Lucky 13

“fields of lupine” is 8x10, made with acrylic paint, washi paper, part of a map, colored pencils and glue on cradled wood. It is part of the 2024 Makino Studios calendar. A card version reads, “love you, mama bear.” © Annette Makino 2023

Today is the 13th anniversary of Makino Studios! A huge thank you to all the customers, store buyers and fans who have made this art business possible for a lucky thirteen years. To celebrate, I’m offering 13% off everything in the store though this Sunday with code 13YEARS.

And tomorrow marks the official return of spring! Here in Northern California, it’s been a very dark and soggy winter, which has inspired many a haiku about the relentless rain.

cold winter rain
the swollen creek also
rushing home

At times it seemed even the wildlife was complaining about the weather.

wild geese
kvetching across the sky
March bluster

Over the winter, algae colonized the outside of my Prius while mold made itself comfortable inside. Those were solvable problems, but in far worse news, a mysterious leak completely destroyed the electrical system in my husband’s eight-year-old RAV4. So far his car has spent six weeks at the repair shop; it seems the insurance company is going to call it a total loss. Perhaps these were signs to just sit out the winter at home by the fire . . .

Starting work on the collage above.

Pale and moldy ourselves, we’ve been grasping at every hint of spring—the first trillium blooming along the creek, the earliest cherry blossoms unfurling along our road. These past few days we’ve reveled in the precious sunshine, gardening and taking walks.

I used colored pencils to add subtle light and dark accents to the bears.

My husband, son and I did a favorite hike last week, the Lyons Ranch loop in Redwood National Park. A couple of springs back, we saw a black bear cub from that trail, prompting a long, nervous pause as we tried to spot the mother. (She was nowhere to be seen, and we continued without incident.) The collage and haiku featured here came out of that experience.

Here’s hoping you survived the long winter better than our cars did. Happy spring equinox!

fields of lupine
against all odds
spring again

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Almost done, just considering different purple papers for the lupines.

Makino Studios News

Anniversary sale: Take 13% off everything in the Makino Studios shop through midnight on Sunday, March 24. Enter promo code 13YEARS at checkout.

New! Custom prints: By customer request, I've made some designs available in my shop as prints in several sizes that you can order on demand. If there’s a piece you’d like to order that you don’t see there, let me know.

Vacation plans: I will be taking a break and not filling orders April 5-26. Sorry for any inconvenience. Stock up now!

Mother’s Day and graduation: I’ve printed cards for Mother’s Day (May 12) and graduation (Cal Poly Humboldt commencement is May 11). Browse all 70-some card designs and notecard sets.

Social: I’ve mostly given up on Twitter/X (at least until it gets a less toxic owner), but I regularly post art, haiku, news and more on Instagram as @annettemakino and on Facebook as Makino Studios (links below). See you over there!

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Haiku credits: “cold winter rain” - tinywords; “wild geese” - The Heron’s Nest; “fields of lupine” - 2024 in art and haiku by Annette Makino

Taylor Swift and the Trope of the Tortured Poet

“dawn’s early light” is 8x10, made from Japanese washi papers, metallic gold paper, book pages, paint and glue on cradled wood panel. It is the February art for my 2024 calendar. A card version reads, “you light up the room.” © Annette Makino 2023

I must admit I ignored Taylor Swift for years, thinking a pop star with such mainstream popularity, a pretty blonde beloved by teenage girls, would not be my cup of tea. But with the 2020 release of her folk-pop album Folklore, I took another listen—and became a fan. I belatedly discovered she is a gifted songwriter who writes original and interesting lyrics.

As you’ve probably heard, Swift has announced a new album called The Tortured Poets Department, to be released April 19. So does Swift consider herself a tortured poet? As evidence, there is a hand-written poem she recently posted to Instagram that includes lines like “my muses, acquired like bruises” and “my veins of pitch black ink.” Another subtle clue: it’s signed “The Chairman of the Tortured Poets Department.”

And yes, her lyrics often convey suffering. In “All Too Well” she sings, “you call me up again/Just to break me like a promise/So casually cruel in the name of being honest.” And on “Cardigan” she sings, “You drew stars around my scars/But now I’m bleeding.”

But the pain she describes is just one element of her persona; other songs talk about falling in love or tell colorful stories about fictional characters. I suspect Swift’s use of the “tortured poets” label is at least partly tongue-in-cheek, offered with her trademark combination of confession and self-deprecating humor. I guess we Swifties will just have to wait until April 19 for further clarity on this burning issue!

Meanwhile, the album title raises the question: do poets need to be tortured to write good poetry? The poster child for this stereotype is Sylvia Plath, a brilliant poet of pain and despair who took her own life at age 30. For awhile I found that my darker haiku had higher acceptance rates than my neutral or upbeat poems—proof that such poems are inherently stronger or more compelling? (See my anonymous 2013 letter on this question to the Haiku Maven advice column.) But of course, one can write about hard times from a place of acceptance rather than agony.

