Defiant Joy: My Zentangle Journey and Why Art Matters
When I first stumbled into Zentangle in July of 2022, I had no idea it would change the way I see myself, my work, and the world. At the time, my life felt like a storm—burnout from years of home care nursing, the upheaval of a dissolving marriage, and the lingering weight of a global pandemic. Creativity always glowed inside me—I wrote, crocheted, sang, gardened—but the thought of calling myself a visual “artist” felt out of reach for some reason.
An early Zentangle tile of mine
Then came Zentangle. Its gentle rhythm of one stroke at a time, its philosophy that there are “no mistakes,” gave me both permission and a pathway. Every line drawn was a moment of focus, calm, and resilience. What started as wobbly ink marks slowly became something more—a lifeline, a meditation, and a declaration: even in chaos, beauty can emerge.
The 100 Day Project: A Commitment to Becoming
In 2025, I committed to a 100 Day Project. For one hundred days, I showed up with watercolor washes, pens, and pencils—layering intuitive color with intricate pattern, returning again and again to the page no matter how tired, busy, or uncertain I felt.
One hundred days of showing up to art is not just about skill-building. It’s about becoming. It taught me that small, consistent steps transform overwhelm into possibility. It reminded me that joy can be chosen and practiced, not just stumbled upon. And it showed me that creating is never frivolous—it is an act of presence, resilience, and resistance against despair.
Why Defiant Joy
In 2020 and again in 2024, my friend, poet, and wise woman Tracie Nichols invited her readers to join her in a practice of “Defiant Joy.” This became a lifeline for me.
“Loves,
Want to join me in starting something defiant and joyful?
Celebrating Spring with Zentangle Inspired Art
Back in 2020 I reacted to our collective experiences, our collective grief, worry, anxiety, frustration (and, and…) by wrapping myself around recognizing a moment of defiant joy every day, capturing it in a poem, and sharing that poem with an interested community of people.
Any length or style poem was welcome. The point was to defiantly step outside the collapsing tumble and bang and slip into an experience of joy for as many minutes as I could sustain the connection. I focused on shoring up resilience through noticing moments of joy, wonder, awe, and peace while keeping my feet firmly planted in reality. “ —Tracie Nichols
The phrase “Defiant Joy” lives at the heart of my work. For me, joy is not a shallow cheerfulness or a distraction from the hard parts of life. It is a choice to notice beauty, to keep creating, to keep showing up with hope—even when the world feels heavy.
Defiant joy is finding delight in the swirl of watercolor across paper while headlines scream uncertainty. It is sketching intricate, living patterns in the middle of a long, exhausting day. It is remembering that wonder belongs to us, even when life tells us to harden.
To create art in times like these is to insist: we are more than our wounds, our worries, or our weariness. We are makers, dreamers, and participants in beauty.
Why Art Is Not Frivolous
Sometimes, people talk about art as if it were an extra—a luxury to enjoy once the “real work” is done. But I believe art is the real work. It helps us pause, breathe, reconnect with each other and with ourselves. Art cultivates resilience, sparks imagination, and reminds us of the sacredness woven into everyday life
For me, creating Zentangle-inspired, nature-infused art is both grounding and expansive. It centers me in the present moment, and it opens a sanctuary where others might find the same calm, hope, and delight. This is why I share my work—because art is not just for me. It belongs to the world.
“Azure Dreams”
An Invitation
My journey is still unfolding—one stroke, one painting, one blog post at a time. I don’t know exactly where it will lead, but I trust that it will surprise me in beautiful ways, just as a Zentangle tile unfolds.
If you’re here, reading this, maybe you’re also seeking a moment of stillness, a spark of wonder, or a reminder that joy is possible even now. I hope you’ll find that here. And I hope you’ll join me in choosing defiant joy, again and again.
