Sunset

This picture took about 11 hours and it is made of dogwood, banana peel, orange peel and corn silk.

Cat Picture

This picture took approximately 7 hours and 20 minutes and it is made of: cotton, cattail, maiden grass, Japanese maple, pampas grass, aucuba, fall leaves, mica and some sort of purple flower I don't know the name of.

How Long Does it Take to Make a Picture?

A frequently asked questions at art shows is, "How long does it take for you to make a picture?" I hardly have any idea. People have encouraged me to time my pictures. But it seemed so hard to time when I sit down and work for a half hour, leave, come back for five minutes, leave, come back and work on it for the rest of the day. How do I remember to always look at the clock when I sit down and get up and then record it?

Here's my solution: I almost always listen to a CD while I work. I listen to books on CDs, which are produced by Focus on the Family Radio Theater and are done with sound effects and different voices. They have everything from biographies, such as Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Squanto and Corrie Ten Boom to fiction such as Anne of Green Gables, A Christmas Carol, Billy Budd, Sailor and much more. So what I do is every time I sit down to work push play and every time I get up push pause. Then I make a list of everything I've listened to during a picture, look at the approximate running times on the back and add them up. So If I've listened to Les Miserables, Silas Marner and The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe I just add all of there times together. And that gives me a good estimate as to how long a picture took. If I don't want to listen to anything but still want to be timed I can just turn the volume all the way down.

Banana Black Bear

Though I semi lost track of the time, my best guess is that this picture took approximately 14 hours and 15 minutes. This picture is made of: oak, banana peel, bark, cornflower, mushroom, pampas grass, dogwood and mica. I am planning to donate this picture to an organization my Dad has been a part of for nearly 20 years - the Southeastern Outdoor Press Association (SEOPA) - for their fundraising auction.

Loofah Snowmen

Last weekend some of our grandparents came for a visit. Grandma Mary and I made these snowmen out of loofah sponges. Many people think that loofah sponges come from the sea but actually they grow on vines.

Toccoa Falls

It took me six and a half hours to glue down, hydrangeas, banana peel, mushrooms, cotton, onion membranes, bark, ferns, orange peel and various herbs for this picture. Of course that time includes pressing, figuring the picture size and finding a reference picture. That time does not include framing.

Untitled Picture

This picture is made of: bark, cotton, corn husk, skeletonized magnolia leaf, corn silk, delphinium, azalea, Lady Banks' rose and alyssum.

Aunt Laura's Cat

Here's what became of the pieces I posted last time.
This picture is made of: daisies, aucuba, pampas grass, maiden grass, cattail, delphinium, cornflower and mica.