Bitter Darlings | On art, imperfection, and what it means to never be broken-hearted.

Something happens when a woman decides to stop editing herself. And I don’t mean in a performative way, I’m not talking about facetune or Photoshop, but a real awareness and strength that appears right in the middle of a hard chapter, in the face of doubt or criticism, or Irresolution. It’s where she picks up a brush, or laces up her shoes, or simply refuses to be defined by what she survived. That is where Bitter Darlings lives.

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For this month’s Triple Take Feature, we’re spotlighting a self-taught artist, educator, and founder.

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Introducing Zarinah Dennis, the Atlanta-based creator behind Bitter Darlings, an art and athleisure brand rooted in the belief that women deserve to see themselves fully, not polished down to something easier to look at. What began as a personal practice of processing pain through paint has grown into a WORLD. Original fine art, wearable pieces, and a brand philosophy built around the motto Never Broken-Hearted. Her figures are bold, imperfect, and emotionally open. She doesn’t tell you how to feel when you look at them. That choice belongs to you.

This feature exists in that space. Not as a profile, but as a portrait. Zarinah Dennis creates from a place that most people spend their whole lives trying to get back to. The version of herself that was set aside during marriage, during motherhood, during the years when responsibility asked everything and left little room for her own voice. She didn’t lose that woman. She paused her. And when the hardest chapter of her life arrived, she found her again through art.

I had the pleasure to speak with the artist and ask a few questions about her journey and work, and the courage it takes to build something new from the wreckage of something old…

Zarinah speaks about what happens when we reframe the thought of imperfection, using it as a philosophy rather than an excuse, creativity as healing, and about what it means to represent all women when you started by representing only yourself, and about the particular kind of woman her work was always trying to find. She allows us to further view her story as a macrocosm, a reflection of what many women know but rarely say aloud. That the life you are rebuilding, even when it does not feel beautiful yet, has a beautiful inherent value waiting for you to discover it.

Dennis is an Atlanta-based self-taught artist who, three years ago, began painting whimsical, layered, emotionally open portraits of women. She calls them her Bitter Darlings. They are bold and imperfect. Their emotions are unresolved on purpose. The viewer decides what they see. That choice is part of the work. What most people do not know when they encounter the work is where it actually came from.

“Creating under a different name gave me the freedom to step fully into a new chapter. It allowed me to separate the past from the identity I was building through my art.”

Bitter Darlings was born after Dennis’s divorce. Her last name had belonged to her marriage, and using it for her work felt like carrying something that no longer fit. Choosing an artist name was much less a branding decision. It was an act of reclamation. “Emotionally and creatively, it feels like ownership of my story,” she says, “and the space to express myself without carrying a name that no longer felt like mine.”

Before this chapter, she was a wife and mother of two young children. Her life was shaped by responsibility and routine, the kind of structure that quietly sidelines the parts of you that belong only to yourself. Some people would say they “lost” themselves. She doesn’t describe it that way. “Not lost,” she says. “Just paused.” Art gave her the space to press play again.

That return to herself felt like freedom. “At this point in my life I’m no longer driven by fear,” she says. “I’m driven by hope and optimism, even in the face of adversity. Art became a space where that perspective could live and grow.”

The early work was deeply personal, a way to externalize what she was feeling during one of the more difficult chapters of her life. But the more she created, the more she recognized that those feelings were not only hers. The shift from painting her own emotions to representing all women happened naturally rather than as a strategic decision. “The more I created, the more I realized that those feelings were not just mine,” she says.

Today the Bitter Darlings universe spans original fine art paintings, an art-driven athleisure line, and a brand philosophy rooted in the idea that beauty and chaos can live inside the same moment. The name itself is a study in contrast. Bitter and darling. Two things that should not belong together. Yet there they are, holding steady.

Dennis describes her paintings as beautiful, whimsical, and messy all at once. Most people would choose one. She chooses all three deliberately. “Life is rarely just one thing,” she says. “My brushstrokes are imperfect. That contrast is intentional because life itself is layered that way.” Imperfection is not a flaw in the work. It’s the argument the work is making.

Extending that argument from the canvas to the body was a natural progression. The athleisure line parallels the same belief: that art should move with you and that wellness and creativity are not separate categories. “For me, art is wellness,” she says. “Creating it and experiencing it can both be healing. That emotional connection is a form of wellness that many people overlook.”

“Sometimes art reflects something that’s already inside a person but hasn’t fully been recognized yet. When someone sees a piece and connects with it, it can remind them of their strength or help them see themselves in a different light.”

When asked whether art can actually change how a person sees themselves, Dennis does not hedge. She believes it can do both: reflect what is already there and shift how someone understands it. “When someone sees a piece and connects with it, it can remind them of their strength or help them see themselves in a different light.”

At the center of everything is the Bitter Darlings motto: Never Broken-Hearted. Not an instruction to avoid pain. It is a statement about where power actually lives. “No one should hold the power to break your heart or define your happiness,” Dennis says. “True power comes from within, from the way you carry yourself, care for yourself, and push forward despite adversity.”

Perfectly imperfect, in Dennis’s world, is not a slogan. It is a practice. It looks like giving yourself grace. Setting boundaries. Accepting the chapters that were difficult and understanding that those experiences helped shape who you are. “Being perfectly imperfect means accepting that and still showing up fully as yourself,” she says. “It is about authenticity rather than perfection.”

For anyone in the middle of a chapter that does not feel beautiful yet, Dennis has something to say. Not as an artist. As someone who has lived it.

“Not every chapter feels beautiful while you are living through it, and that is okay. Life moves in seasons. Stay hopeful, stay optimistic, and keep moving forward. Sometimes the chapters that feel the hardest are the ones that eventually lead you to rediscover yourself.”

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Website: www.bitterdarlings.com