Find Joy In .... Margaret Braun and Blink 182

I had a little downtime at the studio last week so I curled up in chair and grabbed a very old copy of Margaret Braun's Cakewalk from my bookshelf.  I must have had the book for 15 years and I am not sure I ever looked inside.  I might have been intimidated!  Her work appears to be so complex and organic and stunning ... and difficult!

But I cracked open the book and started at page one.  And I read it.  And it was amazing.  All of those complex and organic and stunning details were, well, not so difficult!  She broke down each little detail and she talked about it in a way that I could feel her inspiration.  I could feel her love of architecture and music and see how easily it transformed into cake.

So I tried her first technique, piping the "running dog".  She talked about putting on music and piping in the rhythm of the music.  I put on a little Blink 182 and got piping.  Maybe not Margaret's musical inspiration but certainly mine.  And I felt it!  And it looked beautiful!  And it wasn't difficult!

My lesson of the day .... I found that her designs were no longer difficult if you let go of trying to reproduce them and let yourself find your own inspiration.  So the next time you see something you love and wish you could do, let go of trying to make a copy and instead think about what inspired the artist and then think about what inspires you.