How long did it take you to draw that?

I think this question is asked of me more than any other question when it comes to my artwork. It used to surprise me when it was asked because I never understood what relevance it had to my work, or any artist's work, for that matter, but I've matured from that position and think I have a better understanding of why the question pops up so often.

• If you don't paint or draw, the entire process is a bit of a mystery (sort of how I am in awe of people who create music. How do they DO that??)
• It's a conversation starter
• People might actually be curious about the time/value equation

 

So here's the answer = I don't know. 

 

This is partly because I'm not a great custodian of time, partly because it's easy to get lost in a larger work like a painting and lose track of days and hours that are put into it. Small, lose sketches can be done in an hour or two, more complicated drawings can take days. Digital drawing is much much faster than drawing on paper with pencil, and oil paintings can take weeks or could just take two afternoons depending on the size and the level of detail. 

One constant I've noticed in my years of interacting with the public over art, is that when I do manage to come up with an estimated time taken on a piece the response is invariably a version of 'oh, wow' and the conversation just chills there because neither of us know if I spent the right amount of time or not. 

Is there a right amount of time? 

 

Portrait in progress from 2015. I have no idea how long I spent on this. :)