Stylized Painted Box - Part 2

In the last few days I have managed to get the base coat on the entire box and have added a few borders.  That took a lot longer than you might think.  I've also been practicing making floral patterns for the remainder of the box.  It is far from finished.  I did not start painting the floral insets yesterday because it is one of those times that is is better to have a fairly long period of uninterrupted concentration.  It may be Wednesday before I get to the point of having enough time to sit down and work on it.  I guess that my big concern is that if I have to walk away in the middle of the section that it would be noticeable because of the changes in the strokes.  If I have time to do one whole section, I think that it will come out looking better.

I painted the box with burnt umber.  It was scrubbed in with a bristle brush.  I like the way the shading of the plywood picks up darker or lighter amounts of pigment.  It reminds me of a shop that was near my home when I was growing up.  It was a Pier One import shop.  The shop was redolent of sandalwood. It was filled with exotic pieces of decorative art from far off countries.   Much of the art was made from rough dark wood with inlays of mother of pearl.  At the time it seemed so different from anything I knew.  I'm attempting to recreate those patterns in this box.

By the next time I post I hope to have at least the top panel painted.  I already have some of the lines drawn on the box with a soft pencil.  I'm not really sure how well they will be followed at this point.  I'm not quite satisfied with the design.  I know what I want, I'm just not quite sure how to get there.  Time will tell.