How do I build a body of work rather than a pile of pieces?

You want a body of work rather than a pile of pieces. The difference is not quality. It is return. A body of work is made by returning — to a subject, a form, a question — until the returns start speaking to one another. I wrote about one court for years. The depth came from staying, not from ranging. First, look at what you have already made and find the repetition you did not plan. There is almost always one: a preoccupation that keeps surfacing whether or not you intended it. That is your subject, and you did not choose it so much as discover it. Second, return on purpose. Make the next thing about the same preoccupation from another angle. Repetition is not a lack of imagination; it is how depth is produced. Third, put the pieces in order and look at them as a sequence. Gaps become visible immediately, and gaps are commissions. Fourth, resist the new idea for one more piece. The new idea always looks better than the current one, because it has not yet been made badly. Fifth, name the body while it is still small. A name makes the next piece obvious. What keeps surfacing whether you intend it or not?