Find Your Space
Walk around with fresh eyes and think creatively. It doesn't have to be a spare room. It could be a corner of a bedroom, a guest-room with a nice north-facing window, a covered porch or a sunroom, or if weather allows, the garage. You're looking for a few things:
Enough Room
Enough room for your easel, a palette table, a still-life table, and storage for your supplies. A corner can absolutely work.
Natural Light or Controlled Lighting
Natural light, or the ability to control the lighting — a nearby window is a bonus, and if it’s north-facing, double bonus. The next section covers how to light any spot you choose, so if you have a few options, consider which one will be easiest to light.
A Space You Can Keep Set Up and Ready
This one matters more than people think. If you have to pack everything up and drag it back out every time you want to paint, that friction adds up fast — and friction is what stops people from painting. A corner where the easel stands ready and waiting makes it much more likely you'll actually show up. So if you’re deciding between two spots, and one will allow you to keep your supplies out more readily — go with that one.
My first painting space
My second painting space
Don’t worry about getting it right the first time. Choose your best option, set up, and paint — you’ll quickly learn what works and what needs to change. If nothing in your home feels like an obvious fit, snap a few photos of your options and send them over; we’ll figure it out together.
Lighting Your Easel
In the video clip below, I cover how to light your easel so you can see your canvas clearly with minimal glare and accurate color.
[coming soon → Studio lighting video]
What’s Important
Indirect light: Because oil paint stays wet, direct light will create glare and make it hard to see what’s happening on the canvas, so you want indirect light.
Neutral color temperature light: if the light source is too warm, you’ll mix your colors too cool, and they’ll look different when you leave the room — and vice versa: cool light can make your colors read too warm. Aim for 4500–5000K, with 4800K being the sweet spot.
Bright, but not too bright: Bright light can feel great on your eyes while painting. But there’s a point where it becomes too bright (I know — I learned the hard way). When it’s too bright, you can mix your paint too dark — it’ll look right when you’re painting, but as soon as you move it to normal light, it’ll read too dark. Unfortunately, you won’t know your light is too bright until this super frustrating thing happens to you, and I’m sharing this now so you’ll know why it happened.
Best Option: Freestanding Up-lights
This is my favorite way to light my easel. Up-lights will give you the most control and the least glare, and you can move them anywhere.
Clamp light
The fastest and cheapest option is a clamp light attached to your easel and directed at the ceiling. Buy a really bright 4500–5000K color temperature bulb like this one..
Clamp light on easel directed at the ceiling
Garage work light
A garage work light directed at the ceiling is a mid-range option. Look for a 4500–5000K (color temperature — 4800K is the sweet spot) and 7000–10000 lumens (brightness). You’ll also need an adjustable stand, and rotating heads.
Garage work light directed at the ceiling
Photography studio light
A photography studio light is the higher-end option. It will give you full control over brightness and temperature. While it’s on the pricier end, it’s probably my favorite thing in my studio.
Tip: if you already own any of these or something similar, try them first and troubleshoot before you buy anything. You might have a good solutions already.
Next Best Option: Window Light
Windows work well when there’s filtered, indirect light coming through them. Position your easel perpendicular to the window and adjust the angle until there’s minimal glare.
North-facing window, easel perpendicular
Here are some tips to make window light work:
Look for a north-facing window. North light will almost always work because it’s the most consistent neutral-colored light all day long, and there’s never any harsh, direct light coming through.
If it’s not north-facing, look for a window with diffused light — ideally one that’s shaded outside, or one you can filter with light diffusing window film.
Least Best Option (But Work-able): Overhead Lighting
Overhead lights are convenient because they’re already there, but rarely are they the right temperature or brightness. If overhead lights are your only option: replace the bulbs with neutral temperature bulbs in the 4500–5000K range — 4800K is the sweet spot (like these) and add a dimmer to them if you can. After you do that, play with how you position your easel and palette relative to the lights above to achieve the best amount of light and the least amount of glare.
Some palette and easel positions to try:
One of the lights above but where it falls slightly behind your head, just enough so that your head doesn’t cast a shadow on your palette or canvas.
Between two overhead lights or to the side of one.
Play with the angle of your easel; most of them can tilt forward and backward relative to the floor, which might help you solve some glare issues if you encounter them.
Your Still Life Table
In this section, I’ll talk about some ways to create a clean and consistent lighting situation for your subject to live within and some important things to consider.
[Coming soon → Still-life setup video]
Locating the Table
You’ll want your still life sitting on a surface beyond your easel, either to the left or right side. Either side will work, but if you have the flexibility in your space, position it to the side of your dominant hand.
Still life table position
Lighting the Still Life
You want to light your subject in a way that you can clearly see the light and shadow sides of your subject, without competing light sources. The more clear the lit and shadow shapes are, the easier it will be to paint and the better the outcome you will get. There are a few approaches to this.
