When the Bloom Is a Warning: Springtime in an Unraveling America

Everywhere I look, things are blooming.

Magnolias burst open with defiance. Bougainvillea creeps over fences like it’s reclaiming space. Even the weeds are showing off. Nature is putting on her loudest, lushest dress—and I can’t stop thinking: what a strange time to be beautiful.

Because while spring is doing her thing, the country is coming apart at the seams.

Another wave of rights under attack. More performative patriotism, more violence masquerading as law. Each day feels like waking up to a new erosion—of truth, of autonomy, of basic human dignity.

So I paint.

When Beauty Becomes Rebellion

My Beauty in Decay series wasn’t born of politics—but it’s become impossible to separate the two. What began as a meditation on impermanence has become something closer to resistance.

There’s power in painting what is overlooked: the bruised fruit, the fallen petal, the cracked vessel. There’s defiance in saying, This is still beautiful. This still matters. This still speaks.

In the face of sanitized narratives and picture-perfect propaganda, I’m interested in showing the rot beneath the surface—and the life that insists on growing anyway.

Spring Is Not Always Gentle

We talk about spring as renewal. But spring is also upheaval.

Roots rip through soil. Buds force their way open. Rain doesn’t ask permission. It floods and overflows and makes everything messy. Spring is gorgeous—but it’s not passive.

And neither is my art.

In the coming months, I’ll be starting a new protest portrait—a piece that centers not just one man’s corruption, but the system of cruelty, denial, and decay he represents. It will be a portrait, yes—but also a reflection. A challenge. A mirror we don’t want to look into but must.

Where We Go From Here?

As the world warms and flowers bloom, I’m not finding comfort in the usual seasonal metaphors. I’m finding urgency. Wildness. Warning.

If you're feeling the same—adrift in chaos, awake in a body that doesn’t feel safe, searching for beauty that isn’t performative or polite—you’re not alone.

There is beauty in decay.
There is power in acknowledging what’s breaking.
There is hope in what keeps growing anyway.

Studio Update: What I’m Growing (and What’s Dying Off)

In the thick of it.

The brushes don’t lie. Some are clean, others are stained with weeks of choices—colors I kept, colors I covered. The palette is a living map of everything I’ve tried, scrapped, and layered again. This is where the real work happens—not in the finished piece, but in the chaos of becoming. In the studio, I’m growing, shedding, and starting over—sometimes all at once.

There’s something about May—it’s not quite spring anymore, not quite summer. Everything’s in motion. Some things are blooming wildly, and others are fading before they ever fully arrived.

Honestly? My studio feels the same way.

This is the season of sorting: what’s staying, what’s shedding, and what ideas are quietly composting in the background, waiting to become something else.

What I’m Growing

Right now, I’m building toward something big—a protest portrait that’s been simmering in the back of my mind for months. It’ll take everything I’ve got: rage, restraint, symbolism, subtlety, and zero tolerance for bullshit.

But even in the heaviness, I’m finding myself drawn back to the small moments. The quiet rebellions.

Paintings like Underfoot: Autumn’s Boroughs and Meditation remind me that there is still power in softness, still fire in the ordinary. I’ve also been refining my Beauty in Decay: Botanicals collection, letting each piece expand this idea that decay isn’t the end—it’s the transformation.

I’m building layers. Not just on canvas, but in the stories I want to tell.

What I’m Letting Go Of

This month I scrapped two paintings. They weren’t bad—but they weren’t honest. I’m learning that if a piece doesn’t feel like it’s pulling from the marrow, it probably won’t hold up over time.

I’m also letting go of the idea that everything has to be polished before it's shared. There’s beauty in the process. There’s connection in the mess.

What’s Shifting

As I lean deeper into the protest work and let my studio reflect the world outside—chaotic, unjust, alive—I’m finding new symbols rising to the surface: frayed flags, false idols, stained linen, wilted glamour.

The Trump portrait is starting to take form in my mind. It’s not just about him—it’s about what we’ve let rot beneath the surface. Memorial Day will tie in, too. The symbols of remembrance, the performative patriotism, the collective forgetting… It’s all ripe for reclamation.

Where I’m Headed

Right now, I’m holding space for both rage and rest. For overgrown beauty and clean breaks. For mourning and momentum. The studio is where I get to metabolize the world—one brushstroke at a time.

