Picture Lights
Works of art range in price from a few pounds to several million and – whether you have a family portrait to display, a local scene, or have invested in a masterpiece – you will want to show these pieces to best effect. If you want to make cherished works of art the focal point of your home or businesses, your choice of picture lighting is essential and the right lighting will create stunning results.
For those of you looking for picture lighting in the London area, we specialise in contemporary and period picture lights to illuminate favourite artworks including: drawings, prints, paintings, oils, water-colours and pastels. Our picture lights are suitable for London homes, offices, businesses, hotels, restaurants, bars, night clubs, civic buildings, museums and art galleries.
While the primary role of this type of lighting is to draw attention to interesting works of art, picture lights are also used to create mood and atmosphere. Here’s our easy guide on how to make best use of lighting for artwork.
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Accent Lighting: Using Picture Lighting to Create Mood
With home decorating, your choice of lighting makes a big difference to the look of a room and interior designers suggest you layer your lighting as this adds depth, colour and interest to an interior.
Whereas task lighting, such as table lamps, is used to help you carry out various tasks (reading for instance), picture lighting falls under the category of accent lighting. The main use of accent lighting is to spotlight beautiful parts of your interior i.e. to illuminate a portrait, favourite painting or fine art, so it stands out.
This is not the only purpose of accent lighting, however, as it is also used to create mood. In the home for instance, picture lighting creates a warm glow and you can create a wonderful atmosphere with just the picture lights, candles and/or side lamp on, as it makes the room feel more intimate. It is simple to alter the ambiance by switching between picture lamps and side lights and gentle lighting above, such as a chandelier (for a traditional home) or spot lights (in a contemporary home).
In addition to this, picture lights can be used to define the dimensions of a room. In a spacious room, for instance, with a large floor area and/or high ceilings, this type of lighting makes the interior more cosy.
Layering your lighting and having various light sources creates different zones of light and shade. Picture lighting in any London home is used to best effect in conjunction with side lamps and ceiling lighting to show an interior in its best light. In summary, it can be used to make a room appear larger or smaller, add atmosphere and spotlight the best features of a room such as the artwork.
Period or Contemporary Lighting: Which One to Choose?
Although the primary role of picture lighting is to highlight artwork and illuminate fine art, there are many different types to choose from. These include: adjustable picture lights, decorative lighting, Victorian style lights, antique brass finish lighting, polished brass lighting and contemporary and minimalist designs such as sleek chrome lighting.
One way of decorating is to coordinate all forms of lighting in the same finish and style to produce a uniformed effect. If you have a traditional home, such as a period farm house with oak beams, exposed brickwork and oil paintings, period style lighting is the best option. However, if you have a contemporary interior with modern artwork, contemporary lighting would achieve the best results.
Making the Best Use of Picture Lighting
Natural light is not good for paintings, drawings or photos as it can cause your artwork to fade, which is why the right lighting is vital.
However, for best results, it is important to use lighting in the right way. The placing of lighting is central to the overall result as the direction it faces can alter the way you view a painting; the wrong light at the wrong angle, for example, can make a picture uncomfortable to look at.
The most common type of lighting in the home is incandescent light, where the light is produced from a heated filament wire in glass. This brings out autumn colours in a painting, such as browns and reds, but it doesn’t work so well on cooler colours like greens and blue.
Florescent light is the long straight tubes of bright, white light commonly seen in offices. This type of lighting can be harmful to paintings as it gives off a small amount of ultraviolet (UV) light.
However, halogen light - the light that is generally used in spotlight and recessed lighting - works well with any work of art, including photographs. Halogen lighting is recommended by some museum curators, particularly if the light is of low voltage.
About Angelos Lighting
Angelo’s Lighting specialise in contemporary and period lighting and have a wide range of picture lighting in their London showroom. For more information on our picture lights, visit us in north London or contact us direct on 0208 348 5460 or 0208 482 2688.
Picture Lighting London – click here to view the location of our north London showroom.
We have 1000's of Lighting design's in our showroom!
Call us on 020 8482 2688 for more information.