Introducing my new cards and calendars!

I’m happy to share that my 2023 mini-calendars of art and haiku are now available! This is the tenth year I have created a calendar, and I think it’s my favorite yet.

I also have eight new and two updated card designs, for birthdays, holidays and more, as shown below. You can browse all 78 of my current designs on the Makino Studios website.

I’ll have all that and more at the North Country Fair on the Arcata Plaza this coming weekend, Sept. 17-18, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Look for the Makino Studios booth in front of Moore’s Sleep World on G Street. Hope to see you there!

Also, many thanks to all who came to the opening of my show of Asian-inspired collages! It continues at Just My Type in Eureka, CA through the end of September. Here’s a 30-second video tour.

The Eureka Times-Standard ran a nice story about my work and the show called Torn Together: Annette Makino debuts new mixed media collages.

Sale

SALE! 2023 mini-calendar of art and haiku - Japanese-inspired collage

Sale Price: $6.00 Original Price: $12.00

• Please note this is the 2023 calendar, for those who just want to enjoy the art. The 2025 calendar is available here.

Featuring peaceful landscapes and animals, this wall calendar expresses Zen wisdom as well as quiet wonder and delight in the world.

The Japanese-inspired collages in this calendar include haiku by award-winning poet Annette Makino. She created each of these collages with hand-painted and torn washi papers from Asia as well as found papers.

This mini-calendar measures 5-1/2” wide by 7” tall closed (or 5-1/2” x 14” open), so it will easily fit in a small space. Major US holidays are listed. All twelve designs are shown on the back. The calendar includes an artist’s bio and some background on haiku and haiga (haiku art).

These are professionally printed in the USA on substantial paper and saddle-stitched. Each calendar is packaged in a self-sealing cellophane sleeve.

Many users of past Makino Studios calendars save and hang up each month’s painting after it has passed or give the image to a friend. The new calendar makes a great gift that may continue to bring pleasure well past 2023.

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happy sparrow birthday/ everyday/ baby card - so happy you were born (443)

$5.00

so happy you were born

A baby sparrow perches on the edge of a nest, stretching its wings and chirping with gusto in this endearing scene. Send this card for birthdays, new babies or simply to celebrate someone special to you.

The original collage was created from maps, book pages, letters, envelopes, leaf prints and Japanese washi papers. These were painted, torn and glued to form this image.

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love and friendship card of sweet peas - collage art (444)

$5.00

you make the world a lovelier place

Pink and purple sweet pea flowers grace this sweet card, which works for birthdays or everyday. The original collage was made with rice paper, washi paper, book pages, and vintage Japanese letters. The papers were painted, torn and glued to create this cheerful picture.

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My first collage show!

wind blowing upriver
one of the ripples
becomes an otter

“wind blowing upriver” depicts the Trinity River. It is 11x14, made from Japanese washi papers and book pages. These were painted, torn, and glued on a cradled birch panel, then embellished with charcoal and pencil.

Long, long ago, in February 2020, I flew to Tucson for an inspiring three-day workshop called “Wabi Sabi: The Spirit of Collage,” with artist Donna Watson.

Of course, the world shut down a month later—and as a result, my regular Makino Studios business dropped off significantly. I used the unexpected free time to pivot from the watercolor painting I had been doing for a decade to explore collage-making. (See A silver lining amid the pandemic.)

Fast forward two and a half years, and I am excited to present the first show of my new collage work, opening this Saturday, September 3!

Humboldt friends, I’d love to see you at the opening. It takes place at Just My Type in Old Town Eureka from 6 to 9 p.m. during Arts Alive. For those who can’t come in person, I will post my new work in my Makino Studios online gallery this Saturday for a virtual opening.

Called “Torn Together,” the show will feature thirty Asian-inspired collages, including several brand-new ones made during my two river retreats this summer. Northern California landscapes and animals are a major theme.

The pieces are made from painted and embellished paper that I then tear, glue and mount onto cradled birch panels. The papers, which start out white, include Japanese washi papers, old letters, book pages, and maps. On a nearby placard, an original haiku will accompany each piece.

