Full of energy and determination, Yuki Miyazaki is a force to be reckoned with. Not just her drive and ambition, but her ability to stay focused and jump from live painting event to live painting event, without missing a beat. Often busy live painting at events throughout Los Angeles and nearby cities, she attracts a large fan following, as she is able to produce a finished painting rather quickly. She hasn't taken a vacation in three or four years, she tells me. Always on the go, booked pretty much weekly with events, she almost never turns down a chance to live paint. "I get lost in my imaginary world and with my paintings I try to relate to people, not just make a pretty picture or decorative item," she says. "It's nice to know that people like my work and are able to relate to a particular sentiment that I was trying to communicate."
For Yuki, painting is almost second nature, a compelling need to express herself about her life. Her subject matter ranges from whimsical to cynical Japanese girls, at once narrative and surreal. Her imagination is keen and visually provocative, often the girls in her paintings are very confident and at the same time defiant and rebellious. She likes to paint the stories she makes up in her mind, like her Black Sheep character, which was the subject of one of her earliest paintings, and revolves around the idea of the black sheep as protector of your dreams.
Born in Kumamoto, a small town in Japan, she came to the United States at 10 years old, and graduated from UCLA as an econ major. Painting at that time was just a hobby for her, and she took classes at Orange Coast College. After injuring both her wrists over an intense period of time working in the animation industry, which left both of her wrists in pain from carpal tunnel syndrome, she took up painting more seriously, and began showing at the Grind Gallery in Venice, as well as participating and live painting at Cannibal Flower events. She also became a resident artist at the Hive Gallery in downtown Los Angeles, where she has been for four years. She is a well-known favorite among the live-painting set, and she currently has a show at New Puppy Gallery called Fly Me to the Moon.
What she loves most about painting is the way she is able to explore ideas and even explore her inner self and deeper emotions, allowing feelings to surface, and enabling her to grow more as an artist. "Once I start painting, all stress goes away," she says. "I feel comfortable live painting in front of people. For me, the stressful part is all the prepping before a show and making sure I have all the materials and tools I need." When she is live painting, she doesn't pre-compose. Instead, she sketches with the brush, and tends to work monochrome or limit her paints to three to four colors to simplify the process. In this way her paintings are fresh and gestural, not overly rendered or stiff. She also doodles her narrative explorations in a sketchbook, and a lot of the time those doodles turn into paintings. Very much influenced by Kaikai Kiki's Aya Takano, she shares in Takano's love of painting imaginary manga characters with a hint of the erotic and fantastical.
What is her dream in life? "To travel, paint, and meet other cool artists," she says. "I just need enough to be able to continue the rest of my life and pursue my creative process." Full of passion for painting, Yuki is a testament to holding fast to your dreams and creating a life full of purpose and creativity. To learn more about upcoming events where she will be participating in shows or live painting events, check her out on Facebook or email her at yuker2@gmail.com.
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