How to nurture your inner artist (for beginners - like me!)

And the 3 creative hobbies I'm taking into 2026 🎨

Hello, I’m Molly, a writer, filmmaker and almost author, living in a Tiny Home in the Scottish Highlands. Subscribers can enjoy weekly posts around the themes of slow living, with members getting access to ALL my work, including video tea times, slow letters (with monthly favourites postscript) and seasonal book reviews to name a few!

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My hands are sticky with glue. Fingers smeared with ink. The gentle sound of cutting paper fills the room, intermixing with my dog, Skye’s, gentle snores.

I find myself humming gently as I smooth out the paper clippings and dig through my craft caddy, seeking a wooden stamp in the shape of a bee.

This serves as the finishing flair and, after gazing at the page for a while, a small smile of pride tugging at my lips, I close the journal and return it to my ever-growing art supplies shelf. Where is sits, patiently waiting for the next time my fingers feel the urge to create.

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It’s taken me years to get to this point, but I am proud that I persevered in establishing creative hobbies.

This hasn’t been a straightforward process. I’ve had to fight against perfectionism, productivity mindsets and the urge to simply scroll art on Pinterest, rather than putting pen/paint/glue to paper myself.

If you are in a similar position, then I wanted to share four mantras that have helped me nurture my inner artist.

Be patient

We need to be comfortable at being a beginner again. Face up to the fact that we will make mistakes and embrace this as part of learning. Skills take time to develop, but remember that our hobbies should be enjoyable, and there is no end goal you need to meet other than that.

Be realistic

If you are a beginner artist, like me, then it’s wise to be intentional in what hobbies you select and ensure they suit your lifestyle. I suggest picking those that require minimal materials and can be started with little effort or training. For instance, although I would love to try my hand at pottery, doing so whilst living in a Tiny Home is unrealistic, so I am quite content with journaling (at least for now!)

Be inspired

Take your inner artist out on a date. Visit galleries and museums. Notice interesting architecture in your local town or set aside time for a walk in nature. To be creative, we need to allow ourselves to refill our creative cups and not feel that we need to be doing something more ‘productive’ (read more tips on how to refill your cup HERE).

Be focused

One of my favourite things about my creative hobbies is that they give me time away from screens, which is especially relevant as 2026 is my year of nostalgia. Although the internet can be a wonderful educational and inspiring resource, it can also be a distraction. Therefore, I gently encourage you to consider your creative hobby time as a phone-free zone.

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Thank you so much for reading this post! If you would like to further support my work then you can buy me a coffee, which helps keep these Monday posts free to read :)

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My creative hobbies for 2026

The three hobbies I’m most excited to explore this year….

Junk journaling

In many ways, junk journaling was the gateway to my creativity. I love that this is something anyone can do as it requires minimal skills or supplies. I find this to be the most relaxing out of all my hobbies and I love that it aligns with my sustainability values, giving new life to what would otherwise be thrown away.

(You can check out some favourite pages from my junk journal HERE).

Memory journaling

This is the name that I’ve given another one of my journals, which is separate to my junk journal, as it’s focused on creating spreads to visually capture my life. Rather than simply creating collages, I include more of my own writing and artwork in this journal i.e., doodles and messy paintwork. Examples of journal spreads include documenting entire weeks in my life to ranking what tea’s I have enjoyed recently. I love that this is a bit of a ‘catch-all’ journal, which I intend to share more about on here and over on my YouTube this year.

Sketching

I would love to spend more time with my sketchbook this year. Drawing is something that I am a complete beginner at, which has felt scary in the past and why I’ve put this off. However, I feel inspired to bring this into focus in 2026, setting an achievable aim of one 15-minute sketch a week. We’ll see how I get on!

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(If you would like to find inspiration for your own creative hobbies, then you can check out my previous post on simple things to make with your hands.)

Until next week,

Molly xx