Glimmers in the dark

“touch of frost” is an 11x14 mixed media collage made with paper and paint on cradled wood. This is part of my 2026 calendar. A version of boxed holiday notecards reads “joy to the world.” © Annette Makino 2025

I must admit, these short, dark days are hard to take. Being more of a night owl, I miss part of the limited daylight we get in the mornings, then feel shocked and cheated when twilight approaches before 5 p.m. So unfair! 

How to cope? I try to appreciate merino wool sweaters, flannel sheets, and our wood-burning stove. And ignore the fact that spring is still months away—in fact, it’s not even officially winter yet! Still, it’s cold, dark and damp, and I struggle.

otter dusk
what’s left of the light
slips downstream

But it turns out that the worst is already behind us: yesterday saw the earliest sunset of the year here, at 4:48 p.m. From today on, the days will feel longer even though the winter solstice is not until December 21. So hurray for the return of the light!

I’m finding that the best way to make my way through this hard-to-love season is to look for glimmers of joy. Last Thursday my husband, son and I went tide pooling during a ridiculously beautiful sunset (see below), which we would have missed had the sun set after dinner. 

Sunset at Houda Point in Trinidad, CA, during a minus tide. December 2025.  Photo: Annette Makino

a cormorant air-dries its wings

         sea-washed stones

Saturday night we took part in Arts Alive, a monthly cornucopia of local art and music during which Paul and I  got to join our old choir for a few songs. Sunday we watched a fun play featuring an evil sock puppet orc who sings a hilarious but poignant solo. On Monday morning I taught a haiku workshop to a class of surprisingly engaged high school sophomores who impressed me with their creativity.

Holiday season brings the special pleasures of gathering with family, friends and community. This coming weekend, I’m looking forward to having a Makino Studios booth at the Arcata Holiday Craft Fair. As my only in-person event this season, this is a rare chance to meet face-to-face with my customers and to hear their stories. That is a key part of what keeps me going in my art biz.

However winter hits you, here’s wishing you bright glimmers to celebrate in this dark season. Happy holidays!

touch of frost
the dog smiling
from nose to tail

warmly, Annette Makino

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Happy merry holidays!

Makino Studios News

Free shipping: Use promo code HOLIDAY2025 at checkout for free shipping on all Makino Studios orders, no minimum. Good for first-class shipping within the U.S. One promo code per order. Promotion ends at midnight this Sunday, Dec. 14, 2025.

2026 mini-calendars: Small calendars of art and haiku make great holiday gifts! They feature 12 colorful Asian-inspired collages with my original haiku. $12 each.

Cards: Holiday, birthday, sympathy or everyday  . . . right now there are around 80 Makino Studios card designs to choose from. I also have notecard sets, including holiday designs.

Water and Stone: My award-winning book of art and haiku includes 50 watercolor paintings with my original poems. Cost is $25. I will sign them on request—just send me an email after you order. 

Holiday shipping: The US Postal Service advises that to ensure that packages arrive by Dec. 25, they should be shipped by Dec. 17.

Arcata Holiday Craft Market: Featuring food, music, and local vendors, this festive fair takes place 10 to 5 on Saturday, Dec. 13 and 10 to 4 on Sunday, Dec. 14 at the Arcata Community Center in Arcata, CA. Look for the Makino Studios booth on the lefthand side of the main room. This will be my only in-person event this season. Admission is a $2 donation benefiting the Youth Development Scholarship Fund.

Made in Humboldt fair: The “Made in Humboldt” event at Pierson Garden Shop in Eureka, CA runs through Dec. 24. There are more some 300 local vendors; Makino Studios items include my 2026 calendars, books, prints and boxed notecards.

