John Hancock Statement
For over twenty-five years, I have painted the rural land that surrounds my home, a cattle farm in Central Virginia. The open fields and rolling skyline of the Blue Ridge Mountains provide ceaseless inspiration. My work not only embraces the gentle beauty of the surrounding farmland but also penetrates the moods inherent in the shifting light and colors of the season, lone trees and sloping pastures, or the inquisitive face of a young calf.
In part, my paintings convey a longing for the simpler agrarian lifestyle of Virginia’s past: for open spaces and close interaction with animals. Yet my more recent work explores the unexpected; looser brushwork and shockingly vivid color convey rapture, dynamism and whimsy. I strive, above all, to engage my viewers in the happenings of the farm and the warm and unpredictable personalities of its animals.