Just My Type Letterpress Paperie is located at 235 F Street near 3rd Street in Old Town Eureka. Masks are strongly encouraged.

This solo show runs through September. It is made possible in part by a grant from the Ink People’s Funds for Artists’ Resilience.

The haiku “wind blowing upriver” was first published in Kingfisher, Issue 2, December 2020

Process shots: I paint and assemble potential papers, then tear and glue the pieces.

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Makino Studios News

North Country Fair: I am really looking forward to my first big fair since 2019! The North Country Fair takes place on the Arcata Plaza the weekend of Sept. 17-18 from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. The Makino Studios booth will once again be located on G Street near Moore’s Sleep World. I’ll have my brand-new 2023 mini-calendars and ten new card designs on hand! This is the only in-person fair I plan to do for the rest of this year.

2023 calendars: For the tenth year in a row, I have created a mini-calendar of art and haiku—and this might be my best yet! Featuring natural scenes and original words, the calendar is currently being printed and should be available on this site and in local stores in mid-September.

New card designs: There are also ten new card designs at the press, expected back in time for the North Country Fair and soon to be listed on the Makino Studios site.

Obon Festival: Humboldt’s first Obon Festival took place on Aug. 14, and it was a dynamic gathering of our community as well as a chance to honor our ancestors. Taiko drummers, bon odori dancing, bento boxes, games for kids and arts and crafts booths like mine—what fun! Many thanks to Humboldt Asian Pacific Islanders in Solidarity (HAPI) for organizing it.

Summer vacation for the mind

“cloud sun cloud,” which sold recently, is 8x10. It was created with painted book pages, washi papers and glue on birch wood. Art © Annette Makino 2021.

An earlier version of the haiku was published in Frogpond 36:1 (Winter 2013); reprinted in A VAST SKY: An Anthology of Contemporary World Haiku, edited by Bruce Ross, Koko Kato, Dietmar Tauchner and Patricia Prime, Tancho Press, 2015; and in Wishbone Moon (Women’s Haiku Anthology), edited by Roberta Beary, Ellen Compton, Kala Ramesh; Jacar Press; 2018.

Well, the news is certainly grim these days. Appalling Supreme Court rulings on abortion and climate change. Multiple mass shootings. The ongoing assault on democracy. The grinding war in Ukraine. The endless Covid pandemic (and please don’t talk to me about monkeypox, I can’t even).

But just for today, I’m going to set all that aside. Instead, I want to share some fun haiku on the general theme of summer travel. Here’s hoping this small dose of humor and lightness will help carry you through these dark days—a mini-vacation for the mind.

the cramped seats
in Economy
mini pretzels

Kingfisher Journal, Issue 2, December 2020

palm frond hut
all night the rooster
announcing dawn

Presence, Issue 68, December 2020

beginning Spanish
I practice staying
in the present

Kingfisher Journal, Issue 1, June 2020

desert flower
I try to pee
generously

Kingfisher Journal, Issue 1, June 2020

Grand Canyon our very small talk

Frogpond, Vol. 43:1, Winter 2020

white hill town
the herder shakes down cherries
for his goats

Presence, Issue 68, December 2020

Following is a rengay, a form of linked verse written together with Cynthia Anderson.

Western Wind

worn atlas
his finger travels
a new route

airing out
the musty suitcase

open road
the dog’s ears
streaming

western wind
the first whiff
of ocean

a row of sand dollars
on the front porch

rocking chair
his head nodding
with the waves

Annette Makino
Cynthia Anderson

Hedgerow, Issue 137, published Dec. 31, 2021

Despite all the madness, here’s wishing you a happy Fourth of July weekend and a fun and relaxing summer!

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Thanks Ukiah! I had a great time reading my poems at the ukiaHaiku Festival in May (shown above), and again as the featured reader for the Writers Read series at the Grace Hudson Museum last week. I appreciate everyone who turned out!