CREDITS: “otter dusk” - Acorn, Fall 2025; “a cormorant” - Nowhere Else: Haiku North America 2025 Anthology, Eds. Michael Dylan Welch and Chuck Brickley, Press Here, 2025; “touch of frost” - 2026 in Art and Haiku, Annette Makino, 2025

How a haiku is hatched

spiral journal this bit of the galaxy

This mixed media collage is 11×14, made with acrylic paint, paper and glue on cradled wood. © Annette Makino 2025

It was almost midnight on February 18, 2023. My back was injured from repeatedly picking up our elderly dog Misha. I was lying in bed with one of the large spiral-bound notebooks I use for journaling. Feeling sore and tired, I didn’t have anything profound to say, so I just wrote about the moment: journaling about my wee life despite my stunning insignificance in the grand scheme of things. The first draft read:

spiral notebook
these random jottings in this bit
of galaxy

This felt very awkward, but it had potential. I cut “these” but it was still clunky. Next I tried:

spiral notebook
recording my small part
of the galaxy

I crossed out “small” but it still seemed too long and too obvious. I gave up for the time being.

The next day, I came back to it with fresh eyes. Changing “notebook” into “journal” covered the journaling aspect without having to detail it. And instead of hitting readers over the head with my point, the new, condensed version gave them a little something to work out. I changed “part” for “bit” because it sounded smaller.

The haiku was now so short that I thought it worked better as a one-liner, or “monoku.” In English-language haiku, this is a popular variation from the typical three lines. The poem now read:

spiral journal my bit of the galaxy

Three weeks later, I submitted it to the esteemed journal Modern Haiku, and happily, editor Paul Miller accepted it for the summer 2023 edition.

Last month, while perusing my haiku collection to find good subjects for haiga (art combined with haiku), this one spoke to me. But I’d noticed that many of my poems are in the first person. For pieces that will go into my annual calendar, I worry that too many “I” poems could seem too self-involved; I would rather include the reader. So for the haiga version, I changed “my” to “this.”

Now I wonder if my meaning is less clear in this version, but I guess that’s OK; each reader can interpret it as they wish. There are plenty of haiku that I find mysterious but interesting, as long as they aren’t completely obscure.

The art came together quickly using acrylic paint, paper I had painted black and archival white and silver gel pens for the gazillion stars. In my informal focus group last month, this simple but powerful image (without the words) was the top choice for the cover of my 2026 calendar. It’s also the featured art for November.

Oy vey, that was a lot of verbiage about a seven-word haiku! You can see how much effort can go into this shortest form of poetry. It reminds me of the 1657 quote from Blaise Pascal, often misattributed to Mark Twain: “I would have written a shorter letter, but did not have the time.”

I guess I buried my lede: the 2026 Makino Studios calendar of art and haiku is back from the printer and available online! These will make their way into local stores over the next couple of months. I’m really happy with this collection of twelve new mixed media collages and I hope you enjoy it.

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Makino Studios News

NEW! 2026 mini-calendar of art and haiku - Japanese-inspired collage - 913

$12.00

NEW! 2026 calendar: Featuring peaceful landscapes and animals, my 2026 mini-calendars of art and haiku are still just $12 each, same as the first one in 2013. These little calendars of my mixed media collages make great gifts for friends and family.

NEW! Holiday notecard sets: I’ve designed two new notecard sets for the holidays: one featuring the galaxy art above and reading “PEACE”, and another with a happy dog reading “joy to the world.” I also offer several other notecard sets for everyday and holidays. A box of eight cards with kraft envelopes is $20.

NEW! Custom cat print: By customer request, I’m offering custom prints of a tuxedo cat catching falling leaves, printed to order in several size options. You can browse all my prints here. Let me know if you have a favorite piece not shown that you’d like to order as a print.

Haiku North America: I’m really looking forward to this bi-annual gathering of haiku poets in San Francisco Sept. 24-28. I will read a few of my poems as part of one session and my books, calendars, notecard sets and art will be available for sale at the conference.

Journey to Japan: I’m heading to Japan Oct. 13-30! The trip will include a six-day walking tour in northern Honshu, following in the footsteps of famed haiku poet Basho and his disciple Sora, who spent five months in 1689 walking there; the trip resulted in Basho’s seminal book of haibun and haiku, Narrow Road to the Deep North.

Makino Studios orders will be on break: Makino Studios orders will not be shipped during my two trips. I am sorry for the inconvenience.