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

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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(2)

Another attempt was collage.  It took some time to collect materials: photos, flowers to make pressed flowers, plastic tape to transfer photos on it, colored paper, tracing paper, etc.  Also organizing my idea for collage composition was tougher than I thought.  But I tried not to think too hard and made a few works.  Here’s one. I picked a tropical parrot as a main role. 

Untiled, Collage, 24”x29”, 2025, ©Kikuko Sakota Art