Join me for the opening of the February art show.  I will be there from 7 pm - 9 pm.  I have two pieces in the show.  Blue Heron which won 2nd place in the Photography category, and I Love Butterflies, which is a  photograph of a colorful butterfly with a red heart on it's chest.  

January has brought in a new Gallery exhibition at the OffTrack Gallery in Encinitas, Ca.  It is my first show of the year in a new gallery so I went in with zero expectations. I arrived at the gallery to take pictures for the first place winning images but the Judge was still going through all the entries so I met a friend for lunch and told him I would return in an hour.  I had a lovely lunch and caught up with all the happenings in my friends life, never thinking twice about the judging going on.  I returned as promised after lunch and was give a list of the winning images to photograph for the gallery.  Then I set out to find each print or item in each category and took the picture.  When it came to photography, I saw the name, Margot and thought to myself, Oh, they must have another Margot showing here, but then I saw the last name Carrera.  My mouth dropped in surprise and the other artists working around me began to smile sheepishly.  They knew that I had won but they wanted me to find out for myself so that had said nothing.  I am happy to share that I won first place in the photography category.  More correctly, I should say that Blue Iris won best photograph. 

Blue Iris is a blend of Photography and painting.  Often when a background is too busy and takes away from the beauty of the central image, I will paint in the background.  I named this technique, Painterly photography.  This photograph was taken at an amazing garden in Northern California that grows only roses and Irises. They had about 20 different varieties in numerous colors.  It was truly a feast for the eyes. 

Blue Iris will be showing at the OffTrack gallery in Encinitas, Ca. until January 28th and is for sale.  Also showing is my art glass tray, called Lily Pond. Shown below. 

Each artist sees the world differently. That is why there are so many different versions of the same image that can be presented and none come out exactly the same.  This is what I love about art.  In the last posting, I told you about my experience with cancer and one of the ways it has effected my art.  Today, I will share the way that my love of nature has effected my artistic impression.

When I am out in nature photographing, there is a sense that I am in someway communicating with my subject.  I believe that everything has a consciousness.  They may not communicate in the same way but there is communication going on.  That is why when I am walking through a forest I feel a certain sense of peace,  Not all forests feel the same to me.  In Alaska, I felt a primordial feeling that I have never had before.  The mist was rising through the trees and I felt like the trees were taking a deep breath while drinking in the moisture.  It was one of those moments that I can not adequately describe in words but it will inevitability be inscribed in my memory.  It was as if I was part of the forest and the forest was part me. 

This sense of unity, of being part of the whole has helped to evolve my art to a new level. It is a sensing, feeling, level of communicating with my subject.  My goal is to carry on that original feeling or sense to the viewer as well.  So when you see my art or even better, go out into nature, you open up to a new level of communication with your environment.  Allow the vision to provide you with it's message.  If we connect with nature at this level, we just may be able to all exist together without harming one another.  You will come to see, that if we are harming one another, we are also harming ourselves.  

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