What started as a seed of an idea among artists has grown into an acre-size salute to the country.

Tucked in a fallow hayfield off Mustang Road in Pilot Point, a 210-foot-by-11-foot-flag shape – complete with stars and stripes – lies after more than a month of mowing and hours of hard work under the hot sun.

The idea germinated with Justine Wollaston, a longtime area artist best-known locally for her mural of Eve in downtown Pilot Point. Then it grew at the Mecca on Main artists' consortium in Aubrey to a group of 15 to 20, including family, Wollaston said.

"I thought it would be a great expression of patriotism and the green movement," said Lisa Reed, who owns Mecca on Main. "We had a ball, and it looks great."

The project, born of a need to entertain nieces and nephews as well as find an artistic outlook in an economic downturn, began in pieces. Groups gathered to mow, rake hay, survey, create templates for stars, measure, do computations, weed by hand, bring water to help grass grow, and then do it all again.

When rising temperatures threatened to topple those behind the project and dry out the flag-in-making, the rain arrived last week – just in time, Wollaston said.

"We mowed the stripes four times and had to Weed-Eat it three times," she recalled. "But until grass grows, you can't cut it."

Using grass as a medium was new to Wollaston, who spends a bit of her time sculpting.

"It's absolutely fascinating to wait for the land," she said. "You've got to wait for it to offer you something."

Crews trimmed the growing grass to create a bi-level effect with the stripes. They hand-cut and trimmed the stars, using a form.

"We wanted to maintain the true proportions of the flag," Wollaston said.

The project was also designed to conserve resources. To offset the emissions from the mower and weed trimmer used for the project, the group planted more than 60 trees around Wollaston's house.

They also chose their time wisely, beginning as early as 6 a.m. and stopping at midday until temperatures cooled for late-evening gatherings.

It was a unique challenge, one that Wollaston and her fellow artists now say was worth the high sweat equity.

"For a no-budget deal, it's kind of fun," said Warren Blikken of Pilot Point, one of several who spent hours in the field. "Happy birthday, America."