ARTIST: MERCEDES WARRICK THE STATE OF OUR WOMB PAINTINGS CREATED: MARCH 13 – APRIL 22, 2015
© 2015 Mercedes Warrick All Rights Reserved
The State of Our Womb Series
I found myself saying, “Would you like me to shower at your place or mine?”
This seemingly innocent question especially for a mature woman of my age set off a healing crisis that I would never have imagined. Having gone years of being sexually inactive, I was not prepared. Being sexually inactive is not the same as being celibate. Celibate is different. Celibate is when you have an opportunity to have sex and choose not to engage. I had not been active sexually or sensually intimate for many, many years. I had not tried to entice a man nor had any man approached me. There was no opportunity. Healing from, “Robbery at Gunpoint”, situational Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and a divorce that was so emotionally cruel that I often describe it, “as worst than the robbery,” was all that I could handle. Every year at tax time, my accountant would ask, “Did you at least go out for coffee with a man?” It was my annual marking of time. Years passed. The answer was always, “NO.” Until this year, I found myself invited for tea. I accepted.
Finding myself heading towards a shower moment that would require nakedness I was flustered and confused as to who had asked that question. It had to be one of my guides or a wayward spirit or something. Contemplating nakedness like the measles, I realized that I was woefully unprepared. The questions began: Was this too soon? Would he think I am a slut? Who goes to a man’s house for a booty call? Naïve, embarrassed, yet mesmerized by the drunken anticipation off I went. This kind man saw my confusion and gave me space. It was a wonderfully intimate afternoon of introduction to my vulnerability and my nakedness: smiles and laughter, no intercourse, just intimacy.
What happened next are the stories of the canvases of The State of Our Womb series. I had intended to do a series of channels. The first one did not feel right. I was not ready for what was coming. I had very little experience in matters of sex and I was in a time warp when the Channel had stated:
The art of self pleasuring is bringing yourself to climax and joy
in any area of your life that you desire.
So it was clear that this was going to be about more than getting naked and getting some. It was going to be an introspection about how was I engaging in pleasure. It was also an entrée into living Divine Love in every area of my life including the intimacy between me and my lover or lovers. Spirit was engaging in a discourse about energizing the creative force for the purposes of happiness, joy, bliss and climax.
When my dear said one day, “You are so beautiful!” Gently whispering in my ear fully enwrapped in his arms from behind, the first of a series of flashbacks began. I had been raped and had buried it deep within my subconscious safe place. The healing crisis, soul fragment and experience gap had me in an emotional, physical and spiritual tail spin.
I was not talking. My voice had been silenced through trauma and it was silent now. I did not talk and my guy was going with the flow. Instinctively knowing that something had occurred and not knowing if he had done something he would implore me to, “Talk!”
We can’t talk. I did not talk. Shame. Embarrassment. Dread. Fear….washed over me in tidal waves. I have learned that I am not alone. We are not talking. And now five, ten, fifteen years later, the language of mature social interactions has shifted so dramatically that for some and almost for me, it is too steep a climb.
My hypothesis goes beyond this personal choice. I believe that as we leave that, “little piece of me in the corner off to the left and in the dark buried deep within my psyche” that my silence is affecting and influencing the way that I am living: my quality of life and my openness to love. One in three women will have been affected by violence. This is an awful lot of lost contribution to our universal well being. We are not just silent about our violent experiences. We are silent or afraid to blossom and shine in other areas as well.
As we withhold our voices and withdraw from opportunities to engage in living we are withholding the opportunity to expand Love, Divine Love throughout our world. This is a crisis of consciousness, divinity, spirituality and life. Sing. Dance. Paint. TALK! Express yourself, my lovely wombs, so that we may all grow wise and be fertilized by your beauty!
About Mercedes Warrick
Mercedes Warrick is a spiritual intuitive, teacher and author. She has written two healing systems. The Soul Inspired Tune Up® and Visionscapes®. Her art began to emerge through her in 2012 when she unexpectedly painted a piece at an afternoon workshop that she thought was quite good.
“It was a pleasant way to spend a couple of hours in the afternoon. I left the workshop and bought a frame to hang my painting up that evening.”
Her friend, Leah Young (Executive Director, The Art of Women Foundation) arrived a few weeks later with two canvases, brushes and coupons. “I have been painting ever since.”
Her work comes through Spirit. In Spirit and through Spirit each painting has emerged. I have not really wanted to be in the business of art. This series of four paintings is allowing me to bring all of the elements of my spiritual work together.
“I am very excited about the conversations that are coming forth, the voices that are breaking their silence and the courage of women telling their stories.”
