Why is batching your art important? (And what IS batching, anyway?!)

Thanks for the great suggestions. I love the idea of batching for developing a body of work. I was about to start a new painting. Instead, I'm going to start three at once.

I have done four 100 day projects and three Inktobers. For most, I had a theme and/or medium. By the end of each, I had developed a nice body of work and clear style development. I agree with batching and will contemplate how I incorporate it more.

I almost always do this and two things I've noticed when it comes to sales are: with a series or batch you've spread your net wider and given a buyer a couple of options which might seal the deal. And two, especially if you're working small, someone might buy the whole batch because they look nice displayed together.

I remember my first open studio in Boston, one common comment was "how many artists are in this studio?" -me, just me... some of the more snooty comments were "so no unique style? no voice?" Ouch! I was new to this and naive, I'd love to do that kind of show now. I still have differs style but they are mostly in series. My watercolor is different from my oils just the way it is. My Etsy shop is just stuff I do for fun, not really what I consider art. I'm too old now to listen to random comments, I have trusted critics who I trust.

I do watercolour illustrations and I work on three at the same time, that allows the layers to dry, so I guess I'm batching!

when i saw "batching", first thing i thought of were the Florida Highwaymen : black orange pickers from Vero and Ft Pierce, who broke out of that treadmill and elevated their station in life by gathering up in a back yard to batch out panels, paintings and frames (made from house trim), then hit the road to sell them to motels, dentist offices and such, priced to move. Real grass roots, outside the box, "just do it" attitude, their art celebrated Florida scenes with vibrant, honest appeal, which is now highly collectible 😁

I love this video and you are providing helpful advice. I know this will prevent me from overworking a piece, let my mind switch focus, give time for the underpainting to dry, give every idea it’s own space, try different combinations of mediums, approach the same reference with different styles simultaneously, experiment, and I’m giving myself permission to play. I’m psyched. Thank you!

i kind of intuitively came to the same conclusion, but didn't try putting it into words or anything now i know what is it and i think i'm gonna use it more it's just so natural to make a lot of sketches at one point and carve a lot of matrixes at another point, you get into the flow state

Mmmm 🤔 this is a good idea, I’ve not tried this. I’m a person who gets bored just working on one piece. This may help my flow and keep me from being bored. In fact this has inspired me to do this with a different medium for each different painting but the same theme, yeah 😃 I’m going to do that right now ☺️ thank you for sharing 😊

Thank you for providing the term 'batching'. I've been doing it for decades. However, it wasn't until I began using this system that there was any meaningful growth or direction in my work.

Been batching for a while now without even realizing it's a thing!! I lay down the watercolour washes on four to six pieces, usually in a similar colour, then slowly do the very detailed ink overlays on those works. That can take a lot of time, but there is definitely a common thread running through that series, that probably wouldn't be there, if I did the same work alongside some other project with a completely different feel or mood. Thank you for this advice - now know it's the right way to go about my work! 🥰

Great approach to get into the flow and a lot more likely that a style will emerge over several pieces. Reminds me of the story about the photography class where half were asked to take one picture and the other half could take 100 pictures. The one picture half all spent most of their time stressing about getting that one perfect shot, whereas the 100 picture half just got out and started taking pictures, refining their choices and ideas as they went along. Your batching idea is like the 100 picture half of the class; much more chance to grow as an artist.

under painting, share the color palette... so many useful advice, thank you!!

Nice insight. I was always thinking of batching by painting on three canvases at the same time. You're right, it creates a theme between the paintings, be it color or style at the moment. I'll probably try batching for a live YouTube show. I know that I can improvise and keep consistency between canvases. Thank you!

I've never done batching but some how I was getting the idea of everything you said in your video, so hearing it from someone with so much experience made me feel validated. I'm starting to think more in this way, also thinking about creativity, because I usually get so confused and stop myself of sharing my creative work because of consistency, like, I change a lot of mediums from photography to crochet to illustration to calligraphy and more, so then I feel bad for not having an identity. Instead of showing myself as a versatile I struggle a lot trying to get evertything together, so that's why I came to idea of trying periods of something and this video appeared, batching sound good for what I'm looking for ! Thank you so much for your content 🌸

The idea of selling artwork or sharing it with other scares me, it's such a personal thing and I don't want anyone to ever see my art :D

I never assigned a name like batching to the way I work as a painter, and it just occurred naturally because I was an illustrator and designer for most of my art career where I would illustrate stories with common theme narrative work for books or create greeting card art for major manufactures which always required a series of imagery. I did the same in the textile industry. I find that in painting as a fine artist that approach still works but I break it up from painting to painting. I don't want to bore myself and make it feel like a production line with constraints so I will create about eight paintings that are all different as a grouping and then repeat that process and this way I feel fresh and discover new things. It's all about discovery and things find a way of working together. I like mixing it up when it comes to painting. It may not work for every artist and we all definitely go through phases. I agree very much on what you said is that it's all you regardless and there will be common ground from work to work. Art has to be fun. It's serious as well, but you have to enjoy doing it.

Really enjoyed this. Great information professionally presented. Artist Strong!

Working on a few pieces at once helps save paint. You clean your brush by emptying it onto another surface. Because you arent focussed and fussing over just one painting the results can be more random and spontaneous. Boring jobs are best done in batches . Things like priming or wiring for example. But however you work its better not to focus on technique but just to get going and then go with the flow state that arises.

Thank you for this. It absolutely HITS THE SPOT. I hope you revisit this theme and consider a similar one, being particularly aimed (positioned, titled) toward starting artists. When starting out, we don’t know what we don’t know, and this concept is a key to any artist’s choices for direction in growing their practice! 🤗 Patty in New Hampshire