A Beautiful Pain (detail)

So just how long can a work be in progress? A month, 6 months, 5 years??? So far, this one has been about 2.25 years. Is it hopeless or just ripening? This is a detail of the larger canvas, which is 24 x 30 inches, portrait. So far, I've used paste, acrylic, gouache, and Pearl Ex with pens and brushes. I wonder when it will be finished? We'll see...