And if you’re also in a season of not knowing what’s next, but trusting the work anyway—then you’re not alone. You’re in it with me.

What Does It Mean to Be Seen?

Lately, I’ve been sitting with this question—what does it mean to be seen?

Not just looked at. Not just noticed. But really, truly seen.

To have your full self—the messy, aching, aging, angry, joyful, chaotic, quiet self—recognized without needing to soften the edges. Not needing to shrink. Not needing to explain.

This question keeps finding its way into my studio, into the brushstrokes, into the shadows behind the flowers and the broken bits that frame the light. It lingers in the corners of The Flourishing Reign of Femme, where delicate petals rise wildly against order. It echoes in Underfoot: Autumn’s Boroughs, where beauty lives low and overlooked, right where we walk. It hums through Meditation, where rest is a form of rebellion.

I paint because I want to see and be seen.
And I want you to feel seen, too.

Zoomed in on grapes & ladybug from The Flourishing Reign of Femme

In a world that demands perfection, I’m reaching for the imperfect.

I find beauty in the things we’re told to discard. The peel, the crack, the wilted bloom, the stained wall, the quiet protest. These are not flaws. They are stories. They are survival.

As a woman in midlife, an artist, and a mother of a queer child, I know what it feels like to have your worth measured by outdated standards. I know the weight of invisibility. And I know the liberation that comes from reclaiming space through creation.

When I paint, I’m not just creating a picture—I’m building a mirror. One that reflects not the airbrushed version of life, but the real thing. The bruises and the blooms.

Water lily detail, Meditation

So when I ask, “What does it mean to be seen?”—this is what I mean:

It means honoring softness and strength.
It means telling the truth, even when it’s uncomfortable.
It means making space for others to show up as they are.
It means not asking permission to take up space.
It means letting your presence be a kind of protest.

If my work has ever made you feel recognized—thank you. That connection means everything.

And if you’ve ever felt like the world skips over your story, I hope you find pieces of yourself in the petals, the cracks, the colors. You deserve to be seen.

Brushstrokes and Battle Cries: Why My Art Is a Protest

Art has always had something to say. Sometimes it's subtle, like a whisper that lingers. Other times, it’s more of a scream—a full-bodied, paint-splattered roar. I’ve found myself somewhere in between, using my work to speak to something deeply personal yet painfully universal: the feminine experience.

Now, before you picture me standing on a soapbox in a beret with a megaphone (not that it doesn’t sound fabulous), let me clarify. My art isn’t about shouting for the sake of noise. It’s about witnessing. It’s about capturing the quiet unraveling of identity that can come with aging, motherhood, and the slow decay of how society values the female body. It’s about challenging how that narrative gets written—and who gets to write it.

We live in a world where a woman’s body is regulated more than a poorly run HOA. Fertility is worshipped until it’s gone, and then suddenly we’re invisible. Menopause? Hysterectomy? Those words still make people squirm. But I’ve lived them. And instead of shrinking, I decided to paint.

Meditation, 2025

I paint peeling petals and overripe fruit. I paint cracked vessels and tangled blooms. I explore decay—but not as an ending. As a transformation. A shedding. A reclaiming. Because the feminine experience is not a linear path from maiden to mother to forgotten. It’s layered, complex, messy, and deeply, achingly beautiful.

And yes, my work is political. Because choosing to center stories that have been dismissed or overlooked is political. Choosing to say, “This matters. This body. This moment. This grief. This bloom.” That’s activism with a brush.

The Flourishing Reign of Femme (Close Up), 2025

Artists have always been mirrors and windows. We reflect, we reveal, we remind. And I don’t take that lightly. Every time I start a new piece, I think about what I want to say with it. Sometimes it’s soft. Sometimes it’s defiant. But it’s always honest.

Because for me, art isn’t just about beauty. It’s about truth. And truth—especially the kind that centers the voices of women, of queer folks, of those shoved to the margins—is a radical, revolutionary thing.

So if you’ve ever felt unseen, unvalued, or told that your story was too much, too weird, too emotional… same. That’s why I paint. That’s why I share. That’s why I’ll keep going.

Even if the world would rather look away.

"This Is Garbage": The Secret Mantra of Every Artist Who's Ever Grown

If You Don’t Hate Your Own Work, Are You Even an Artist?

