Local artist Barbie Warwick challenges herself to draw on a daily basis. She shares her story, along with tips on approaching the blank page.
A blank page can be intimidating. For years, Barbie Warwick carried a small sketchbook in her purse, wanting to be that person at a bus stop, park, or coffee shop, sketching the world around her. But the few times she pulled her sketchbook out, she would sit and wonder what to draw, only to not draw anything.
Now Warwick draws daily. She has made it part of her morning routine. “The blank page no longer intimidates but invites me,” she says.
In this talk, Warwick will share how she challenged herself to draw on a daily basis, making it part of her morning routine. She has examples and tips for artists who similarly struggle with a blank page. Her daily practice has helped her grow as an artist and has led to some great opportunities. She received her first commission last fall to illustrate a children’s book, Fairy Hollow Chronicles by Sally De la Rue Browne.
About the Artist
Barbie Warwick lives in Surrey and works as the manager of Surrey Art Gallery Association’s Gift Shop. Pre-pandemic, she also worked as an usher and box office attendant for Surrey Civic Theatres. Warwick has been involved in Performing Arts for many years: in community theatre as an actor, director, playwright, and improvisor. But her first love was visual arts. She attended university as an Art Major and has taken extra-curricular classes in drawing, painting, and ceramics. Her work is quirky and fun, inspired by her favourite artists Marc Chagall, Peter Max, Heinz Edelmann, Mattius Adolffson, and Dr. Seuss. She primarily uses pen, coloured pencils, and watercolours, and is learning the techniques of gouache.