The First (and the Best) Option — Use a Direct, Artificial Light Source
You’ll shine a single, direct light source on your subject, from any direction or vantage point. The easiest and best light source is a basic clamp light with either a warm, neutral, or cool bulb in it (these bulbs are amazing — they have a switch on the side with 4 color temperature settings).
You can attach the clamp light to anything nearby and then angle it to shine exactly where you want it. I like to use a tripod to clamp the light onto so I can move it up and down and left and right, relative to the still life. This gives me the most control.
The Second Option — Use Natural, Diffused Light From a Nearby Window
Window light can be gorgeous! I think it’s great to try at some point, but just know that it doesn’t create as clear and crisp light on your subject, so it will be a bigger challenge than a direct light.
Window light can also be irregular throughout the day, depending on the direction it faces.
Note: direct sunlight coming through the window is tempting to paint, but it moves so fast. Unless you’re speed painting, it’s better to avoid.
Still life window light
What About a Shadow Box?
You only need a shadow box if you shine light on your subject and you see weird, conflicting shadows coming from competing light sources. Overhead lights are the worst offenders. If you’re using indirect up-lighting or diffused window light without overhead lights on, you can usually make an open still life table work. I like an open table better because it's simpler and gives me room to spread out.
A quick shadow box
Use a large shipping box with one side cut out to let the light in. You can line it with paper if you don't want your background to be brown.
Use L-shaped board scraps
You can use foam board or rigid shipping box scraps. Use tape or just stack them around your still life temporarily to block light from the top and sides.
Mounting Your Canvas to Your Easel
In this clip, I cover positioning your canvas onto your easel.
[coming soon → Canvas mounting video]
Tape your loose canvas sheet to a rigid board (masonite, a drawing board, or any flat, hard surface) with white craft tape — the board sits on the easel, the canvas sits on the board.
Using a clamp to attach your board works better than using the masthead that comes with your easel. If you're working on a gallery-wrapped canvas, it will go straight onto the easel and secure with the masthead.
Once your canvas is in place, raise the easel ledge until the canvas is at eye level. You don’t want to be looking up or down at it from your sitting or standing position.
Canvas mounting
Table, Easel, and Body Position
In this clip, I cover where your palette goes and the benefits of standing versus sitting.
[Coming soon → Body positioning ergonomics video]
Standing vs Sitting
I like to stand because there’s a lot of benefits to doing so — plus, it helps me get my steps in! If your body allows it, I encourage you to try it too. Here are the benefits: you're not stuck at one distance, you can step back and look at your painting from different distances, and it’s easier to use your whole body when painting.
I understand that for some people, sitting is the only option. That’s okay! If you do, try a tall stool first so you can still get a little movement from your hips. And definitely do the mirror trick (see below), so you can turn around frequently and see your painting fresh.
Your Palette Table & Supply Cart
Everything that ends up on the canvas comes from your palette and your supplies. You’ll spend more time with them than with your canvas, so keep everything ergonomically within reach.
I stand when I paint, so I like to place a waist-high palette table right in front of me (something like this). It keeps me from having to bend over or twist to the side to reach my paint. Since I’m left-handed, I like having my supply cart to my left for quick, easy access.
Sarah’s supply cart and palette setup
The Mirror Trick
A mirror behind you is worth having, no matter how your space is set up. You don’t need anything fancy — something as simple as a handle-held mirror like this one.
With a mirror, you only have to turn around to see your painting with fresh eyes. It’s a game changer for spotting problem areas quickly.
Mirror
Organize your supplies and test out your space
In this clip, I cover how it all comes together, how to get started, and what to do if you get stuck.
[Coming soon → Designing your space video]
Keep all the supplies you’ll use while painting within arm’s reach, in open organizers or containers right next to your easel. Supply carts are great for this. Store supplies you’ll use intermittently in organized, labeled bins, containers, or cubbies near your painting space — a cabinet, closet, bookshelf, etc.
I highly recommend laying your supplies out in your space, figuring out what kinds of containers you need, and then buying containers. You can always buy extra and return what you don’t end up using.
What to Do Next
Set everything up in your space and start testing things out. I think it’s helpful to create a sketch layout of your space and play with some ideas before you start moving furniture. The sketch below shows an ideal floor plan of how my space is laid out. Create your own sketch and once you have something you like, start moving things around!
And remember: the bar is functional, not perfect. Start somewhere, paint in it, and adjust what's not working. If you get stuck with a problem you can’t solve, snap a few photos or a short video of your space and your light sources and send them over for help.
If you want a more realistic test, feel free to jump ahead to the Setting up to paint chapter. Work through the full lesson, see how it all feels, and make adjustments from there.
Sarah’s ideal layout sketch
Take photo of any sketches you do or your space setup ideas