Yes this question, "How Long did it take you to paint that painting"? is a question I get from buyers and painting admirers all the time. It is a question that is somewhat hard to answer because if you say it took no time at all, it will seem to the buyer that the painting isn't worth as much as
one that took a long time to paint. I believe many buyers think this way about art.
Since I have become very efficient when painting, there are times I can finish a painting in 2 hours and it may look like I spent days painting it. I can do this because of the many years of creating storyboards for the commercial storyboard industry. Time limits and meeting schedules that were sometimes due in hours is a norm in this industry. So
because I am so fast should I get paid less for my work? It shouldn't be about the time it took it should be the end results, the painting, and your experience.
My Mentor Irving Shapiro gave me some of the best advice and the advice he gave me for when someone asks you how long it took you to do a painting...... tell them it took you as long as the years you have been an artist, including
the years you were in classes learning your craft. So now when I get asked this question I tell them it took me 36 years to do that painting.
I started at the American Academy of Art in 1979 and have been painting that painting ever since.
