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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The year is coming to an end and as the sun goes down on 2019, I reflect on the changes that have occurred in my life and how they are affecting my gallery.  Four years ago I found out that I had metastatic breast cancer.  Since that time I have tried multiple therapies. Some helped, some made me very sick, and I continue to try new ways to manage the cancer.  I don't consider it permanent or mine.  It is like any other dis-ease, if you come to understand how it was created, you can find a way to un-create it.  To me it is not a death sentence.  I my first bought with cancer in 2001 and here I am in 2019 writing this blog . So if I overcame the cancer in 2001, I can do the same in 2020.  But it has had an inpact on how I see the world and how I see myself in the world.  I am sure it will also impact my art. 

One thing having cancer did was to get me to take myself much more seriously and therefore my art as well.  So in the year 2020, I am opening a new art gallery.  http:www.Carrerafineartgallery.com.  There you will be able to purchase my Photographs that are printed on multiple forms of media; Photographic paper with our without a frame, Canvas prints, Metal Prints, Acrylic Prints, and Prints on Wood.  I have also expanded my art to wearable art such as Women's scarves, Men's ties, t-shirts, wraps, women's bags, umbrellas, and other fashion items due to my collaboration with the company ShopVida.com.  I choose this business because they are interested in creating eco-friendly clothing, leaving a lesser impact on our environment. They also give back to the makers of the clothing by providing financial education and in some cases, literacy education.  They also believe in supporting the artist who design their clothing and that is where I come in.  It is hard for an artist to do everything or know everything about their craft, the clothing and design business, makers, marketing, and business practices.  You are asking too much of an artist who should put the majority of their time into their craft.  Vida understands this and helps in the areas that the artist are less familiar with.  It is a good merger.  So in my new gallery, you will see wearable art and home decor.  You will be able to purchase these item in the gallery store.  So go to the sight and watch for these new items to
appear in my online gallery.

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Below you see a tree that is probably 3 to 4 times my age.  It has lived on this earth providing a habitat for animals and insects.  It has shared it's beauty and it's shade with all who come in contact with it.  If you are silent and sit with it , I believe it will share it's wisdom.  I believe trees are sentient beings.  A tree coexists with man.  It takes the carbon dioxide that we emit and transmutes that into oxygen for us to breathe.  The big question is can man coexist with the trees without causing destruction?  I believe we falsely believed that we were the masters of the planet and that everything belonged to ourselves.  We looked to outer space to search for other intelligent beings when they were here all along.  The earth, the trees and plants, even the stones have consciousness.  The other day I had to cut down two of my trees at my new home due to disease from the drought.  As a  intuitive-sensitive being,, I could feel the fear coming from the second tree to be cut down.  I held onto it and sent it love.  After the tree had been cut down and I sent them into the light, the space felt calm and peaceful. It seems because they were infested with beetles, they had been suffering for sometime. A peace and calm came over the whole house that hadn't been there since the summer sun brought such high temperatures to our garden.  It was as if the trees sent love and comfort back to us in gratitude for ending their suffering.  

Man and Woman must learn to coexist with all other species, including their own, in order to exist.  We must treat the land, water, plants, and animals with respect.  We must treat one another with respect and take into account how our actions will effect the other.  I know it can be done.  I was fortunate enough to meet and study with the Q'ero elders who live in the high Andes and pre date the Incas.  They virtually live there leaving no footprint on the land.  They farm in the most difficult of conditions, living in the high altitude where very little grows.  They work with and communicate with nature.  They are grateful to nature for what they have and they share what little they have with one another.  They know how to treat one another with respect and generosity.  So they have learned to coexist.  We must change our ways now.  There is no more excuses.  It can be done, it has been done, and if my prayers get answered, it will be done.  I want my children and grand children to live a blessed life.  This is why I have decided to write my nature art blog.  I can help.  

The shamans of Peru gave me a spiritual name.  They called me MaMa Kinta, Mother hummingbird.  They consider the hummingbird the messenger of the mountains.  The one who speaks on behalf of nature.  That is how I came up with this topic.  In meditation in my garden, this message of coexistence came to me to share with you.  Humans with Humans, Humans with the environment, humans with animals, humans with water and the elements, humans with the earth, we must all coexist. 

With so much ugliness going on here on the planet right now, I choose to focus on what I love about living here.  I love to hike in nature.  That is why I chose to become a nature photographer.  This spring I hiked in Rockville, Ca. where I came across an old oak grove. It was spring and the wildflowers were in bloom and everything was deep green.  As Spring turned quickly into summer the lavender began blooming and I was allowed to go on a local lavender farm to photograph the lavender blossoms.  The bees were happily buzzing around the garden.  Even though the bees are endangered due to heavy use of pesticides, here at Harmes Lavender farm they are happy and healthy.  The farm does bio-dynamic and organic farming. It is more work for them but the outcome is a healthy environment and a top grade of lavender. I aslo went to the Russian River to visit a rose garden.  Roses are my favorite flower.  Every home I live in must have roses.   So I am focusing on the beauty of nature and the good health of our environment and this is what I wish to expand on the planet.  What are you focusing on? What do you want more of in the world? Enjoy!

To Purchase any prints that you see here, go to https://www.etsy.com/shop/MargotCarrera .  If you don't see the print or the size you want, go to conversation button and ask me.  I do special orders all the time.

Well here they are.  Please comment and let me know what you think.  Please share this post and If you love, love, love, one of the totes, please purchase.  There are two sales going on.  One that ends today and one that goes through next week.  

Photographed by Nature Photographer Margot Carrera,
​Available to purchase at www.CarreraFineArt.Com.

A Poem written by David Kinsley, 1978 (The Goddess Mirror)New York

​A mind perfected in the four virtues, 
A gold body filled with wisdom, 
Fringes of dangling pearls and jade, 
Scented bracelets set with lustrous treasures, 
Dark hair piled smoothly in a coiled-dragon bun, 
And elegant sashes lightly fluttering as phoenix quills, Her green jade buttons 
And white silk robe 
Bathed in holy light; 
Her velvet skirt 
And golden cords 
Wrapped by hallowed air, 
With brows of new moon shape 
And eyes like two bright stars, 
Her jadelike face beams of natural joy, 
And her ruddy lips seem a flash of red. 
Her immaculate vase overflows with nectar from year to year, 
Holding sprigs of weeping willow green from age to age. 
She disperses the eight woes; 
She redeems the multitude; 
She has great compassion; 
Thus she rules on the T'ai Mountain, 
And loves at the South Sea . 
She saves the poor, searching for their voices, 
Ever heedful and solicitous, 
Ever wise and efficacious. 
Her orchid heart delights in green bamboos; 
Her chaste nature loves the wisteria. 
She is the merciful ruler of Potalaka Mountain, 
The Living Kuan Yin from the Cave of Tidal Sound.