CLEVELAND — Studies show the potential for real mental health benefits from tapping into your creative side, and one Cleveland creative is using his hobby as a form of healing.
With each mark on the paper, Gerthold Heer focuses on the bigger picture. He said he doesn’t think about making a mistake.
“You shouldn’t worry about that… I’m doing it right now,” he said with a laugh, smudging the pastel on the sheet.
In a makeshift studio set up in St. Augustine Towers, he sketched a quick portrait. An employee volunteered to pose, lending her face to the artwork.
“That’s the most important thing, the eyes,” he said, working to accurately capture the reflections of light.
Previous drawings spread out on a table show the range of his talents. It’s a hobby he first picked up as a kid.
“When I was about five, six-years-old, I copied cartoons from the newspaper,” he said. “I got a real kick out of that and continued.”
As he got older, Heer said he took night classes to grow his own skills. He said he eventually gained the confidence to enter art shows and win.
“A lot of it is eye-hand coordination,” he said. “You can get that with experience.”
He said he pays attention to details and brings his life experience to each piece.
“There’s a lot of disturbance in the world,” he said. “This is like a healing process for a lot of things.”
The colors and shapes help Heer bring perspective to the world as he also heals physically following illness.
“Five months ago, I was still on the operating table,” he said.
He moved into the assisted living facility after that procedure. The walls of his apartment are like a gallery.
“I’m prejudiced,” he joked. “I don’t hang anybody else’s paintings.”
His works range from landscapes to a memorable meal.
“You know what inspired that?” Heer asked, pointing to a colorful image of people holding trays. “The Golden Corral on Brookpark."
There’s even a copy of an Italian Renaissance painting Heer painted in the 1960s.
“I was a young man and wanted to see how close I could get to the original,” he said. “The original was done by Raphael Santi.”
Heer grew up in Sudetenland, Bavaria and Austria after World War II.
At age five, he said he witnessed the unthinkable when an explosive blew up in his nine-year-old brother’s lap. The blast killed his brother and injured Heer.
“You don’t forget that sort of thing,” he said. “When you see it on TV, it’s fun, but when you live it, it’s a totally different ballgame.”
Heer said he now surrounds himself with better memories, preserved in paint for posterity.
“I enjoy looking at pictures,” he said. “Makes me forget things.”
Bringing beauty to the world through art is his pursuit of happiness.
“To find peace in my mind,” he said. “More or less.”