One of the most frequently asked questions about my art is “How long did it take you to do that?”
I, who am usually honest to a fault, dance around the answer to that question. There isn’t a straightforward answer, and when there is, I don’t like it!
Here are some of my answers:
1. Why? do you want to calculate my hourly wage?
2. It went really quickly this time.
3. I can’t believe how long this took!
4. Who has time to calculate hours?
5. The side of my brain that makes art isn’t the side of my brain that can tell time.
The plain truth is that I don’t keep track of my time. Most of my work is produced in fits and starts rather than sitting down in the a.m. and getting up at the end of the day to check off the 8 hour box.
When a commission customer asks about how long, I assume (usually correctly) that the question has to do with when the piece will be ready. I ask when he would like it. Then I do my very best to finish it by that time, and I haven’t missed a deadline or promise yet! (except for the time I was in a big fat car wreck, but that’s for another post. . . or maybe not.)
5 Comments
This is the most frequently asked question I receive, also. I always want to give them your answer #1. However, I want them to like me enough to buy what I’m selling so I have started telling them that if I ever do stop and figure out how long it really takes me to complete a hand-dyed, handwoven towel, they won’t be able to affort it!
Hello from Cleveland airport! We don’t usually have access to high speed internet during airport layovers, but using complimentary “President’s Lounge” passes on this domestic journey affords us a rare opportunity to enjoy your site! Wonderful! You’re as gifted with words as you are in all your various art forms… what a blessing to behold AND read! Keep up the GREAT work, dear Jana!
I get the same question all time, only regarding how long it takes to crochet my blankets. I have the same “problem” answering–2 hours here, an hour there, 3 hours here, 2 hours there . . . I finally figured out a rough estimate: 40 hours for a baby blanket and 60 hours for an adult afghan. Which is why I give away my afghans to charities and as gifts. Even at “minimum wage” the labor cost would make the blankets too expensive to sell. Crocheting is an art I do for the joy of doing it (and for the stress-busting it provides)!
Thanks, Catherine. There is something about being totally engaged in an activity that erases all sense of time. The house can be seen about a mile up Dinely, looking across the river.
I like Answer No. 5. When I’m working on something (either serious or fun), I cannot tell how much time is passing. It always surprises me (either less time than I thought, or more), when I finally look up and decide I’m “done” for now. The creative process is a really strange thing. Sometimes it’s blindingly fast. Other times it’s slow as molasses.
Lovely drawing. Is that the house I can see up on a hill, from the North Fork bridge? Maybe not, but there’s one up there with similar windows…
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