That first finished landscape piece took about 5 hours. And that felt like an eternity to me. I've actually pushed myself time and time again to be more patient with my work. And it's paid off in producing better pieces each time.

I travel a lot so I'm on my Surface Pro 3 most of the time. I've used most everything out there. They all have pros and cons.

There are a ton of great resources. Start with the stuff linked in my don't-go-to-art-school article.