Michelle, your response to this thread was really clarifying to me as a freshman in art as a business Thank you.
Artists frequently are asked the question, "How long did it take to paint that?". One of my teachers said that he responds with "30 years". Answers of 100 hours to a CLIENT necessarily couldn't include all of those components that you listed. They just want to know the time it took from when your brush first touched the canvas until the final stroke. Listing all the necessary planning stages, evaluating compositions, obtaining resource photos, business, marketing, etc. are the tip of the iceberg. Added to that are the untold, ongoing hours spent learning and absorbing information gathered from multiple sources such as workshops, books, videos and, of course, The Forum. How about just painting paintings that either work or don't work - "The burn pile" paintings, Bill Whitaker called them in his workshop. A $4500 portrait that took 100 hours of painting time, adding in all the necessary steps that go into the final project could be....just a minute...let me get out the caluculator, ...below minimum wage? It must be LOVE.
