Problems with room lighting... How much light?

[iMigraine]

My room has a ceiling fan which I put two Sylvania 13W CF13EL/Micro/835 3500K 820 lumens bulbs. I bought them maybe a year ago at Lowes. I remember the packaging saying the bulbs were daylight instead of warm light. But now that I see they are 3500K far from 5000K. I purchased two OttLites before but they where too big for the ceiling fan. So I saw that only Sylvania had small daylight CFL but now I know they are sh!t.

Well I notice when I'm trying to draw still lifes, my eyes strain to see my sketchbook or drawing pad under the ceiling fan lights. I did some research on the Net and found a few oil painters mentioning that it's important to have your still life under the same light as your canvas. Stan Proko's blog details this problem. Ankaris's blog also shows his setup. So I'm looking at purchasing one portable light stand but I don't know how much lumens I will need. I see some lamps have three or more sockets for CFL bulbs. I've been looking on Adorama and BHphotovideo for ideas.

One of the art stores near me sells Daylight Company clip on studio lamp & stand but I've never read a positive review about it so I don't want to spend money on junk. So any advice would be appreciated.

[Black Spot]

[iMigraine]

Now I know about the angle of the light to the easel. I'm still unsure about the amount of light. Do I need 45 watt flood light? I rigged up on Ott Lite 25wt = 75watt incandescent bulb to a cheap Home Depot clip on shop light. Hung it off my bookshelf but that amount of light it produce was too weak.

I'm surprise to see that some of the light kits at Adorama & BHphoto are much cheaper than major online art stores. And there is a huge variety which makes my head spin too.

[sone_one]

noone can tell you the amount of energy you need to light your room perfectly, without going into pretty complicated calculations. people are paid for that.

whats easier to answer is the balance of your light source... get a well balanced lightsource.... the distribution of energy across the visible wavelengths. you dont want something with a tint to it (cutting off certain wavelengths). get some daylight lamps and then figure yourself the quantity you need.

[iMigraine]

I hear what your saying sone_one. I'm just curious to know if anyone else has used a flood lamp setup for their studio. What was their experiences with them and such. Most people are digital so they probably don't worry about lighting.