats why choice of lighting is so variable and not gospel as every homes wall is different.

ikea, a series called jansjö, built in LED, different models for tabletop – clamp/wall – USB; extremely long lasting, 3000 kelvin.
[url]https://m.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/art/70386305/[/url]

these are very affordable, but if you move them around a lot be gentle. when they break it’s the entire armature that breaks, not a bulb you can change. mine are three years old, the clamp model, i move them around sporadically. very happy with them.

Hey Ronsu, I tried that same IKEA lamp for painting, but found the color of the light was too warm, and it was also too bright. Perhaps if I hadn’t tried it clamped to my easel but instead had located it further away the brightness issue would have been taken care of, but I don’t know if moving it would have mattered in regard to color temperature. Does the warmth of a light drop off with distance?

I had thought warmer lights would make for a better painting, but although displaying a painting under warmer lights may make it look better, painting under them does not necessarily result in a better painting. What I think happens is when one chooses paints based on the too-warm light, the eye compensates for the warmth and this leads to the mixing of too-cool hues. This means the painting may look yucky under other lighting conditions.

I’ve been trying for years to get the my lighting right and still haven’t managed to, although some of the problem has to do with space (lack thereof) considerations, as well as financial ones, as I could not afford the high-end halogen bulbs that Ron Francis recommends. I’ve been using LEDs, so maybe the CRI is the issue. It occurs to me that this might also explain why it’s so difficult for me to take decent photos of my work.

The bulbs on the IKEA lamp apparently last nearly forever. It’s now a nice reading lamp next to my bed and I’m very happy with it for that.

@Ron: I did look at Solux halogen. The “run hot” might be a problem. More of a problem is that I would not be using the light for long continuous strethes, but moving it around and often switching it on and off. It’s my understanding that halogen bulbs have short lifetimes under those circumstances. LED, no problem.

You are correct in that CRI doesn’t tell the whole story, even at a specific color temperature. But it seems that there are some very high CRI LED bulbs (at very high prices) that are getting close to temperature color rendition, and can be acquired as several different color temperatures. I am guessing that this is the wave of the future (10 years) when costs come down.

@All: My backup plan is to leave final color adjustment (I do glazing) until the rainy season where I live, which will begin within a few weeks. Then, I can work in a well-lit indoor location that has a southern exposure, but the sky will be solid gray all day.

I don’t know about the longevity of the halogen globes related to frequently turning off and on. I try to paint under natural light as much as I can, but use my globes reasonably often and they have lasted something like 3 years so far. I don’t tend to turn them off and on frequently though.
They aren’t very expensive though.

If you are going for LED, then I suggest you try to find one with the flattest spectral curve you can find.
Ben Sones did some testing here on WC a couple of years ago, and put an LED through a prism to split the light up into a rainbow. It was remarkable to see the dark gaps where there was no light at certain wavelengths.
I think there may be advancements with LEDs by adding phosphors to make a more complete spectrum, but I haven’t been following the technology and my knowledge is sketchy.
If you find something that looks good, please post back because I’m also interested.
Good luck.

Fluorescent lights have peaks in their spectral curves, and LEDs have gaps, possibly leading to metameric failure. (Colours that look identical under one light but different under another light.)
If you’re concerned with matching colours while painting, I wouldn’t recommend these no matter what the CRI is. (CRI is not a good indicator in this regard. A candle has a CRI of 100 but would be difficult to mix and match colours under.)

My recommendation is Solux M-16 halogen globes. (Run on 12 volts).
They come in different colour temperatures, but I think the best is 4700K.
I know this is different than average lighting conditions in a home, but lighting would vary considerably. You have to also consider what the artwork will look like throughout the day with natural lighting.

So I recommend 4700K because it is good for colour mixing and matching.
They are currently the best you can get to simulate natural light with a flat spectral curve.
Of course, they run hot unfortunately.

Hey, Ron, is there a screw-in bulb equivalent (not 12 volts) for the halogen one you’ve recommended?

If anyone else also knows about this, I’d appreciate hearing…
It would be such a relief to find something that really worked, but that wouldn’t require a lot of new equipment, break my budget, or send my utility bill through the roof.