I always used to work on one piece at a time. It felt distracting to move on to something else - as if I was somehow cheating by not diligently working until I had resolved my painting.But when I started to work on more than one piece at a time, I was hooked. I now always have anywhere between 6 to 12 paintings in progress and I find it so much easier and more enjoyable.Why, you may ask ... (and if you didn't, I'm telling you anyway. lol) It takes the pressure offWhen I only worked on one painting at a time, I felt pressure not to make a mistake. But if I have 10 paintings on the go, none of them feel precious in that way. I am free to experiment - and the best results always come from letting go and experimenting.It allows me to explore an ideaAt the moment, I'm increasingly interested in abstraction. In my new series, I'm exploring how to convey my expeirence of the local landscape without including recognizable elements. This is stretching and challenging me, but - because I have several paintings in progress - I get to try different ideas in each one.So with this one, which is influenced by the rock faces at Malham Cove and Goredale Scar, I focused very much on texture (and of course on the colour red as if you hadn't noticed!).Whereas with this one - which is about a summer day on the moor - is all about how to create a light, bright spacious feeling with colours and shapes.Each one in the series is taking on its own direction and personality, but all of them started with the same central idea.I can apply what I learn quicklyIf one painting teaches me something, I can quickly apply that learning to others in the series. This pushes them all forward much more quickly.It makes me raise my gameI may consider one painting done, or close to done, but then I work on some of the others and they may surpass that first one. Now I have to go back into it and make it even stronger.It makes a cohesive body of workBecause I have a series of paintings that all 'grew up' together, they all tend to work well with each other. When I hang them, they make sense as a group.In the end everyone has to find their own way of working - for me there's no going back from working on multiple pieces at once.