Tomorrow will mark exactly eleven years since I launched this website and in that moment, Makino Studios was born! The website, the business, my art and the world have gone through quite a few changes since then. Deepest thanks to my customers and fans for supporting my work all these years!
To celebrate, I’m offering 20% off everything on my site for four days, through this Sunday at midnight. Use code 11YEARS at checkout. This site is only set up to ship within the US but if you live overseas, shoot me a message and we’ll work it out. Mother's Day and graduation are just around the corner!
As a sweet anniversary gift, my book, Water and Stone, recently got two more lovely reviews. An excerpt from the review in Frogpond, the journal of the Haiku Society of America: “While this book is clearly meant to showcase the haiga, I don’t want to overlook the universal appeal of her haibun, which speak directly to the reader’s heart about such topics as parenthood, being an artist, time passing, beloved pets, family history, and the natural world around us. There is so much to love and appreciate in this book, which I would also highly recommend as the perfect gift for a haiku poet to share with non-haiku-poet family and friends.”
And an excerpt from the Modern Haiku review: “This first full-length collection presents fifty haiga and fifteen autobiographical haibun by a poet whom Stephen Addiss places ‘among the leaders of haiku painting.’ . . . Love, indeed, is what seems to inspire Makino’s haiga, visually rendered in Japanese watercolors and sumi ink in an unpretentious style that illustrates and interprets her charming haiku.”
You can find the book online here, on Amazon and in some local stores.
I’m also excited that Season 2 of Studio Space, a series on Humboldt County artists, will debut on KEET-TV and online on April 7 at 7:30 p.m.! One episode features artist Lori Goodman and me. I will let you know once I hear when it will air. The shows will be available to stream online for free for three weeks, then will be available only to PBS members.
Below is a sampling of my new and updated cards. You can browse the whole collection here, plus find 2022 calendars (now on sale for $8), art prints and a gallery of my work.
Thanks again for inspiring and motivating me to keep creating.
congratulations—onward and upward!
Brightly colored coho salmon swim upstream through deep blue waters in this Asian-inspired collage. The message sends strength and encouragement to graduates or others reaching a life milestone. The original collage was made with hand-painted Asian papers, leaf prints, musical scores and newsprint.
have a sweet bee-day!
This image of bees at work in the hive, with its gentle puns, makes the perfect card for anyone who appreciates bees, honey, flowers or gardens. The piece was painted with Japanese watercolors and sumi ink.
Hurray for the the day you were born!
By dawn’s early light, a colorful rooster crows to heaven, rejoicing in the day a special someone came into being. A combination of painting and collage, this fun design appeals to kids and adults alike. Send it for birthdays, new babies, or whenever you want to celebrate someone’s existence.
when someone you love
steps off the world
it hangs
askew
In this atmospheric watercolor landscape, bare trees at sunset are reflected in a lake. The image and accompanying poem in this beautiful sympathy card let the recipient know that you understand how the loss of their loved one has upended their world.