What had me thinking about this came about today when preparing my next oil painting; organize a canvas, research my scene and do a drawing.
Some sample questions are:
- How much did it cost to paint that painting?
- Why is it worth that much, you would be making a lot of money?
- How many paintings do you do in a year?
- How many pastel sticks did you use?
- How much oil paint was used?
- How long did it take to paint?
There are so many variables to answer these questions that I can never give a clear response to them.
To create and sell a painting there is running around costs with wear and tear on a vehicle as well as fuel, accommodation, framing, paper, printing, drawing supplies, marketing (that one is a killer), entry and commission cost if sold through a gallery, paint, canvas or other supports, transport fees and hey not lets forget the poor artist is supposed to make a bit of money out of this.
Did I say a bit of money? Well that is why it is worth that much! I like to think my experience as an artist is worth something; just wish I could make a living out of what I love to do :-)
Painting numbers vary from year to year. Size influences this along with sales. I can only cover so much canvas or paper in a given time along with how I may develop a painting. Ahhh and of cause that can control how much pastel and oil paints are used.
When someone asks how long it takes to paint a painting my thoughts are this person is only thinking of the application of paint to the support, not the hours traveling and preparing to paint the scene in the first place.
Maybe it would be easier to work out how long is a piece of string! :D
art, artist, how much
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