The decoys take a while to carve, this one took about a week to carve to where I was satisfied with it and it was ready to seal prime and paint .
The painting takes a couple days in acrylics since I paint in different techniques . I paint a priimer coat in gray scale first then I let that dry a day or so then I paint base color coats and let that dry then I paint impasto coats of wet blending feather shapes and let that dry then I paint finish coats adjusting colors adding depth and creating splits and feather finish like splits soft centers and edge fraying .I can easily spend a week painting .
about 40 to 60 hrs actual bench time + or - . It depends on alot of factors I try to have several carvings going on simultaniously at different stages of completion so I dont have wasted wait time for drying paint .