Torn together

Happy Thanksgiving! This week I’m especially grateful for the gift of right livelihood—creative work that nourishes me and my community. Deepest thanks to you, my customers and fans, who make that possible. In gratitude, I’m offering 15% off everything in my Makino Studios shop thru Sunday with code THANKS22 (details below).

Here’s a glimpse at how I created a recent piece. A few years ago, I tore my left rotator cuff, which was followed by a painful case of “frozen shoulder.” After a physical therapy appointment, I took a walk along the Mad River bluffs overlooking the ocean, admiring the windswept trees. That inspired the following poem:

to love this body
just as it is
twisted shore pines

I decided to create a collage with the haiku, and started with a rough sketch. Next I searched through my collection of painted and embellished papers. Earlier I had tried painting a sunset sky for another piece, which didn’t work at all. But that rejected sheet turned out to be perfect for this piece. I also used washi paper, an old letter and some pages from a copy of Moby-Dick.

After much trial and error, I chose the papers I wanted, then tore them into pieces and laid them out, tweaking my composition until it felt right.

I tore and glued on the main pieces, including the black branches of the shore pine. But how to create all those needles? I knew it would drive me insane to collage each one. Eventually I realized I was trying to obey an imaginary rule that using pen and ink in a collage would be “cheating.” Once I let go of that unconscious restriction, I drew in the needles with a fine point pen.

Voilà! The finished haiga (art with haiku), is 11x14, made with acrylic paint, archival ink, paper and glue on cradled birch panel. (The words were added digitally using my custom brush-painted font and do not appear on the original.) © Annette Makino 2022

From uncomfortable beginnings, this mixed media collage emerged as the star of my collection this year. In an informal poll of friends and family, it won the cover spot on my 2023 calendar. (There is also a greeting card version that reads simply, “sending much love.”)

Sending wishes for much love and abundance this Thanksgiving!

“to love this body” was first published in Frogpond, the journal of the Haiku Society of America.

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Makino Studios News

Thanksgiving sale: Use promo code THANKS22 at checkout for 15% off everything in the Makino Studios shop except original art. Good for first-class shipping within the U.S. Only one promo code per order. Sale ends at midnight this Sunday, Nov. 27.

Made in Humboldt fair: The “Made in Humboldt” event at Pierson Garden Shop in Eureka, CA runs through Friday, Dec. 24. This is the only fair where you can buy my calendars, books, prints and boxed notecards this season. There are 250 participating vendors, all local.

Ecuador travel: My husband and I will be in Ecuador and the Galápagos Dec. 3-20! We are visiting our son, who is studying there this semester. Our house sitter will be packaging and mailing orders in my absence, but they may take a little longer to get out the door, so order early!

2023 mini-calendars: My calendars of art and haiku make great holiday gifts! They feature 12 colorful Asian-inspired collages with my original haiku. $12 each.

Water and Stone: My award-winning book of art and haiku includes 50 watercolor paintings with my original poems. Cost is $25. You can find it online here, on Amazon and in select local Humboldt stores. 

Cards: Holiday, birthday, sympathy or everyday… right now there are more than 70 Makino Studios card designs to choose from. I also have five different notecard sets, including two holiday designs.

Art prints: Blake’s Books in McKinleyville and Humboldt’s Hometown Store in Ferndale both carry a selection of my matted art prints, ready for gifting. They are among the local stores that carry my books, calendars, notecards and single cards.

Holiday shipping deadline: The US Postal Service advises that for first-class packages to arrive by Dec. 25, they should be shipped by Saturday, Dec. 17.

How a collage is born

Today I want to take you into my studio and share my process for creating a collage—specifically, the oak tree collage shown below. It’s part of my 2022 calendar of art and haiku, which is 15% off through Sunday.

The most time-intensive part of the process is actually painting the papers—this takes twice as long as all the rest. Here, I’m rolling hand-mixed acrylic paint onto a page from an old book, which is placed on a gel press plate. I always start with white paper and then paint it so that the colors won’t fade over time. On my table you can see clear plastic totes of papers that I’ve painted and embellished, one tote for each color.

I've always loved oak trees, and have drawn, painted, embroidered, quilted or batiked them since I was a kid. Here, I’ve torn the shapes of an oak tree with a boulder behind it, based loosely on some photos I took on a hike in the Kneeland hills of Humboldt County, CA. I prefer the organic look of torn rather than cut edges.

In this photo, you can see some shapes I have torn and laid down to represent leaves and bushes. The papers include some textural pieces made by applying paint to crinkled tin foil and rolling it onto painted deli paper. I also used an old map and some lacy paper from Japan that I painted, both of which suggest foliage.

Here, I’ve glued down the background and am tearing a tiny piece of foliage. I think of my collage process as “tearing things together.”

Almost there! Once I’ve laid out the pieces how I want them, I reverse the whole piece onto a separate sheet of paper. Now I can glue them down in the proper order, so the background pieces go down first. I apply archival glue (PVA) with an old paintbrush.

Ta-da! A few weeks after I made this piece, I lay in the hammock at my mother’s home in Mendocino County and brainstormed haiku that could go with it. The final piece reads:

staying balanced
on a spinning globe—
deep-rooted oak

Regarding the lettering, sometimes I paint each haiku individually using sumi ink and a bamboo brush. In this case, I used a custom font made from my brush-painted letters.

The red stamp in the corner is my name seal, also known as a chop or hanko, reading “Makino.”

I learned some of these collage techniques from a workshop with artist Donna Watson and books by Elizabeth St. Hilaire, and I am discovering new techniques all the time. Please let me know if you have any questions about my process!

"staying balanced" is 8x10, made of painted papers, glue and illustration board. The original is available for purchase. © Annette Makino 2020

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Makino Studios News

Sale on 2022 mini-calendars: My calendars of art and haiku are moving so fast that I ordered 200 more! They are now 15% off on the Makino Studios site, just till midnight this Sunday. Use code CAL15 at checkout. They are also sold at stores in Eureka, Arcata, McKinleyville and Trinidad, CA. The calendars feature 12 colorful Asian-inspired collages with my original haiku. Normally $12 each.

Water and Stone: My book of art and haiku makes a great gift! It includes 50 watercolor paintings with my original poems. Cost is $24.99. You can find it online here, on Amazon and in select local Humboldt stores. 

Cards: Holiday, birthday, sympathy or everyday… right now there are more than 60 Makino Studios card designs, including seven new or updated designs. Please note that due to increased costs, the price for a single card will rise on January 1, from $4.50 to $5.00. 

Made in Humboldt fair: The “Made in Humboldt” event at Pierson Garden Shop in Eureka, CA runs through Friday, Dec. 24. This is the only fair where you can buy my calendars, books, prints and boxed notecards this season. 

Art prints at Blake’s Books: This bookstore in McKinleyville, CA currently has a selection of my framed and unframed art prints, ready for gifting. They are also among the local stores that carry my books, calendars, notecards and single cards.

Holiday shipping deadline: The US Postal Service advises that for first-class packages to arrive by Dec. 25, they should be shipped by this Friday, Dec. 17.