Makino Studios News

Merit Book Award: I am thrilled that Water and Stone: Ten Years of Art and Haiku has received Honorable Mention for Haiga in the Merit Book Awards sponsored by the Haiku Society of America! The commentary by judges Agnes Eva Savich and Bill Cooper was just published in Frogpond: “Perfectly painted pretty colors, poignant haiku, the best kind of storytelling haibun: this decade’s worth of the artist-poet’s work contains all the delights one could dream of from an inspiring haijin of our greater haiku family.” [NOTE: A haijin is someone who writes haiku.]

Art retreat: I will be on a creative retreat the week of July 9-16, writing haiku and making collages. So please get your orders in this coming week!

Solo show: The first-ever show of my collage art will take place at Just My Type in Old Town Eureka, CA in September, with an opening during Arts Alive! on Saturday, September 3. This show is made possible in part by an Artists’ Resilience Grant from The Ink People Center for the Arts.

Studio Space premieres tonight!

“the song of the creek” is 8x10, made of painted papers on birch wood panel. You may see me working on it in the “Women of Washi” episode of Studio Space, which airs tonight. The original collage went to a new home this past Sunday. 

With the highest per capita number of artists in California, Humboldt County is an exceptionally creative community. Our local PBS station, KEET-TV, has produced the second season of a fascinating series on Northern California artists called Studio Space. I’m thrilled to be one of the two featured artists in the episode that debuts tonight. 

The 28-minute segment, called "Women of Washi," profiles Lori Goodman and me working in our art studios and talking about our backgrounds, inspirations and processes. Humboldt folks, tune in to KEET at 7:30 Pacific time tonight, Thursday, May 5 for the world premiere.

People everywhere can also watch it online for free for the following three weeks. After that, it will go behind a paywall for non-KEET members. See Studio Space for all episodes, featuring a great diversity of artists, mediums and approaches.

Since Thursday is also Cinco de Mayo, our extended family is planning a viewing party with tacos and margaritas. I haven’t seen my episode yet. We’ll either celebrate my 14 minutes of fame or drown our sorrows if I bombed!

my Spanish starting to flow margaritas

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It was great fun to do my first public Makino Studios event since 2019. Many thanks to all who came out to the Pizza & Pottery Festival this past Sunday! 

Makino Studios News

Award for Water and Stone: The Haiku Society of America announced today that my book of art and haiku, Water and Stone, has won Honorable Mention in their Merit Book Awards! The book is sold online here, on Amazon and in local stores.

Artists’ Resilience Grant: The Ink People Center for the Arts has just awarded me a grant from their Funds for Artists’ Resilience. I’m very grateful for this pandemic-era support, made possible by the Humboldt Area Foundation and the Wild Rivers Foundation.

Solo Show in September: The grant will help me to create new work for a show of my collages, to be held at Just My Type in Eureka, California in September. Stay tuned for details!

ukiaHaiku Festival: I’ll give a brief presentation and reading at the 20th anniversary of this haiku festival in my hometown of Ukiah, CA. The event will include a dance performance, koto and shakuhachi music, and songs performed by the Haikukuleles! I’ll also have my books, prints and cards for sale. The ukiaHaiku Festival is free and takes place Sunday, May 15 at 2 p.m. at the Grace Hudson Museum. Attendees will have the chance to read up to three of their haiku.

Writers Read: On Thursday, June 23 at 7 p.m., I’ll be back at the Grace Hudson Museum in Ukiah as the featured reader in this long-running series, with a slide show of my haiga (haiku art) as well as a table of my art and haiku wares. Open mike follows.

New notecard sets: By popular demand, I’m offering boxed notecard sets again, including a new animal series as well as an updated landscape series.

A few cards suitable for graduation.

Prints to order: I’ve recently posted several of my designs on Fine Art America, where you can order them the size you want and even have them framed. If you’d like a print of a piece in my gallery that you don’t see on FAA, let me know so I can post it for you.

Graduation: Commencement for many schools is Saturday May 14 and others soon follow, so make sure you have cards for your grads! Yes, I’ve got some options, see left and shop all cards.