Mercedes’ art credits include:
The Gallery of Contemporary Art in Laguna Beach, California . Recently, The Emergence was juried into the Women’s Work Symposium and Exhibition at The Tarnoff Gallery in Pecos, New Mexico. She was a featured artist and presenter at the first, Art of Women Showcase and Exhibit held in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Her artwork can be viewed and purchased online at:
Xanandu Gallery of Scottsdale, Arizona :
For More Information:
Visit: www.MercedesWarrick.com
Connect with Mercedes:
FaceBook: www.facebook.com/mercedes.warrick
As One Womb: https://www.facebook.com/asonewomb
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/mercedeswarrick
Twitter: https://twitter.com/MercedesWarrick
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/mwarrick2858
Email: Mercedes@MercedesWarrick.com
Phone: (702) 348-8800
Mercedes conducts art and spiritual retreats, channels and healing sessions.
Silence Screams – Spoken Word for “Behind These Red Lips”
It is a consecrated, secret language, masked by your eyes, hidden in your smile and choked in your throat. But I can see you. I can hear you because I AM You.
I couldn’t hear my screams which is why I can hear your silent screams.
We are mothers and wives, daughters and sisters, aunts, girlfriends and sistas, bosses and workers, womb-man. We can’t hear our screams because these screeching sirens of injustice are buried so deep within my psyche, our psyche, that only through the raw insistence of life can we bring each violence laced petal to the surface.
These petals, borne from the seeds of violence, rage, guilt, fear, obsession, destruction, and resentment, are only released from the depths of this echoing silent entrapment when we are ready.
This is my time. Is it yours?
Our readiness is not a time of our choosing. Our readiness comes only when it is our time to cleanse the murky slime and fully embrace the artistic hues of each petal that is the flower within us.
Behold the lesson.
As You are I AM. As I AM we are.
As You Heal, I Heal. As I Heal We Heal.
Behold the beauty of this life.
Inhale
Exhale
Breathe
And Live!
The Emergence
30” x 40” mixed media. Acrylic on Canvas * Audio: 9:46 minutes. For Exhibition Only.
“This canvas, The Emergence, is very personal for me and yes, this is me.”
It is the very first canvas from the new series of spiritual channels and artworks by Mercedes Warrick titled, “The State of Our Womb.”
Women are in a time of immense transformation and I am she. I am creating, recreating and co-creating. I suspect that we are creating, recreating and co-creating. This all happens through the womb. This piece is talking about the emergence. My personal acknowledgement that a piece of me, a soul fragmented and recoiled was hidden through rape, misdirection, and violence. In a space that has allowed me to cope through everyday living; however, as we all know our spiritual journey allows that which we have hidden to emerge when we can handle it and when it is time. This is my time. Is it yours?
The art is stimulated by my personal journey I am finding however, that there are many on this sojourn of re-opening of her womb-space. The womb is our space of affirmation of Self and the mould of our emergence.
Sexually, sperm and egg comes together to create humanity. In the physical we recreate our sexuality as we bring elements of living to procreate our world. Spiritually, the womb holds morality that shapes our philosophies, opinions, and actions. My womb and its experiences are shaping how I, as a woman, show up in the world: refined and unrefined. Perfect and imperfect. Passionate and impassionate. Fully empowered and turned inward. Engaged yet disconnected. Re-born and re-defined.
Accompanying this piece is the audio recording done for the blessing of this canvas. Its themes are multi-layered and complex in this honest narrative. “ It describes the emergence of my spiritual sexual
identity after it has lain dormant for over ten years. As I listen to this self reflection, I feel my emotional emergence, experience the nakedness and expose my vulnerability.”
Behind These Red Lips
24” x 48” mixed media. Acrylic on Canvas * Audio: 2:04 minutes For Exhibition Only.
“This canvas, Behind These Red Lips, represents the labels that are burned into our subconscious psyche and how we unknowingly devised a lifestyle, personality and defenses to protect us and create false facades.”
It is the second canvas from the new series of spiritual channels and artworks by Mercedes Warrick titled, “The State of Our Womb.”
There are so many layers of my life in this one canvas. My only memory of my paternal grandmother is her saying to me, “You’re nothing but a little whore. You’re next.” What she was referring to was this door or rather a door covered with plywood and a big pad lock. She used to lock her daughter in there with men. The “whore” label seemed to follow me and at various times for not so good circumstances or misunderstood reasons. My mother, overlapping her life onto mine called me a whore. Having not dated when I in my teens, my formulation of what my sexuality was, was full of judgment. The problem is that now after a long sexual hiatus even though I have evolved spiritually, my sexual ideologies got stuck in the mind of an 8-year-olds’ remembering and a young woman’s shame.
The art is stimulated by my personal journey I am finding however, that there are many on this sojourn of re-opening of her womb-space. The state of our womb is our space of affirmation of Self and it can be deeply influenced by the labels we have accepted and acted upon whether or not we remember them.
Behind These Red Lips is titled this because I used to hide behind my favorite shade of red lipstick. This power color was my armor as I worked my way up the corporate ladder, a Vice President, hoping that no one would notice how scared I was or how beat up – emotionally, mentally and spirituality – I was. Recently as I began to engage in my first intimate relationship in over 10 years, flashbacks began. Once again I was waking up, feeling anxious and shaky wondering where the next violent swipe or untrustworthy act would come from. Blinks and flashes of PTSD. My mind was reflecting the shame and embarrassment as I exposed my naked Self and enjoyed playtime. From deep within the cave, my childhood memories crowded in and shut this friendship down.
