Advice on Magnifying lamp

I've found this magnifier which I may invest in myself when my eyesight further deteriorates: https://www.preservationequipment.com/Catalogue/Instruments/Microscopes-Magnifiers/Optivisor-binocular-magnifier. There's also other neat tools and materials on this site that look interesting.

I'm so sorry this is happening to you Karima... I think what you are doing is amazing, and it shows your strength as an artist to be able to use your memory and imagination to compensate!!🦋 It's so nice you can borrow your friend's lamp/magnifier! Thank you for the tip, I'll have a look and do some research in that direction!🌷

I have arrived at the place where I can’t “see” my paintings and “touch” them with my eyes the way I used to. My eyesight isn’t bad but it definitely isn’t the same and it is very frustrating. I rely on memory and imagination to paint - I kind of imagine where the strokes should be and imagine how they are landing on the page! It isn’t the way I would like to paint but it is my reality. In fact I panicked when buying the rocks brush because I’m pretty sure I won’t be able to see the tip! A friend has an aesthetician’s lamp with magnifier in her studio that is heaven! Sometimes I will go there when I’m scratching gold. Her lamp is my envy!

Thank you very much for your answers Vaishali! 🌻

It's good to know your thoughts on this, maybe I got too used to my magnifying lamp at work in conservation in the past... I'll look into eye exercising, that's a good idea! I suffer from eye fatigue quite quickly, that might help.

I totally agree with you, daylight is the best; I'll try to adapt my workspace to get more of it at home 😊 I won't go into candles hihi, definitely too risky and too warm in colour I agree!

Thank you for your time and those answers, this really helps!!

About lights, though, and light - that is a different matter and really does help, also with your eyesight. In the past of course they didn't have electricity and relied only on either daylight (highly recommended - natural daylight is the best) or candles (not recommended!).

I have 2 professional daylight lamps for photography but they were quite expensive and I rarely use them for actual painting now. Really, daylight is the best, even when it's rainy. That way you get the best colour balance too.

If you're going to spend the money then maybe better to spend it on good ambient lighting rather than a magnifying lamp... a good work lamp should suffice. Honestly though the best thing is daylight, so if you can move a desk or yourself towards a window that is ideal!

Good question! I get asked this fairly frequently - do miniaturists use magnifying glasses at all? In the past no, not really evidence for this... plus we don't tend to look at miniatures with magnifying glasses but with the naked eye.

Muscle memory helps us with the fine details.

Also, doing eye exercises when tired rather than looking too much through magnifying glasses.

Other people may have different thoughts on magnifying glasses? Never say never, maybe one day I'll use magnifying glasses too... for now not.

My husband uses a headband lamp when he does jewellery yes. But that is for jewellery, not painting. It is a very powerful one, I will try to take a photo next time I see him use it.