SO FAR, SO GOOD!

I took the sketch to the site where the mural will be painted on a 22 ft. by 200 ft. section of the north interior wall at Novatek in Provo, Utah. The sketch looked great in there environment, which will make my job easier to get the approval. Studio lighting can be a great challenge, especially when the lighting situation cannot be ideal. The ideal or standard for a plein air artist when he must paint inside is natural lighting from the north. The studio's north window ideally should be allowing the soft natural light from about 14-16 feet above ground level and at about a 30-45 degree angle. When this is not possible, an artist must adjust his lighting artificially.

My new studio space, with a paid-in-advance lease for six months, has a big south window. My wife went online and found some good information to help me correct the lighting situation. From her advice, I taped sheets of tracing paper over the window. This did a great job of softening the harsh yellow rays of sunlight coming through, but I still had some more work to do before everything was right. I then went to the hardware store and picked up a set of florescent fixtures, with florescent daylight bulbs and some incandescent track lighting (30 watt floods). So far, this seems to work well. Taking the sketch on site passed the test with flying colors.

In a few more days, the sketch should be finished and ready for the final approval. Maybe by this weekend. Keep in touch!