Imagine this: You hear the postie squeak your garden gate, the letterbox flap taps the door and something thuds onto your hallway door mat.
You're not expecting anything, will it be a letter containing bills? Another local takeaway leaflet or maybe something else... You peep around the banister on the landing and see that it's a brightly coloured envelope with something scrawled on the front under the stamp. How exciting! Who could this be from?!
You open the envelope and it's a hand drawn card from your mate with a lovely message in it, you smile, feel warm and cosy then pop it on your mantlepiece where you admire it for the rest of the week. That little piece of magic has cheered you right up. You even start to think about what you'd send back to them and start laughing at some silly ideas you have.
In today's digital world what a great use of time to slow down and take an hour or so on a rainy afternoon to create something special for a friend. The cosy act of lighting a candle, pouring your favourite brew and getting stuck into a creative project. A little bit of collage or painting, maybe even opening those colouring pencils you've been 'saving for a special occasion.'
It's a real connection to send something physical to a loved one, it's no more time and energy than inviting them over for a brew and it's so rewarding.
The beauty of a greetings card is that it can be as cheap or expensive as you'd like it to be. Collage some mixed medias and found papers, go out and buy all of your favourite gouache paints, suit your own budget. Take as much or as little time as you want creating it, settle into a watercolour painting of your favourite park or Sharpie a great big word onto the front.
Think of the person who will receive this masterpiece and think of the motifs that bind you together, an in-joke about snails or an embarrassing story involving a seagull... the possibilities!
I like to use people's birthdays and special occasions to make cards, the deadline of a set date gives me something to aim for and I make the card around their favourite colours or animals with my own twist on it. I usually start off with a blank card and pencil a design onto it to later work into with gouache paint or coloured pencil. I can spend anything from an hour to all evening working on something. It never feels like a chore, I love it so much!
If you're looking to get blank cards envelopes and stamps but don't want to commit to buying lots, see if a friend will go halves with you or invest in a pack of good quality paper and learn some paper folding techniques.
Some extra inspiration for you:
A Pinterest collection of ideas
My very old video on how to make an envelope from a sheet of A4 paper
- Molly Newport
- Dec 28, 2025
As much as I love adding to my daily drawing journal, let’s be honest - most of those pages are made at speed. I blink and miss the deadline. They’re quick drawings, fast decisions and a bit of 'yeah that’ll do.'
I decided to give myself some prompts that were completely separate from my daily work. Slower. More thoughtful. Less 'I have five minutes and one functioning brain cell.'
Picking words from a hat has always been a fun way to randomly generate ideas. Unfortunately, I only have one hat, but I do have three large yogurt pots (they have been washed). These were labeled: ‘creature’, ‘activity’, and ‘attire’. Extremely high tech stuff.
I opened up these idea pots to my newsletter group and invited them to add their own inspiration via a link - might as well share the love. Each month, I blindly pick one entry from each pot and reveal the results in the newsletter. What could go wrong..?
I send my newsletter out on the last Sunday of the month, which gives me a longer deadline and allows me to put more time and detail into each piece of work. I love the idea of this expanding into other creative areas too - songs, poems, videos… honestly, anything goes. It doesn’t have to be drawing, that's just my comfort zone.
I also gently remind myself that I am a human, and sometimes life gets in the way of making a perfect drawing. Which is why this year there are 11 drawings instead of 12 for the year. I absolutely love this part when I can gather up all of these drawings and see the collection I've made and how the skills can compound over the year.
So if you fancy squeezing a little bit of creativity into your month, add your name to the list here and I'll meet you in your inbox on the last Sunday of the month.
On a lovely autumnal day at the end of October I went off to explore the largest sculpture park in Europe, Yorkshire Sculpture Park (YSP). Despite studying art for years in Manchester, I've never visited YSP before and I already can't wait to go back. Close to Wakefield, the huge park is set in the 500-acre, 18th-century Bretton Hall estate. When I visited, the sun still had a bit of warmth in it and the crispy burnt orange leaves made the whole trip very cosy.
In my monthly newsletters, I usually talk about my two big loves; my creative practice and mooching about outside. So visiting YSP was the perfect combination of walking, viewing art and a good old picnic thrown in for good measure (cheese and pickle bagel).
Starting the day with good intentions and a paper map of the site, I crunched through the leaves and did lots of finger pointing in various directions. The plan quickly faded into 'ooh what's that one over there?!' as a new sculpture slowly revealed itself from behind the one I was heading for. Let's say the plan took more of a fluid approach as a more leisurely, wandering aim took over.
The park is large enough to place many of the sculptures in their own environment to avoid clashing and to give each piece of work it's own contemplation area. There's a great mix of natural works that almost make you question if they are made by human or nature and there are some contrasting, brightly coloured works that show off their manmade qualities.
As a gallery with so much space, scale can be used to change perspective in new ways. Every change in the weather will also bring new light, shadows and elements such as wind and rain to contend with.
The adventuring artist's tool kit:
I've put together a little list of things I used when I was visiting YSP
Comfy shoes. Sturdy trainers would be fine for this trip, a lot of the routes have good paths but you may want to get closer to some of the works and this would involve going on the grass - which might be wet. I wore my Doc Marten boots and they were fine.
Check the weather (it's Yorkshire!). The day I wanted to visit had yellow warnings for rain, so I rescheduled for the day after which had much brighter skies. A lot of the park is exposed and would cut your trip short if the wind or rain is particularly bad.
Stay hydrated. Plenty of water stations to refill your bottle and places of places to grab a coffee. I took a big flask of Green tea to keep me warm whilst out.
Take snacks. You will be moving around outside and you may be so involved with the work that you forget to check the time and miss the cafe opening times (who would do such a thing?). Walking about burns more energy than you might think, keep yourself energised.
Extra things I like to take with me on walking/art trips.
Battery pack - charge your phone on the go to ensure you can carry on taking photos, using maps and learning more through the park's handy QR codes.
A 'sit mat' - a little foldable outdoor cushion or mat that stops your bum from getting cold and wet on benches
Mechanical pencil - avoids the need to sharpen your pencil while you're out
Hydra vs Bear, 2023
A bronze sculpture by Jordy Kerwick
After a wonderful day in the sunshine and on a meander back to the car, I spotted this sculpture of a double headed bear and Hydra, the water serpent from greek mythology. Of course the sculpture containing folklore, hybrid creatures and with a playful approach was going to catch my eye. Who wouldn't love a boxy shaped two-headed bear?
I'd really recommend a day out to YSP if you can make it in the nice weather, it's a lovely day out!
Some extra shapes and textures from my day out, just for you.
