Inspiration is everywhere. I love that my client projects often inspire personal work, and vice versa. The spark of life born of a happy accident is how the image above was hatched.

I shot the image below to illustrate the concept of retirement investment allocation for an article in AARP Bulletin. After shooting, I was removing the labels from the eggs very gingerly, when one stubborn label tore off some pieces of shell.

I was suddenly very touched by the visceral beauty of the fragmentation that revealed the membrane-veiled contents. The fragility brought out my nurturing instincts. I found myself tearing up gray egg cartons and soaking the pieces to hand-mold a nest! When it dried, I added some tangly wisps of cheesecloth for swaddling, and my own, personal piece was born.

Listening to my heart and following my instincts while I work keeps me open to inspiration, which nutures my soul. They say you have to break an egg to make an omelet. I say, if an egg is accidentally broken, you could still make that omelet—or you could whip up something completely different and unexpected.

Have you found creative inspiration from a “happy accident”?