The Painting That Took Me 500 hours - part 2 After the pattern is done, the next step is to color it in. That's always the longest part. For this one it took me almost 2.5 months coloring it in, 2-4 hours a night just about every night. Part of the reason it takes so long is it needs 2 coats of paint in some places, so that adds to the time it takes. I've always loved earth tones, so I went with those colors. I sort of wanted it to show a connection to nature. Sign up for my mailing list on my website to continue following along, visit https://www.NexusVisions.com/art and scroll to the bottom, or wait or the popup.