Should you work on more than one painting at a time?

Underpainting, acrylic, cool color base

My answer is yes, definitely!

1. When you get stumped on one painting you can switch to the second and frustrations have time to cool.

2. It’s good to “step away” from a piece periodically, but you don’t have to stop painting for the day! Move on to the next and keep painting.

3. You may find a nice effect in one painting which could be appropriate for others. Use it on the second one and reinforce what you learned.

4. Save paint! You might be done with a nicely mixed color on your palette in painting number one. Find a way to use it in painting number two. I like this tip because I hate to waste paint!

5. Working on two or more paintings at once is great when you are painting a specific series hopefully to be shown to others. It’s a challenge to create works which are similar yet still unique unto themselves. Why paint two red tomatoes when you can paint a red one and a yellow one and then a purple one? By the fourth painting you may have discovered something no one was expecting, including yourself! Isn’t this what artists are supposed to do?

Not everyone wants to work this way. There’s a bit of a danger that paintings won’t get finished. Do you paint more than one at a time, or work on one project at a time, whatever your medium? Are you willing to try it?