Last week spring seemed to finally arrive in full strength in Virginia. It was great to smell the lilacs in bloom in the yard and feel the warm caress of a southern wind blowing on my face as I hiked the trails behind our house with Peppermint.

This particular spring also rekindled my creative inspiration as I was invited to join Sphere 2 of The Arcanum with professional photographer and artist Robin Griggs Wood.

After graduating from Spheres 0 and 1 last fall, it was a bit of a wait while the powers-that-be of The Arcanum developed and built Sphere 2 and the Masters created and customized the curricula they’ll use to guide us through our next photographic journey.

I was thrilled to be selected by Robin, as her work is amazing and inspiring, and I’ve watched her many times on Creation Wars where she’s a powerful personality. I’m especially interested to expand my creative vision and hope to take some of my images beyond the photograph, and I believe she’ll be able to lead me there.

Our new cohort consists of one member from my previous Wildlife and Nature cohort as well as many people I’d met informally in the Level 20 Lounge, a Google+ community where we collectively waited for Sphere 2. This group of photographers includes those with a variety of interests, from street, to portrait, to nature to architecture to fantasy and many more. It will be fun to work with them and to see what rubs off on me!

One of our first assignments was to present a collection of images with Cohesive Concept, meaning that the images were to tell a story without extraneous elements.

After returning home from Massachusetts last week from a national equestrian championship and with a magazine to immediately produce, my time was limited. But during a short break I took Peppermint and my camera out and walked the trails behind my house, where some of the spring flowers were still in bloom and nature is beginning to finally awaken from the long winter.

It was wonderful to have an excuse to get out again and a mission to fulfill with my camera. Just from the short time I’ve been in RGW’s cohort, I’m already feeling energized to create new works. I see already from the initial reading material that this journey is going to stretch my skills and take me out of my comfort zone, and I’m so looking forward to it!