I'd been struggling with having enough light for proper mini painting for quite some time.
I got two 33 watt helical Ott light bulbs, which are color corrected and state 150 watt equivalence, but in my current setup there is just not enough ambient light. So -- I got a floor-stand mounted "true light craft lamp" from the hardware store to supplement, and it does just about nothing, and also got a 150 watt floor lamp with a phillips "daylight" bulb in it, but there's still not enough light, and besides, I have to stoop down below those desk lamps with the ott bulbs in them.
I went to the local friendly photography supply store and found a great solution.
I got a 105 watt flourescent bulb by Eiko, which is a 420 watt equivalence, color corrected to 5000 k, and I got a 10" lamp head and a stand to go with it. The bulb is a monster -- it is 11.3 inches long. The base can screw into a normal light socket, but it flares out pretty big right away so it won't fit in a normal desk lamp. Besides, the lamp head I got came with a diffuser. Now I have brilliant, shadowless light. The lamp head is up high enough to flood my painting table, and I don't have to slouch below it to paint. I'm thinking of getting a second lamp to come in from the other side.
The whole rig cost about $150, but it is money well spent.
Energy bills have gone up around 80% for us Brits over the last year so we can only look forward to 40w bulbs on for 2 hours per day now !!! when winter comes there will be a lot less painting done !!!
Wouldnt it pay to get a couple of those flourescent strip lights that they have in shops and warehouses? They're cheap to run and give great light over a larger area.
I have the same problem, huddled underneath a main fluo tube in the shed and a fluo desk lamp which is nice but I keep banging my head on because I have to have it so close. I have daylight flooding in thru the windows but the desk is right under and facing them so I spend most of the day struggling to see anything but the mini's silhouette. Not ideal, but the way the shed is set up, I've had to make the most of what space I could make for myself.
You can get smallish light boxes with fluo tubes in, 1- 4 bulbs, and these would be ideal for painting under. I used to have one for growing purposes and they are extremely economical and plug straight into a plug socket so no tricky wiring. There were 2 55w daylight bulbs in mine and they could light almost a whole room with perfect lighting but the beauty of them is they dont really get hot so people like Caerban can bang their heads on them without removing skin :icon_w00t: I thnk bulbs worked out to £4 each so thy're cheap too. Looks like you have got what you want though Cheddar, this is just info for any others looking for light :icon_wink:
Yup, it is cool to hear about alternatives! I have 48" shop lights in the garage with daylight-colored tubes in them, and they're far more economical, but my wife wouldn't be happy if I hung a shop light from the livingroom or family room ceiling. This lamp is much more portable, and the light is a bit more concentrated into my work area, so it doesn't disrupt TV watching. I suppose I could have constructed a gallows out of pvc pipes and hung a shop lamp from it...
lol I dont think the missus would be amused with your construction :icon_w00t:
Heres a similar model to what I have
(http://www.blunt.co.uk/hydroponics-shop-uk/hps-grow-lights/images/nebula552.jpg)
It could be mounted on a floor standing pole with a horizontal bar on it as they dont weigh much