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...

(29/11/22)  Today was a difficult day to attempt to function. The day prior I had to say goodbye to my beloved pet dog of 14 years. Today I came in with the intention of channeling the difficult emotions I have been experiencing into a painting. The prospect of catharsis by way of painting was a motivating factor for me, rather than throwing the day away to lay in bed waiting for the tide of grief to pass.  The first task I set myself to was putting up a painting I had done in the H.E. lounge. This took some consideration of how I was going to mount the painting but I eventually decided on driving very thin nails through each corner of the board. This ended up supporting it quite well, and seeing the painting in a different context has made me realise how a surrounding can change a piece of work and how it translates to a viewer. Below I have attached some pictures of this. After mounting the painting in the H.E. Lounge I began work on a a painting I had been desperate to do s...

(22/11/22)  On this day I wanted to add more colour and through line / continuity  to the painting. So, I added more squares in the colours I have used for the painting I used burning on. Through line in the respect of the colours I am using, for example I added a large pink square / rectangle to this painting to be more a part of the other paintings because this one has felt more of an outcast finding it’s own path. But I want to add more of the same colours I’ve been using as well as possibly some burnt elements. It remains to be seen what could be burnt onto it. But never the less adding the colour has brought this painting closer to the others. This painting still fits with the research I did on De Stijl, but adding different colours to distance itself form traditional De Stijl. (Below pictured is the painting with added pink). On this day I also began a new piece using filler , silver spray paint, oil paints, pillow filling, spray adhesive and burning. I have attatched a ...