Reign in Purple
There was no real reason behind this piece other than that I had an unpainted piece of wood and needed a three-day break from the commissioned stuff (I used 60 hours of which for this one).
Dropping my standard luminist style for this one, and though it is cartoony and simple, I still went pretty deep into the detail, painting many scales, variegated petals, and whatnot. Oddly enough, I found that it was the large areas of solid colors, and keeping the piece smooth and free of brushstrokes which sapped the most time.
Zooms and details available here: http://www.mykeamend.com/new/2011/03/16/reign-in-purple/