Welcome to the Studio of Beth Grimm

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I’ve been around for over 75 years so there’s a long history of art and creativity within me. Born and raised in Iowa, I grew up with the midwestern work ethic. That starts from the ground below, which means fertile soil, and works its way upwards into the heart, brain, and soul. I’m proud of my Midwestern background.

However, circumstances change. Married in Iowa, I had two kids. I gladly worked while my husband completed dental school and happily supported him in all things. This worked well until I realized the depth of my desire to make him happy left me unfulfilled, because it was not reciprocated to the full degree And we grew apart.

In 1978 I relocated to California with my two children, to reclaim my identity, and to be closer to my brother and his two children who had moved to California a couple of years before. I set up my brother’s law office when he graduated from JFK law school in Walnut Creek, California. In turn, he put me through paralegal school while I was working for him. When he gave up his law office and went to work in San Francisco for attorney, Melvin Belli, a famous tort lawyer, he would’ve taken me with him. I wanted to stay in the suburbs, not commute to the city.

so I decided to go to law school. I was 34 years old when I started, 38 when I graduated, and by my 40th birthday I was on my way to having my own practice. For 30 years, I provided legal services in the area homeowners association law. During that time, I gravitated towards becoming a resource, known in as the California Condo Guru, and gained a reputation from my prolific publications as The Plain English lawyer.

I always loved writing because it was a way to express and share what was inside of me. Which turned out to be helpful to thousands of people. I always loved photography and art because again, it was a way to express myself directly from my soul. 

I never had college training in art or writing, although I took some courses in photography and writing in community college. I always went straight “as the crow flies” for whatever I wanted. I took some regional occupational training in commercial photography when I first moved to California, and I started community college when I arrived. I thought I would be a commercial photographer. However, after paralegal school, I decided I wanted to go to law school, and start a private practice. That was triggered by a desire to be able to buy a house in California for my kids and me, and that took a pretty substantial income. So I couldn’t rely on creative arts to make a living. I had a very good background in small business, photography, law, and organizing everything necessary make a good life as a single parent. 

Back to Art. It’s always been a big part of my life in the background. I created a law practice that I could do on the road, in my RV, while road tripping, which is another very important part of my life. I did telephone calls and Skype meetings from my RV before Zoom was even a thing. I developed a condo dwellers and professionals following across the country from my newsletters, blogs, articles in trade magazines, my professional affiliations, and speaking gigs.

Part of my reputation came from mediation, training and training as a Passion Test Facilitator. Not because of the classes I took necessarily, but because of the way I became a more compassionate lawyer, able to see perspectives from both sides, help parties resolve differences, and help people understand what not only what they wanted, but how to get it , without ending up in a lawsuit.

For the 30 years, I was an HOA lawyer, I took every photography workshop I could fit in. It was the best antidote to the stress of practicing law. I did Photoshop world in Las Vegas nine years in a row, took 11 photography workshops with his Santa Fe schools, and that basically set the stage for moving into Art when I retired. 

When I turned 65 I started cutting back my law hours and ramping up my art hours, and when I turned 70, I had a trifecta … my final retirement party, on my first art show, and my birthday, all on the same day. 

I left the law behind and moved forward in Art. I’m a very eclectic artist. I’ve taken workshops in almost every tactile form of art that I can think of. But photography was always my best love and so I gravitated from photography to making art with my photographs. I always have a vision when I’m shooting and I have the skills to take any photograph to the point I envisioned when I took it. I have believe I started teaching Iphone Artistry before it even had a name. I became proficient and during the pandemic, for 2 years I taught for Art schools who were looking for artists who could also teach on Zoom. 

When I lived in Benicia, California as a retiree I did a walkabout every day, noting along the way inspiration for writing an art. I took thousands of pictures, of everything, colorful and fun or meaningful, a lot of what I call “story images“. I enhanced some of the photographs, combined and collage and montage different photos together, put things on them, and sold art in a gallery and then a retail art store over a period of about eight years.

Then my family on the East Coast started calling to me. My son had settled there in his 20s after having joined the service and stayed. In 2025 more of my family gravitated toward the Hillsborough, North Carolina area where my son Ryan lived. So now, I am in the heart of my entire “clan“. That includes my son, daughter-in-law, grandchildren, Emilie, 22, and Elijah, 18. And my grandson, Nathaniel, 26 who there one year ago with his wife, Patty. They have three kids, my great grandchildren, Millie, five, Liam, three, and baby Violet, seven months. My daughter Kristin and her two children, my other grandchildren, Noah, 22, and Kyla, 20, moved to Hillsborough in May 2025. So here we are, all 13 of us, within 5 miles of each other.

I find the Arts in Hillsborough, North Carolina to be every bit as filled with opportunity as Benicia, California was. Where I lived the last 25 years.

My hobbies are photography, art, walking, exploring, road tripping, and chronicaling everything. I am writing my own memoir. I completed one book on my relationship with my father a few years ago called “The Great Grandpa Chronicles.” That was a five-year journeyof transitioning fromambivalence to love, seeing him through the eyes of my grandchildren as we met in Arkansas every year for family reunions. Neither the children nor grandchildren who attended the reunions fully understood the level of narcissism of my dad. So they had an untainted lens that helped me see things clearly enough to forgive him.

The older I get the simpler I want in life to be. And I’m getting there. Because what I most want in my life is not to dwell on limitations, but to enjoy fulfilling relationships, which I enjoy with my family and many friends, and to fill my days with creativity. 

I’m very happy for the honor to be part of this wonderful online collective.

My mantra is “Create as if your heart depends on it, because it does.”