Behind the Art

I'll be honest with you — I'm a late bloomer.

For years I wandered through different creative fields, searching for that creative something that would stick. Then one day, an idea hit me. Not a plan, not something I'd been building toward — it just arrived, and it compelled me to write. I didn't overthink it. I picked up a pen and followed where it led, and somewhere along the way the story wrote itself. I was just the one holding the pen. Then, as the characters took shape on the page, something shifted — some of them needed more than words. They walked straight off the written page, demanding to be seen, to be drawn, to be admired. That's when the art was born.

Writing led to wanting to draw. I wanted my own illustrations in my book — images that came from the same imagination that built the story. I'd loved art in school but never pursued it seriously. So in 2017, I started drawing classes. In 2025, I received a certificate for my ongoing attendance. Eight years of showing up, learning, growing — quietly, without fanfare.

That's who I am.

The holiday seasons were always going to find their way into my work. I've always had that dreamy quality — the kind of person who feels Christmas in their bones and gets genuinely excited about what lurks in the shadows at Halloween. For me it's always been about joy, wonder, and the magic that lives just beneath the surface of the familiar. Surrealist fantasy was a natural transformation — it suited my dreamy soul perfectly.

What I want to bring to the world through Think to Draw is simple: something different. Not what you see on every second product. Items that feel like they came from somewhere — because they did. Many of the characters you see in my artwork live in a manuscript I'm writing. When you bring one of these pieces into your home, you're bringing a small piece of a story with you. A blending of two art forms that started from the same place — my imagination.

Five years from now, I want Think to Draw to be the place where people go when they want something unique, story-driven, and deeply felt. Not just a picture. Something deeper.

Thanks for being here.

— Barry