Inevitably every artist who gets their work seen is asked this one question: how long did it take you to do that? And we hate it because we really haven't a clue!

Most painters don't punch in and out on a time clock so we don't keep track of time in that way. Maybe we should. By contrast, we tend to get lost in time when we're in a creative mood.At the completion of a painting very few of us stop to consider how long it took. Still others work on one painting and then switch to another making it all but impossible to keep track of hours spent on any individual work.

After completing a larger work I often wonder how long it did take. Artists take as long as it needs to before a work is deemed complete. Some paintings take longer and some practically paint themselves.

I know of one painter when asked that question at an art fair who replied, "Twenty-seven years of hard work," because that's how long he'd been painting. Probably as good an answer as any!

Here's a new miniature painting just completed... and please don't ask how long it took;) We went to the beach to see the sunset and drove north hoping to see the coast south to La Jolla in the warm light of the setting sun. As we drove by the lagoon I glanced at it and saw how wonderful the light was. We couldn't stop because we were in a race with the sun to get to our spot before it set, and we did. On the way back we did stop at the lagoon and I made a quick sketch and took some photos that were the inspiration for this painting.

"Evening Quiet", 6 by 8 inches, oil on canvas on panel.