Let’s just be honest for a minute: every artist hates their own work. Okay, maybe not hate-hate, but at the very least, we all go through that rollercoaster of “this is brilliant” to “this is garbage” within, like… three brushstrokes. And if you haven’t had that moment where you step back, squint, and say, “ugh, why did I think this was a good idea?”—I both envy and slightly distrust you. 😄

But here's the thing: that little inner critic is part of the process. It’s not a flaw. It’s not a bug in the system. It’s the system.

We grow through discomfort. We evolve through dissatisfaction. Artists are constantly striving—striving for better compositions, stronger color stories, deeper meanings, tighter technique, looser technique (hello, paradox)—all while trying to express something that words can’t quite hold.

And yeah, sometimes that striving looks a lot like staring at a painting you finished a week ago and thinking, “Well, that’s not it.” But you know what? That’s good. That’s growth. That’s your inner artist calling you forward into what’s next.

I like to think of it like training for a marathon. Or maybe an Ironman Triathlon where the swim is emotional vulnerability, the bike is imposter syndrome, and the run is caffeine-fueled bursts of inspiration at 2 a.m. There are moments of flow, sure. There are even sprints—days when the muse shows up and things just click. But for the most part, art is about mental strength, endurance, and a whole lot of practice.

Athletes don’t stop training because they hit a new personal best—they push harder. They analyze, tweak, try again. Why shouldn’t we do the same? Why shouldn’t we push ourselves to become the artist we aren’t quite yet?So if you’re sitting in your studio (or at your kitchen table or your favorite coffee shop) staring at your current piece thinking, “This is trash”—congrats. You're doing it right. That tension you feel? That’s the gap between where you are and where you want to be.

And maybe we never fully close that gap. Maybe that's kind of the point. Maybe hating our work just a little is what keeps us showing up, keeps us evolving, keeps us curious.

Or maybe we're all just a little unhinged. Who's to say...

When the Muse Ghosts You (AKA Making Bad Art on Purpose)

Let’s talk about artistic block. You know, that lovely little feeling when you sit down to create something brilliant and instead your brain is like:

“What if… instead… we reorganize your baking cabinet for two hours and then cry about it?”

I’ve been deep in that space lately. Ironically, I am excited about the paintings I’m working on—I mean, I’ve got some beautiful, weird, deliciously messy ideas cooking. But despite that, inspiration has been kind of... meh.

Not gone. Just distant. Like a flaky co-worker who leaves your slacks unread.

So what have I been doing about it?

Making bad art. Like, purposefully. Garbage. Nonsense. Weird little sketches. Globs of paint with no meaning. Doodles that look like your cat walked across the canvas with Cheeto dust on its paws. And honestly? It helps.

Because here’s the truth: when I can't find that magical “flow,” the only way out is through. And sometimes “through” means making things that are straight-up ridiculous or boring or ugly.

I live with ADHD (shout out to my neurodivergent creatives—you are not alone), and I get bored so easily. That’s why I always have about 5 to 10 paintings going at once. It’s not chaotic, it’s strategic. (Okay, it’s a little chaotic.) But it helps. It lets me hop around when one subject makes my brain go “ugh” and another makes me go “oooh.”

If you’re in a similar space—whether you’re an artist, writer, student, business owner, or someone who simply wants to be motivated but can’t even start—I want to say this:
You are not broken. Your creativity is not gone. It’s just taking the scenic route.

Make weird stuff. Make bad stuff. Make stuff that would horrify your 7th-grade art teacher. The important thing is that you keep making. Something. Anything.

My most recent abomination, March, 2025

Eventually, the spark comes back.
(And in the meantime, your baking cabinet does look amazing.)

💬 Let’s open this up: What’s your go-to strategy for getting unstuck? Do you also create "trash art"? Do you lean into rituals? Deadlines? Dance breaks? Share it in the comments—I’d love to hear how you push through the blahs. And hey, maybe we can all steal each other’s tricks. 💡

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👉 If this hit home, forward it to a friend or share it with someone else who's in the struggle. And if you want to see my current chaos-in-progress (aka “art”), you can always check out what’s happening at LynnetteGrimm.com or on Instagram @LynnetteGrimmArt.

We’re all in this messy, beautiful process together. ❤️