Better Late Than Never For Woodbury Artist

George Eliot once said “It is never too late to be what you might have been” - perhaps nobody truly embodies this sentiment more than Woodbury artist John D. Herz.

Five years ago at the age of 58, Herz first walked into an art supply store at the prompting of his wife, Nancy. With one look at his drawings it is unfathomable to imagine that such talent lay dormant throughout his life. However, it is clear that Herz’s life lessons and thoughtful nature highly contribute to how he chooses his subjects, making his story quite unique.

“I just thought it would be something good for him to do to relax for his own personal edification,” Nancy said. “Then he started to release things that I couldn’t believe. The blank came to life!”

Herz drew a lot of abstract, but never took himself seriously as an artist. Every once in a while he would stray and draw an eye or a nose, and then try to perfect it.

“It took me until this time in my life to understand that drawing is really no lines, it’s just black and white,” Herz explained of his self-taught learning process. “When I understood that is when it changed everything and I was able to draw.” 

For the first ten months of experimenting with his new-found passion, Herz drew “like a maniac” from photographs he found on the internet, but his fervor truly revealed itself when he and Nancy visited the Bahamas three years ago.

“I photographed a gentleman named Mr. Higs, a fishing guide, and when I drew his picture it was like my whole life changed because I knew exactly what I wanted to do with my art,”Herz said, smiling. 

Also apt with photography, Herz is sure to have a camera near hand to capture stimulating subjects such as Mr. Higs. He then crops the picture to frame the aspect of it that most spoke to him; with Mr. Higs, it was his cheeks.

“His cheeks just got me so much that when I started to draw them I could literally feel the cheeks coming off the paper,” Herz said. “That’s when I knew I was in love with art.” 

Nancy also admires his choice to crop his pictures.

“What’s interesting is that I’ll look at a full photo, and then he starts to play and all of a sudden it’s only a part of the picture," Nancy said. "But it has so much more light than the whole picture."

 Herz estimates that his drawings have taken him anywhere from 80 to 200 hours to complete. Most of Herz’s studies are people with whom he has come to talk on the street. 

“Street people fascinate me because with one flip of a switch we could all be out there,” Herz said. “They intrigue me because some have taught me a lot of really incredible lessons.’” 

Nancy notes that the enthusiasm he expresses when he finds a subject is palpable. 

“We were in Washington Square Park, and he said, ‘I found a picture,’” she recalled. “When it gets him he is just engrossed in it, as opposed to being forced to sit at the table, really having it be an effort."

The subject to which she refers is Maurice, who plays the drums with many of the performers found in Washington Square on a daily basis. “Maurice” is actually Herz’s first charcoal piece, a fact that no one would guess upon looking at its intricate details.

“After I took his photos I’ve run into him a couple more times,” Herz said. “That’s what makes every bit of this worthwhile, when I run into these people again and I’m able to give them an 8x10.”

Herz was also able to give “One Leg Willie” an 8x10 photo of the drawing he completed based on a photograph he had taken of the well-known New Yorker, who is known to be found in Chelsea and around Penn Station.

“When I showed him the drawing, he looked at it and he went, ‘That’s me.’ He smiled, literally from ear to ear," Herz said.  "I had tears in my eyes, because it was just so exciting to see somebody so down and out really, really enjoy it.” 

The artist can’t help but beam as he talks about his work.

“I’m almost like a preacher now to anybody that has any talent whatsoever or passion about anything,” he said. “Just do it! Find the time to do it, because it can change your life.”

No one would know better than Herz, who at 63-years-old is first finding himself looking for galleries to showcase his ability to create emotion through his drawing.

“I’ve been brought to tears only once from a piece of art,” Herz says of Van Gogh’s “Starry Night.” "It’s emotional to me because it’s beyond belief that I can create this like an actor can do it, like a writer can create. I can take this white piece of paper basically and a pencil and create so much.”

To check out more of John D. Herz’s drawings, visit www.GraphitePencilArtist.com.