John Herring

John Herring is a pseudonym for my real name: Jan Haring Bais. I was born in Amsterdam-Watergraafsmeer in 1957 and I am currently living in Rotterdam-Crooswijk. Since my childhood years I'm excited about everything that has to do with drawing and painting. Through my training as an architect, I have been  further involved in creative development processes, but in terms of drawing and painting I am actually an autodidact.

Since 5 years I follow drawing and painting classes from the Dordt painter Rinus Blommaert. I admire his style of painting and I am learning a lot from his use of colour. My both daughters join me in these classes since the past three years.

I like drawing and painting women , but I am also inspired by images from nature and culture. Partly because of my education as an architect I have been learned to draw 'figurative realistic ', but I'm currently getting more interested in 'figurative abstract '. Just like too many words, details are often unnecessary ballast. But this new approach is still very tricky for me... Art is a development!