Solving a visual problem

A little bit of the commissioned painting I've been working on. Haven't done much actual painting yet, just drawing. It probably won't even resemble this later. Other than that, I've spent a LOT of time staring at this canvas and thinking, doing drawings and sketches, maybe working on the actual piece for an hour and then back to staring and thinking. (I'm not even at the fun part yet. Now, do I count the staring/thinking sessions as part of my "hours worked" on this project or what? I can't decide. If I'm supposed to do that, I lost track a long time ago.)

Whenever I'm working on something I bet I probably spend just as much time staring and thinking as I do actually painting. It's like solving a math problem, except the "problem" is visual, and I'm trying to figure out how to make it look exactly the way it's supposed to, even if I'm not totally sure what that is.