My wife and I have our studio in our unfinished basement, which has its pluses and minuses.
On the plus side, it is a big space, with plenty of air circulation, and room to walk around. There are no interior walls, just bare studs. The roughed-in plumbing includes a functioning sink and taps, so cleanups are a snap.
On the downside, we have trouble controlling the light. The house is a dropback bungalow, and the basement has 2 huge windows and a patio door. Then another mid sized window; all of this combining to create lots of light on the south and west sides. The southern exposure creates huge variations in light temperature and intensity. We draw the blinds, then open them later, depending on the time of day.
We have replaced the 60 W ceiling bulbs with daylight balanced incandescents. ("provides light similar to natural daylight") and have clip on Ott lights that help to illuminate part of the canvas, but they do not reach to the paint palette or surroundings. We find this to be pretty limiting.
We wonder about adding overhead flourescent fixtures with daylight tubes, or maybe track lighting. Either way, whatever we do will involve adding lights and having an electrician run the wiring and install the switches.
What are you guys using for lights, and do you have any recommendations?