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By the time painter and illustrator Shela Yu was 11, she was drawing fairies and mermaids on her bedroom walls. Today, most of the 32-year-old Chinese American artist’s work lives in sketchbooks, PDF files and as murals emblazoned on building façades. Her painting has a kinetic yet calming energy. “I like watching clouds move across the sky,” she says. “I like the way incense smoke scatters across the room. There’s a natural movement that I...