North Coast Open Studios: After a two-year pandemic hiatus, this event is taking place again June 4-5 and June 11-12 at artist studios around Humboldt County. I’m not officially part of it this year, but am always happy to give studio tours by appointment.

A handful of haiku for Haiku Poetry Day

“dogwood blossoms” is 8x10, made of painted washi and other papers glued onto cradled wood. © Annette Makino 2021

This Sunday is both Easter and International Haiku Poetry Day! To celebrate, I’m sharing a sampling of my published haiku and senryu (haiku’s wry, funny cousin).

Easter brunch
even the teen
is risen

Frogpond, 44.1, Winter 2021; String Theory: The Red Moon Anthology of English-Language Haiku 2021, Ed. Jim Kacian and the Red Moon Editorial Staff, 2022

Covid variant
another wave sucks the sand
from under our feet

Mariposa, #46, Spring/Summer 2022

seventy-one now
he chooses to leave
the candles burning

Modern Haiku, 53.1, Winter-Spring 2022

ponderosas
the soft thud of snow
landing on snow

The Heron’s Nest, 13.2, June 2021

a thousand-piece puzzle deeper into winter

The Heron’s Nest, 14.1, March 2022

again I fail
the robot test
winter solitude

The Heron’s Nest, 13.1, March 2021

writer’s block
the saw-whet owl’s
one-note tune

Modern Haiku, 51.1, Winter-Spring 2020

ninety-one—
she decides she’s done
reusing teabags

Kingfisher, Issue 1, June 2020

lifting fog
color seeps back
into the dunes

Modern Haiku, 51.2, Summer 2020

dogwood blossoms
the catch and release
of evening light

The Heron’s Nest, 12.4, December 2020

wind blowing upriver
one of the ripples
becomes an otter

Kingfisher, Issue 2, December 2020

all-day sunset
leaves coated in ash
from a distant forest 

Kingfisher, 4, November 2021

still waiting
to outgrow my freckles
silver oaks

Frogpond, 44.3, Autumn 2021

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Makino Studios News

Etsy strike: Along with more than 20,000 other Etsy vendors, I’ve put my Etsy shop on vacation mode to support the strike this week. Etsy recently announced it is raising seller fees by 30% while making record profits. I've had an Etsy shop since 2011, but over the years, the corporation has gotten greedier and less respectful of makers. As a result, I have greatly reduced my offerings there and sell most of my cards etc. on my main site here. You can support independent creators by boycotting Etsy thru Monday, April 18 and buying directly from Etsy sellers instead. Thank you! 

The episode featuring Lori B. Goodman and me, called “Women of Washi,” will debut Thursday, May 5 at 7:30 p.m. You can watch it online for free for the following three weeks via www.studiospace.tv.

Studio Space: I’m honored to be included among the 20 terrific Humboldt County artists featured on Season 2 of Studio Space, the popular series produced by our local PBS station, KEET-TV, which started on April 7. The episode featuring Lori B. Goodman and me, called “Women of Washi,” will debut Thursday, May 5 at 7:30 p.m. You can watch it online for free for the following three weeks, and then it goes behind a paywall for non-KEET members. See www.studiospace.tv for all episodes.

Pizza and Pottery: Join Peggy Loudon, Patrica Sennott, half a dozen other artists and me at a lovely May Day art fair on Sunday, May 1 from 11 to 5 at 135 Sunkist Lane, McKinleyville (park on Cummins Lane). Hosts Lauren and Mariah Sarabia are gourmet chefs who will offer wood-fired pizza and other goodies. Rain cancels.

ukiaHaiku Festival: I’ll give a brief presentation and reading at the 20th anniversary of this haiku festival in my hometown of Ukiah, CA. I’ll also have books, prints and cards for sale. This free event takes place Sunday, May 15 at 2 p.m. at the Grace Hudson Museum.

Writers Read: On Thursday, June 23 at 7 p.m., I’ll be back at the Grace Hudson Museum in Ukiah as the featured reader in this series, with a slide show of my haiga (haiku art) as well as a table of my art and haiku wares.

New notecard sets: By popular demand, I’m offering boxed notecard sets again, including a new animal series. I hope to have these back from the printer by the end of the month.

