Today I slowed myself down long enough to really see a simple salad—the layers of greens, the pop of red, the softness, the crunch, the way textures sit beside each other instead of competing. It surprised me how much inspiration was right there in something so ordinary. It reminded me that color balance, contrast, and negative space matter just as much in my creative work as they do on a plate. This felt like training my artist’s eye in the most unexpected place.