Many hours but it could have been better, have had a few long breaks for painting, you know the everything is shit kind of breaks and you dont paint for a few months. but in the last 2 years-ish, it began to click, now it's just finding the time to actually paint that can be trouble hehe.
Also just letting a painting take the time it need to get done, if it takes a week or something I think its really good for ones process, slow down and enjoy it and listen to a good audio book.