Japanese artist

Let It Shine

The other day my younger brother signed up for a gospel concert. I was really surprised because I thought he was the last person who would go to a concert. He has never shown any interest in music. I really wanted to go myself, so I couldn’t resist joining him.

During the concert, a workshop was held where both the singers and the audience sang a song, “This Little Light of Mine.” Katakana pronunciation guides were provided so that all of us could pronounce the English lyrics, and Japanese translations were added so that we could understand the message. Repeatedly singing “Let it shine, let it shine, let it shine,” I felt optimistic, uplifted, and encouraged.

The painting below is titled, “Light in the Green”, Oil on canvas, 11”x11”, 2025

Evening Walk

The other day, on the way home, I dropped by a jazz restaurant in Osaka. The live show was a standard jazz vocal performance. It started with “My Funny Valentine”, a sad song, but moved to good love songs such as “Day and Night” and others. The room was buzzing with vibrant energy.

Unlike my neighborhood walk, in the big city, I walk through the underground busy street, almost as if I was following an endless stream of people. But I came across an uplifting moment like a burst of firework that I could never experience in my usual evening walk.

The painting below is titled “Evening Walk”, acrylic on canvas, 36”x47”, 2025, ©Kikuko Sakota Art

Something Different (1)

This summer I tried something different from usual: Oil painting and collage.

I used oil paints for the first time in ten years.  They do not dry quickly like acrylic paints, so I felt impatient.  While struggling, paints became muddy on canvas.  After a few failures, I made several oil paintings.  The below is one of them.  

Untitled, Oil on canvas, 9”x11”, 2025 ©Kikuko Sakota Art

Tears of the Sun

Taking a walk in the sun, as usual, suddenly I remembered my late father. My tears were almost coming down.

I wasn’t sad, but I just remembered him fondly. I felt like the sun and sky were looking at me

The painting below is “Tears of the Sun”, Acrylic on canvas, 21”x26”, 2024, ©Kikuko Sakota Art

Soar up

The year 2024 started with a big quake hit Noto Peninsula Japan Sea. So far more than 200 people were killed, about 50 people’s safety is unknown, about 3,000 households are isolated and in total about 25,000 are evacuated. It is one of the most coldest time so even though safely evacuated, it may not be comfortable to stay in the evacuation center. For now what I can think of is to provide some contributions to the area. Many of us experienced a few earthquakes and its hard time so if not contributions or food supplies, we can always extend our feelings, empathy, encouragement, and love. to the sky and reach out to the people in the disaster area.

The painting below is titled,” Soar up” Acrylic on canvas,24”x29”, 2024 ©Kikuko Sakota Art