Despite the trope of the tortured poet—a corollary to the trope of the starving artist—there are plenty of life-affirming poets. Consider Mary Oliver’s lines, “When it’s over, I want to say: all my life/I was a bride married to amazement.” Maybe it comes from spending a lot of time in nature and learning to notice small details, but haiku poets in particular really seem to appreciate life’s gifts.

“scattered feathers” is 5x7, made of watercolor paper, an airmail envelope, washi paper, a vintage Janaese stamp, feathers, paint, thread, ink and glue on paper. © Annette Makino 2021

Tortured or not, I think the most effective poems come from being present and attuned to the world around you. You don’t necessarily have to suffer to write good poetry, but you do need access to depths of feeling and the gift of observation. This helps you write poetry that is accessible, involving some experience readers can relate to even if they have never gone through that exact event. An example:

dawn’s early light
the neighbor’s peacock
tunes up

Poetry—and I include Taylor Swift’s lyrics in that category—helps us make sense of this shifting world, the major triumphs and tortures along with the small moments that, strung together, make up our lives.

scattered feathers
the weight
of being human

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Makino Studios News

Red Moon Anthology: I am thrilled to have the following poem in Upside Down, the 2023 anthology from Red Moon Press of the best English-language haiku of the year. Editors nominated more than 3000 poems for the latest edition, and I’m honored that mine was one of the 146 haiku that made the cut. My thanks to the anthology editors.

alone at the beach
someone else’s dog
brings me a stick

Mother’s Day and graduation: I’ve stocked up on these cards for Mother’s Day (May 12) and graduation (Cal Poly Humboldt commencement is May 11). Browse all 70-odd card designs.

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Publication credits:
“dawn’s early light” - Mariposa; “scattered feathers” - Modern Haiku.

The reality of the artist life

“dream journal” is 8x10, made from book pages, newsprint, junk mail, vintage Japanese letters, washi papers, acrylic paint, glue, charcoal and white ink on cradled wood. It is also available as a card reading, “happy birthday to an extraordinary being.”

When you picture the life of a working artist, do you imagine days filled with sketching ideas or brushing canvasses in a paint-splattered studio? Maybe mixing buckets of paint and experimenting with colors and textures? That was certainly my impression before I became a full-time artist myself!

That picture may be true for some artists, but for me the reality is that actually creating art is just a small part of my work. You might say it's just one arm of the octopus. To give you some idea, here are a few things I’ve been doing these past few days.

• preparing a Zoom presentation and workshop on creating haiga (art with haiku) for a haiku group this Saturday afternoon (and you’re invited! Details in the Makino Studios News section);

• co-editing a conference anthology for the Seabeck Haiku Getaway I attended in October;

• updating my CV and submitting materials for a proposed show of local Asian American artists;

• shipping Makino Studios orders (especially 2024 calendars) and restocking stores (especially cards); and

• working on year-end accounting and tax prep for my business.

Oh, and I wrote several haiku. (As per usual, they are mostly bad, though I think there are a couple with potential.) I also went on several long walks at the beach, woods and marsh, which ultimately inspires most of my art and haiku.

While I sometimes feel frustrated that I don’t have more time in my studio, the reality is that most of these other activities are enjoyable too. For instance, I’m learning a lot about the editorial process by co-editing a publication for the first time. But I definitely do not enjoy bookkeeping!

year-end accounting
I try to reconcile
the past

The truth is that while most of my other commitments are ongoing throughout the year, I tend to create art in concentrated bursts, especially during my summer retreats on the river. My collage papers are just gathering dust right now, but the time will come when I dive back in to art making, tearing paper and splattering paint with gusto!

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I did dip into art-making when my two sisters visited recently. We had fun creating plant prints using leaves and grasses on a gel press, which I will use in future collages. (Photo: Yoshi Makino)

Makino Studios News

Haiga presentation/workshop: In this Zoom event for Komo Kulshan Haiku, a group based in the Pacific Northwest, I will present a selection of my haiga (art with haiku), talk about how to create haiga, and then lead a workshop on pairing haiku with images. You are invited to join this free meeting, which takes place this Saturday, January 20, 1-3 p.m. Pacific. Zoom link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89424637034

2024 mini-calendars: I still have some of these calendars of art and haiku for sale, which feature 12 colorful Asian-inspired collages with original haiku.

Valentine’s day cards: February 14 will be here before you know it! I have several cards suitable for Valentine’s Day, such as this collage design reading, “you are my heart’s delight.”

Free shipping: Use promo code FREESHIP35 for free shipping on any order of $35 or more.

From the archives: For more about the challenges of being an artist—and my 23 failed attempts to paint a simple frog—see my 2013 blog post, “The truth about being an artist.”

Thanks: I always appreciate your comments, especially the kind responses to the feature article, “Annette Makino’s life in collage” that ran in the North Coast Journal last month.

A few gel press prints made with plants, which I’ll use for collages.