John Hancock BA Studio Practice Research

(2/2/23) Today I spent a portion of time deciding on the paintings I wanted to Include in my final body of work for the end of the first part of my studio practice. Because I had been thinking about this for a while it made the decision slightly easier as I didn’t have to spend an extended period of time selecting paintings. My main thoughts going into choosing the paintings to Include were a holistic and cohesive nature of all the paintings so that they appear as a family with similar elements but slight variations between them.  Out of the 9 pieces I have made, I chose to include only 4 of them. This is because of my aforementioned desire for a cohesive family like collection of paintings. Ones that share similar elements and hang well together as a solid body of work to be admired (or not).  I will now include an honourable mention section with images of the paintings I made that did not make the final selection.  These are all pieces that either did not bear the same ...

(26/1/23)  Today I was able to finish some paintings I had started a while ago, and as it seems, one’s that will be spearing on my final collection. The theme of the red strip that evokes the memory of a Marlboro cigarette packet that has appeared in multiple paintings I had done last year has continued. And I feel that this may be the visual theme of my final body of work, but I will have to conclusively assess this in the coming week. The pieces I have created today and have build on previous steps I have taken conclude in a very satisfying way for me. They all look a part of one another, in one way or another. Following a similar colour scheme and structure on the wooden boards they are painted on.  Below are pictures of theses pieces.  The painting above builds on the textural red strip I made that was inspired by Bram Bogart’s, then similarly to another painting I had done In tribute to my late dog Angus, implementing finger painting as inspired by Ayako Rokkaku in h...

(24/1/23)  Today I came in with the goal of executing an idea for a piece that I had been having in days previous. This idea was to get a piece of material, preferably calico as it has a certain grain and raw cotton colour to it that I had been imagining. Then saturate it in a clear drying adhesive that would leave the calico rigid when dry and  drape it over something square (in my case a wooden board I had to hand) and ruffle it up and wrinkle it and leave to dry. This piece is me searching for new directions to go in with my artwork in the coming term. This is an idea that really strikes me as it conveys motion, texture,  the effect of a moment caught in time and oddly enough the peaks and valleys left in bed sheets. To me there is something profoundly emotional in the idea of these sheets shrouding parts of themselves and standing up of their own accord while simultaneously falling into one another. Below are pictures of the process of this piece.  I managed to b...

(17/1/23) Today was a day where I was fairly limited on time, but I had time to add to the piece I discussed in the last post, but this time I focused on the filler paste mouth around the head. I began to paint it with a water colour brown, but realised it did not fit with the piece at all and decided to paint over it with a grey colour that blended more with the piece as a whole. Then I decided the piece needed something to boarder it and give it more of a contrast, so I used masking tape to mask off the edges of the painting and painted the masked off areas with black paint. And finally I managed to smear some white paint in areas to add some depth to the piece and more interesting lines. below is a picture of the brown mouth and then the corrected grey mouth,  black strip around the edges and white marks.  This day was tinkerikg more than anything and adding small pieces to build on the piece.  More later  Lots of Love John Hancock X

(10/1/23) Today I felt ready to come back into college and begin work on some paintings with a slightly different approach to what I had been working on for the most part of last year. I came in with a lot to get off my chest, so to speak. I picked a painting I had already started some textural and colour work on before the Christmas break. I wanted to go for more painterly approaches that display more brush work and spontaneity, but continuing with the textural aspects I have thus far been implementing. (Below is a picture of this new work) In this painting I wanted to depict a face that represented personal experiences and emotions that have built up. Initially I started the painting with black eyes but did not like how it started so I painted over it, which is what you see in the white/grey of the face. Then I added the pink that represents hair. I particularly like these elements of the face as it showcases  interesting brush work and adds an element of energy and spontaneity t...

(13/12/22) Today I found myself to be quite stuck on deciding what to work on. I felt quite frustrated with the way things were going with some pieces and I could feel the destructive urge grow within me. So I decided to throw some paint. I had been looking at a piece I had been working on that incorporates organised geometric squares. I felt that the painting needed something to shake it up and appear less boring and more energetic. So I lay the painting on the floor, dipped my hand in a can of black paint and threw the paint directly in the centre of the painting. This made for a great mix of natural and geometric forms, as well as excitement to the piece representing deconstruction, frustration and contrasting techniques. After the black paint I stood on a chair and from a height I dropped white paint in the middle of the black paint, which mixed and splashed through the black paint and created more depth to the painting. I have a strong feeling that this painting is now finished. T...

(6/12/22) Today I managed (just) to drag some new wood off cuts into college to be able to start some new paintings. My idea in starting multiple paintings at a time is to get the beginnings of a base texture down. What I start today may not be the end outcome of the final piece but it will be a layer to the overall piece, but the concept being that if I start them I can easily build on them. And often the mos difficult part is starting, so once that is out the way it can be a better and more fluent experience.  (I have attached pictures of the new pieces below)  The first painting pictured is white household paint spread on the board with my fingers. I felt this. Rested an interesting pattern and an interesting texture to be able to start from.  The second painting pictured is paint and dried paint from the rims of paint tubs spread out on a board with splodges and splashes for more texture and dimension for the piece.  The third painting is liquid latex spread out ...