Creative Practice: Four Ways Winter Helped Me Slow Down and See More

There are seasons when ideas seem to arrive effortlessly, and others when creativity feels a little quieter. Towards the end of last year I found myself in the latter. I wasn't short of things to make, but I realised I wasn't giving myself enough time to notice, explore or simply be curious.

As a paper artist, so much of my work begins long before I pick up a scalpel. It starts with looking closely at the natural world, understanding the character of a plant or landscape and learning about their history. Without that time for observation, the work can begin to feel disconnected from the very thing that inspires it.

Rather than searching for dramatic bursts of inspiration, I decided to return to the small creative habits that first made me want to become an artist. These four simple changes have helped me reconnect with my creative practice and have already begun to influence the ideas developing in my sketchbooks and paper sculptures.

1. I Returned to Daily Drawing

Drawing has always been a past time I enjoy, but somewhere along the way it had become something I only did when I needed a finished design. The pressure to create a "good" picture meant I often avoided drawing altogether. This winter I decided to sketch for at least fifteen minutes each day. Some days it was a careful botanical study, others just a quick drawing of a seedhead, mushroom or feather collected on a walk. The aim wasn't perfection, it was simply to look more closely.

Leaving my sketchbook on the table made it easy to pick up whenever I had a spare moment, and slowly the anxiety of producing a perfect drawing began to disappear. Instead, my sketchbook has become somewhere to think, observe and experiment. Drawing regularly has reminded me that sketchbooks are not records of finished ideas but places where ideas begin.

Some of the new mediums I've been sketching with.

2. I Experimented With Different Drawing Materials

Like many artists, I'd gradually settled into using the same familiar materials. An HB pencil and watercolour paint had become my default, largely because I knew them well. This year I deliberately stepped outside those routines. I rediscovered old charcoal sticks, tried pastel pencils I hadn't touched for years and invested in a few new ink pens recommended by another illustrator.

Each material encourages a different way of seeing. Charcoal invites bold, expressive marks, while fine ink pens encourage careful observation and detail. Simply changing the tool in my hand altered the way I approached each subject. Although these experiments began as sketchbook exercises, they've already started influencing the way I think about texture, line and form within my paper sculptures. Sometimes the smallest changes in process open the door to entirely new ideas.

(If you want to know more about the mediums I've been using, there is a list at the end of all the materials I've photographed above).

A few of my January Finds

3. I Started Collecting Something Every Day

Walking my dogs is part of my daily routine, but I'd fallen into the habit of trying to multitask. I answered emails using my phone or mentally organised my to-do list instead of noticing the landscape around me.

So I set myself a simple challenge: each day I would collect something. Sometimes it was a fallen seedhead or an interesting leaf. Sometimes it was simply a photograph or a note about something I'd noticed.

The habit transformed my walks. Instead of rushing through familiar paths, I began paying attention again to the changing seasons, the subtle architecture of winter plants and the remarkable details that are so easy to overlook. These daily collections have gradually become a visual nature diary reminding me that inspiration rarely arrives all at once, it is built from countless small observations gathered over time. I'm slowing back down and looking closely which has always been central to my work. Every sculpture begins with understanding not only what a plant looks like, but also its character, the place it grows and the stories woven into it.

Playing with layers of water colours

4. I Went Back to Basics With Watercolour

Although I use watercolour regularly, I realised I'd stopped questioning how I used it. Like many familiar skills, it had become more of a routine than a creative way to explore an idea so I decided to become a student again. I revisited the fundamentals through books, online tutorials and botanical illustration courses, including the wonderful teaching of Lizzie Harper (you can find her videos on YouTube or via her website www.lizzieharper.co.uk ) and Julia Trickey (you can find courses of hers through Domestika). Returning to the basics reminded me how many possibilities still exist within a medium I thought I knew so well.

Watching other artists explain their process was particularly valuable. While our finished work may look very different, seeing how others observe and interpret the natural world always offers fresh ways of thinking. The experience reinforced something I often forget: learning doesn't end once we've become confident. Sometimes revisiting the foundations reveals possibilities we'd overlooked the first time around.

Creative Practice Begins With Paying Attention

Looking back, none of these changes were particularly dramatic. I didn't buy expensive equipment or completely reinvent my practice. Instead, I simply made space for curiosity again. Those small habits have already begun shaping the work I'm making this year. The sketches, collections and experiments from my nature diary are becoming the starting point for new paper sculptures, carrying with them not only observations of individual plants but memories of the places, seasons and moments in which they were discovered.

I've come to realise that creativity isn't something to chase. More often, it grows from paying attention to the world around us and allowing ourselves time to be curious. In many ways, that's what my work has always been about, not simply recreating plants and insects in paper, but exploring the stories, landscapes and quiet observations that shape them. If you'd like to discover more about the ideas behind my work, you can read my Artist Statement, explore other reflections in the Journal, or join me on one of my workshops, where we practise the art of looking together.

I'd love to hear what has inspired your own creativity recently. Have you started any small habits that have helped you see the world differently?

List of pens and pencils I've been sketching and experimenting with:

Coptic Sketch Marker – Cool Grey no.3 (C3)

Faber Castell Pitt Artist Indian Ink Pens (sizes 0.3, 0.5, 0.7, B)

Zebra Brush Pen – size Fine

Pentel Mechanical Pencil

Pentel Fude Brush Pen

Standard Eraser

Faber Castell Pitt Pastel Colouring Pencils

Willow stick Charcoal

Smudge Stick for Charcoal

Soft Putty Rubber

I found these all online at various prices depending on who sells them.

Kate Kato is a paper artist creating intricate botanical and wildlife sculptures inspired by the stories held within landscapes, plants and traditional papermaking.