There are 10 questions that every artist is asked at some point in their career. Here are my answers…
Q1. How long does it take you to do the average painting?
I usually give my Dad’s classic answer to this question. As an artist himself, he was continually asked how long it took him to engrave a monogram on the head of a signet ring? He specialised in designing and engraving family seals and I used to watch him for hours. His answer to this question was always the same…
“It has taken me my whole life.”
His reasoning was that it had taken 30 or 40 odd years to build up and hone his skill to be able to produce that particular piece of work, at that level, at that time. A painting can take a matter of hours or months in actual labour.
Some paintings are of course, easier to paint than others. As with any other discipline or talent, some things happen spontaneously, quickly and can be very powerful, while others require hard labour to get the desired result. In essence, you never really know how long the creative process is going to take.
My father (Arthur Gray) was a Master copper plate engraver.
Here is a rare pic of my Dad posing in the garden. He also had a passion for wildlife.