Top tips for Lighting your Garden Sculpture

Lighting your garden sculpture need not be a daunting task. These top tips will help you to achieve a beautiful effect which will enhance your garden sculpture and give you pleasure from it all year round. In these dark days of winter  the magic of highlighting your garden sculpture with carefully positioned lighting brings a new perspective and atmosphere to your garden.  Not only does a sculpture help  your garden to become that ‘extra room’ in daylight, but you can achieve a different dimension with a few lights This will enable you to enjoy your work of art at all times and all seasons.  I am certainly not a professional lighting designer, but over the years have gleaned a few tips which hopefully will help you achieve a dramatic effect in your garden to give you even greater pleasure in your garden sculpture.  One of my clients has focussed on his sculpture which is quite far from the house, in a dark corner, and he finds that the new lighting has given him the opportunity to be able to see it accented even on the dark days of winter.

1. Professional lighting designers can give you lots of advice and will have all the skills at their fingertips. They often work in conjunction with garden designers – an ideal solution, particularly if you are starting from scratch with an entirely new garden.  They can deal with all the electrics and avoid any pitfalls.
2. If you wish to follow a less ambitious and expensive route and have some DIY experience, you can  seek advice from the assistants in stores who sell garden lighting.  In a reputable store with well-trained staff, they should be able to help you choose something to suit your needs so that your garden sculpture is lit to its best advantage.
3. Generally with a garden sculpture you are aiming to make it stand out from a dark background, and much depends on the shape and complexity of the form as to which type of light you use.
4.  You will need a light source or sources which accent your particular work of art, and this can be achieved in several ways with uplit, downlit or crosslit directional lighting.  If possible experiment by focussing the light from various positions until you get the most pleasing effect. Look at the sculpture from close by and from a distance and move the lights around until you are satisfied.  You will then be in a position to decide on the strength of lighting you require.
5. Side lit garden sculptures can sometimes look lop-sided with one side in shadow, so it is better to cross light with a lamp on either side.  Remember that an upwardly focussed light on a figure or tall sculpture may concentrate the effect on the lower half, leaving the top in shadow.
6. Beware of casting undesired shadows on a wall or fence which could look quite eerie in the darkness.
7. Most of all, look very carefully before making a decision and you will bring a new dimension and drama to your garden and your sculpture.