Portrait by Amanda Cureton
Wandering through St. Pete’s Saturday Morning Market, Yuki Osada looks for little moments of inspiration in everyday experiences.
“I love walking past the fresh flowers, farm vegetables, baked goods and seeing locals picking up food for the week,” she says. “There’s something really comforting and joyful about those ordinary routines and community interactions.”
As the creative mind behind the brand Miss Johnny Squirrel, Osada captures these unassuming moments in her own whimsical way, creating art prints and an assortment of thoughtfully designed treasures like greeting cards, mugs, stickers and tea towels that are sold in local markets and online.
Among her characters are an easygoing capybara that prefers a slow and steady path, a contemplative (and a little grumpy) frog sipping on an afternoon cup of tea, two otters in love and a variety of cats whose distinct personalities will feel familiar to anyone who has ever shared a home with a feline.
“One piece I created features a pigeon sitting with a cup of coffee, croissant and newspaper, basking in the morning sun,” Osada says. “When I go to a new cafe in St. Pete, there’s a moment of clarity and happiness when you get your beverage and baked goods, and it feels like a special moment.”
The art that brings these woodland animals and four-legged companions to life feels lighthearted, comforting, funny and even a little melancholy—an intentional mix of emotions that helps transform them into relatable stand-ins for ourselves.
“When you see animals doing their day-to-day thing, being themselves in their microcosm, sometimes as a human, you can’t help but add a narrative to it,” Osada reflects. “With all the ways an animal can appear in shapes, colors and attitudes, it’s a rich world to draw from.”
Many of the scenes that inspire her whimsical creations are rooted in Tampa Bay, a place she arrived in through an unexpected twist of fate. Osada worked as a textile designer and graphic artist for the fashion and home furnishing industries in New York City for several years.
“My husband’s company relocated from upstate New York to Safety Harbor when we were dating, so we did long distance for a little while before I eventually made the move to Florida,” she says. “At the time, it felt like a huge leap because so much of my creative career and community were rooted in New York City.”
Osada continued freelancing with several of her clients while navigating what her creative life would look and feel like in Florida. After meeting the owner of a local screen-printing company, Osada explored creating hand-printed goods to sell at local craft shows. Piece by piece, her inventory grew to fill a tent full of magical wares.
“I think living in New York City can sometimes keep you moving so fast that it’s hard to make space for your own art,” she says. “You’re often focused on the work that supports your livelihood. For me, moving to Florida gave me room to slow down, experiment and reconnect with the kind of art that felt personal and joyful.”
While she officially started the brand back when Etsy was still in its infancy, Osada says she paused the venture when her day job began to occupy more of her time. Moving to Florida allowed her to reboot it with a fresh perspective.
With jazz music playing in the background and surrounded by shelves overflowing with art books, Osada now illustrates out of her Safety Harbor studio, a corner in her living room just big enough for a standing desk for her computer and digital work, and a small table and stool for traditional art projects.
“Coming from New York, I got very used to working with limited space, so I learned early on that if I really wanted to make art, I could make it happen almost anywhere,” she says. “I’m definitely someone who can function creatively in a bit of chaos, but I try to keep the mess contained to that one little rug area, though I have accidentally dipped my brush into my tea mug.”
Torn between traditional mediums like pen and ink or gouache, and working digitally on her iPad, Osada admits she loves the spontaneity and unpredictability of non-digital art since she doesn’t often sketch beforehand.
“I usually just jump right in,” she says. “There’s something exciting about the fact that it can either completely work or completely fail. On the other hand, I also deeply love the iPad’s undo button.”
Osada’s willingness to embrace uncertainty extends beyond the tools she uses and into the future of her work. While she continues to create small-batch goods and one-of-a-kind original pieces, Osada is also exploring new ways to tell the stories of her charming characters.
“I really want to experiment with trying to make silly little comic strips with some of my woodland characters,” she says. “I’ve been seeing stills and animations on Instagram that are inspiring to me.”
A multidisciplinary artist and designer, she also works across children’s book illustrations, wallpaper designs and murals.
Visit missjohnnysquirrel.com to learn more.