Prints to order: I’ve recently posted several of my designs on Fine Art America, where you can order them the size you want and even have them framed. If you’d like a print of a piece in my gallery that you don’t see on FAA, let me know so I can post it for you.

Mother’s Day is Sunday, May 8! Order these and other cards here.

Mother’s Day and graduation: Mother’s Day is Sunday, May 8 and many graduation ceremonies follow soon afterwards, so make sure you have your cards and gifts! I have a variety of cards for both occasions. And would your mom or grad appreciate a copy of Water and Stone: Ten Years of Art and Haiku, or a signed art print by a local artist?

North Coast Open Studios: After a two-year pandemic hiatus, this event is taking place again June 4-5 and June 11-12 at artist studios around Humboldt County. I’m not sure if I will be participating as an artist as I don’t have a great place to host the public, but let me know if you have any leads on potential spaces. This is a great opportunity to visit local artists!

Celebrating 11 years!

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 card with swimming salmon - collage card for grads etc. (430)

$5.00

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.

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funny birthday card of honeybees in a hive- watercolor art (424)

$5.00

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.

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funny rooster birthday card for kids and adults (432)

$5.00

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.

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sympathy card of bare trees and evening sky - watercolor with poem (427)

$5.00

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.

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Sunflowers for Ukraine

“shine on!” is 5x7, made with paper, acrylic paint and glue on illustration board. A card version is available here. © Annette Makino 2020

For the past week I’ve been consumed with the news of the war in Ukraine. In my past life in international development at Internews, I worked with Ukrainians committed to developing professional and independent media in their country. 

I have fond memories of a long-ago work trip to Kyiv: onion domes of Orthodox churches glittering golden in the sun. Children gazing at park statues honoring World War II soldiers. Vendors selling Ukrainian crafts and Soviet artifacts by the wide Dnieper River. The little shop where my Ukrainian colleague bought me a beautiful silk scarf I was admiring. It’s hard to imagine that whole world under attack right now. 

And yet it is truly inspiring to see how bravely Ukrainians of all stripes are responding to Putin's aggression. One viral video shows a woman offering sunflower seeds to a heavily armed Russian soldier, telling him, “Take these seeds and put them in your pockets so at least sunflowers will grow when you all lie down here.”

Kudos also to the courageous Russians who are resisting despite great personal risk. These include the 77-year old activist and survivor of the Siege of Leningrad, Yelena Osipova, who was detained by eight police officers for protesting in St. Petersburg. Even Russian children have been jailed for bringing flowers to the Ukrainian embassy.

It can be overwhelming to read about so much suffering, including the one million(!) Ukrainians so far who have been forced to leave their country. Here in my warm, comfortable house, I feel for all those who have fled their homes to spend days underground in subway stations. My heart also goes out to the young, ill-prepared Russian soldiers who were told they were going on training exercises, or that Ukrainians would welcome them with open arms.

I try to remind myself to just do what I can. I keep a quote by author Clarissa Pinkola Estés on my desktop: “Ours is not the task of fixing the entire world at once, but of stretching out to mend the part of the world that is within our reach.” 

refugee news
I rescue a spider
from the kitchen sink

Since the sunflower is Ukraine’s national flower, I’m joining other artists who are sharing sunflower art in solidarity with the people of Ukraine. To the Ukrainian people and to all who are resisting this brutal and senseless war, we see you and we salute you. Shine on!

(“refugee news” was first published in The Heron’s Nest, Volume XXIII, Number 4: December 2021)

Here’s hoping for brighter days ahead for Ukraine. (Photo: Annette Makino)

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Makino Studios News

New card designs: I’ve created several brand-new card designs and I’ve updated others with new words. Browse the whole collection, including Mother’s Day and graduation cards.

Sale on 2022 mini-calendars: My mini-calendars, featuring 12 colorful Asian-inspired collages with my original haiku, are now on sale for $9.99 (from $12.00).

Free shipping: I offer free first-class shipping on US retail orders of $35 or more. Use code FREESHIP35 at checkout.