Flow
16” x 20” Mixed Media. Acrylic on Canvas. Partially Shown – 3 Canvases Total Energy Totem Format. For Exhibition Only. * Audio: 7:39 minutes.
“This canvas, Flow, represents our menstrual cycle and its impact on our how we formulate our values, self talk and beliefs. Our Flow impacts perceptions from joy to misery, influences traditions and marks the cycles of life.”
Flow is the third canvas from the new series of spiritual channels and artworks by Mercedes Warrick titled, “The State of Our Womb.”
When I began to paint this canvas I was surprised by the memories that were flowing through the art. Not remembering the age my flow began yet remembering the day. The vivid image of the tree in the park near my home, I had climbed it because it was my place of refuge. No one had explained what would happen and was happening. Scared, the tree my friend nurtured me. Then there was the time that my period disappeared. The misinformation I had received in school was that you could just get pregnant if a boy’s sperm crossed the sidewalk. Thinking I was a “bad” girl, shamed and embarrassed, it was months before I said anything. I was in fear every day. Every day I expected that at any moment a baby would appear. I was a “bad” girl. Actually I was a national class athlete and the amount of training that I did had caused the cessation of my menstrual cycle. Fear, shame, and pain were my early experiences with my flow. Later in life my choices would be a measure of my womanhood. Self esteem often internally measured through our choice to bear children and whether we can, our choice not to have children, as well as our choice to abort or release for adoption those children that are conceived. My worth and worthiness to become accepted as an adjunct family member or within social communities would be evaluated, at least partially, based on my child count or lack thereof. Often, the “you don’t understand because you are not a mother” sentence would preface some revelation of love and humanity.
The art is stimulated by my personal journey I am finding however, that there are many on this sojourn of re-opening of her womb-space. The state of our womb is our space of affirmation of self and it can be deeply influenced by the education or misguided information we have accepted and acted upon. Painting Flow has been a time of deep reflection, empathy, realignment and compassion for me. This is my time…. Is it yours?
Flow honors our transitions. Each month, as our blood flows, it moves us from life stage-to-life stage, rhythmically marking time and celebrating our milestones.
Excited to Dance!
30” x 40” mixed media. Acrylic on Canvas * Audio: 3:18 minutes. For Exhibition Only. 
“This canvas, Excited to Dance! brings the color and excitement that I am feeling as the discovery of the sensual and divine love aspects of my life are rediscovered.”
It is the fourth canvas from the new series of spiritual channels and artworks by Mercedes Warrick titled, “The State of Our Womb.”
Through the first three canvases of this series I am shedding old memories and healing the void and vacant spaces within me. This canvas is a celebration as I begin to understand the cohesive intersection of sex, sensuality and divinity that is underway. There is stillness, passion, physical embodiment and emotional immersion. Confusion is present as the norms of society clash with the norms of my inner views of myself and the judgment of who I AM as a spiritually alive person. Upbringing is released and my soul’s desires are tickling my consciousness. After being dormant for so many years the infusion of sensuality, whether self stimulated or in collaboration is an implosion of color, textures, nuances, and rhythms.
The womb is our space of celebration, creating new life. The sensual cycles our wombs are the dances: joy, abundance, freedom and love expressed. The art is stimulated by my personal journey I am finding however, that there are many on this sojourn of re-opening of her womb-space. This is my time. Is it yours?
Accompanying this piece is the audio recording done for the blessing of this canvas. My nakedness is now a multi-hued expression of my emergence. It has no pattern. It has no expectation. The energy of excitement is released, uncontained, spilling out and over as the experiences of divine love unfold and unravels the old illusion of what I thought myself to be.
1 + 1 = 3
The consummation of two unique and separate forces of God CREATES a third unique and separate force that is Divine. This Force and this coming together send ripples throughout the Universe and we, as humanity, are never the same again. This is why I sign each painting:
1 + 1 = 3.
Each interaction with everyone and everything melds our essence has creates a new ripple. It is a consummation, a coupling. This is why when we meet each other through Love and Light we have the ability to elevate the levels of peace and creativity in this world.
As I pray before each canvas and the channel comes, it is a coupling with the creative force. Each painting blesses and changes me. Each painting allows me to feel unified with the Holy, the existence of Creation. It is energy. It is life.
Feeling love. Being loved. Experiencing the sexiness of Divine Love is an essential part of our humanity. It is Divine. I am learning, moving from my corporate masculine into my Divine Femininity in all aspects of my life.
This is what my paintings bless me with every time I pick up a paint brush. It is my belief that as you experience each piece of my work that you feel life, energy, healing, and your divinity. I hope my paintings move you to experience a coupling with your inner places and know that the world has been changed by this encounter.
Mercedes