When I receive this text: “Do you have a painting for a hysterectomy?”
“Why, of course I do.”
And then I said goodbye to this sweet painting this morning. SOLD. I love that she has a new home and love everything this painting gave me.
Fertility by Marika Reinke
This is a place of gratitude and unpeeling place of wonder.
You devotedly received her everything; visceral love, familial strength, earthly creation and boundless, mysterious motherhood. They seed securely in your cosmos; timeless and ancestral.
This place has done her selfless duty and given until she needed to no longer.
This is a place of love and a place of beauty. A place for pocket-shrines and vistas in her name.
13” x 10” Watercolor
Fertility by Marika Reinke 2017Fertility by Marika Reinke 2005 (c)Fertility by Marika Reinke 2005 (c)
But here’s a challenge: define Beauty. And why does it matter?
I intuit Beauty is important to the human experience. I’m sure some happiness researcher has done a study that shows Beauty is important to cultivating happiness. And geesh, happiness is so important these days that scientists study it. The magic happiness pill makes lots of money.
Beauty is healing too. And Beauty is more.
Here is a story
I’ve started to sell a little on Etsy. A customer approached me in a conversation about a print Fertility. She has been having a hard time conceiving and she wanted a piece of art that would help her imagine conceiving but also a healthy reproductive system. She wanted to know what my thought process was going into this painting.
Fertility (c) Marika Reinke
It took me a year to conceive my daughter. I relate to this struggle. It was one of my most difficult times.
Here is my response.
I painted this when I was having a hard time conceiving as well. It is such an exhaustingly emotional and baffling time. I didn’t know what was wrong or if there was something wrong. It was just hard and trying and gut wrenching. As you know. I was learning a different relationship with my body. I didn’t have full control of it. I was powerless in a way I never expected.
With this painting I was trying to imagine what my body looked like from within. I was learning to love me as I was. That it could be beautiful, not a scientific drawing, an x-Ray or broken somehow. It was and is amazing.
So it is a painting of a beautiful womb, artistically experienced (not scientifically rendered) from the heart. There are ovaries, and layers of red, shapes of the feminine ovals, circles and hearts. It is a place of love and power as it is. It is a place of potential.
There are suggestions of implantation. Yes. At the time that was my dream. But not a reality.
The blues are deeply soothing and mark and frame the womb. They bring power and contrast to the subject. They are organic shapes to suggest movement, other organs and life. I love that you see feathers! Yes!
Personally, I love the colors in this painting.
For my limited edition prints, I will hand highlight and embellish the painting with iridescent paints, silver or gold. If you have an idea you would like me to embed in the painting when I do this, I’d be honored to mark it that way for you as well. I embellish them when the order comes in. If you decided to purchase it, just send me a message and I can do this. They are high quality prints on watercolor paper and take this paint beautifully.
My hope is that it would help give you some peace and self-love in a difficult time and it would be meaningful for you as well.
In all, we exchanged 37 messages. By the 6th or 7th exchange she purchased a print. For the next dozen or so, we exchanged messages on how to hand embellish the print. This customer took full ownership of her print, directing me to mix a 1:1 ratio of gold and silver and very specifically directing me to the places she wanted highlighted. Here is the result:
Fertility highlighted (c) Marika Reinke
I loved the exchange. We collaborated and connected. As we communicated, I learned about her and her trying time. I have deep empathy and hope for her. I hope that she loves herself and through her process she becomes a mother.
Equally, the process made us both vulnerable. I had hopes this print would bring her peace and support. She had hope this print would touch her and bring her beauty, healing, peace in an emotionally exhausting time.
I mailed the print and we waited, holding our breath that our hopes would be realized.
Here is the beginning of her 5 star review. I say we succeeded:
“When I saw my painting I could not restrain tears of joy and hope that filled me up. Thank you, Marika, for a beautiful custom work! …”Read more here (In my opinion, it’s a good read).
But also this is Beauty. Not just Art the Product, but the Whole Process. Beauty.
Being pregnant is a victory and triumph. It is a miracle that, even if you experience it differently, is not a simple task. It is complex, complicated, at a point inexplicable and by virtue of this - absolutely awe-inspiring. That accomplishment deserves a loud colorful scream - I did it! I did this! Look at what my body can do! Celebrate!
The year of trying to get pregnant drew longer until I began to wonder if something was wrong with me. I wished I could see inside myself and withdraw some understanding. Was I wounded? Broken? Was this karma? I held my belly; inhale, exhale, energy, light, healing, and please, some sight and insight. Nothing came. So I painted. What emerged glowed with health and beauty – a wondrous soul-catcher.
It took me a year to conceive my first daughter. The year of waiting was a tough test of my character. I tried to maintain my hope and composure but often it felt impossible, frustrating and painful. During that time, I developed a completely different relationship with my body, one in which my mind and body were at odds. Each month the baby didn’t come, my desire grew stronger as did the awareness that I was at the whim of forces much larger than myself. This is an expression of the simplicity of desire and ultimately a meditation to ease my mind.
Watercolor 10 x 14
Buy Here
Currently all my prints will be ready to ship no later than November 24th, 2014. All orders will be shipped in 1-3 days with standard shipping included in the price. Please contact me directly at [email protected]for other shipping options or if you need to ship internationally in which case there will be an additional charge.
Original Painting: $225
Personalized Limited Edition Print (of 25) : $45 What’s special about a limited edition print? Click on my Print Options
Personalized Limited Edition Print (of 25) : $45
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