creativity

Solving the puzzle

“baby sparrow” is 11x14, made from paper, acrylic paint, pencil, charcoal and glue on birch panel. It is one of two pieces now showing at the Medium Gallery in Ukiah, CA. The image is also available as a card reading, “so happy you were born.” © Annette Makino 2022

First of all, Happy Fourth of July! To celebrate, I’m offering 20% off everything in my Makino Studios shop (except original art) on orders of $20 or more. Just use code 4JULY at checkout before midnight this Sunday.

In the months since I last wrote, I’ve spent a lot of time caregiving for my 96-year-old mother. I’ve also been been traveling—I spent most of April exploring and hiking through the gorgeous, otherworldly Southwestern US (see pics on my Insta and Facebook, links below).

red rock canyon
just a matter
of time

But my main activity of the past few months has been making art. While some artists can create under any conditions, I need everything to be just so to feel ready to work. A cluttered art studio and too many urgent items on my to-do list are creative turnoffs: I need a clean space and a clear mind. Since my artistic urge is such a fragile flower, I try to nurture it whenever it blooms.

After a creative dry spell of several months, conditions have been right for a very productive artistic streak. At the moment I have eleven new collages waiting to be scanned and combined with haiku. With several more ideas percolating, there should be plenty of pieces to choose from for my 2025 calendar of art and haiku. Many of these pieces will also become cards once I figure out the words. I’m excited to share the new work with you this fall!

Sometimes while struggling with a piece, I wonder why I bother making collages. They can take as much time or more as regular paintings. So why bother fiddling with little bits of colored paper to make an image that I could just as easily paint, with more realistic results?

Well, after a decade of making fairly representational paintings in Japanese watercolors and sumi ink, I felt I had come to the end of that approach. My 2021 book, Water and Stone, was the culmination of that ten-year period. Though several notches short of mastery, I had reached a level of ability where there was not enough of a challenge left to interest me. Even though it can be uncomfortable or scary to try something new, I enjoy being stretched.

baby sparrow
the thin line between
falling and flying

I also love solving puzzles. For a couple of years I was hooked on playing the Scrabble-like game Words With Friends on my phone, absurdly spending up to an hour to find the highest-scoring word for each turn. Some years earlier, while staying in a Swiss village with my family, I got so addicted to completing a jigsaw puzzle that I missed out on a magical, snowy New Year’s Eve walk—as my husband keeps reminding me.

a thousand-piece puzzle deeper into winter

Alas, I was denied the satisfaction of finishing that puzzle: the last piece was missing.

thrift store puzzle
the holes
you can never fill

I recently realized that I enjoy making collages because it’s a continuous process of solving puzzles. The challenge: using only torn bits of paper, how can I create the picture I have in my mind? Which collage papers from my stash best represent the colors, textures and sizes I need to create that image? Sure, I can paint papers specifically for a particular need, but that is time-consuming and messy—I much prefer to hunt for the right piece from the collection of papers I’ve already painted.

Process shot of the golden retriever piece.

A couple of weeks ago I was working on a scene of a golden retriever at the beach. I leafed through my collection of painted blue papers for a way to represent the waves. Aha! A sheet printed with slate blue paint in a lively texture obtained by wrinkling tin foil and then rolling paint over it. And a bit of lacy white rice paper that could serve as the foamy edge of the wave. Oh, and for the dog’s chest, a deep gold piece of a map with Arabic place names that could imply long, wavy fur. Puzzle pieces falling into place. And the collage takes form.

rustling paper
          becomes wings
                    becomes wind

I’m looking forward to lots more puzzling ahead as I figure out how to make my collages come alive. Here’s wishing you a fun July 4th weekend and a fulfilling summer!

Makino Studios News

Fourth of July sale: Cards, notecard sets, prints, books and more—take 20% off site-wide through this Sunday at midnight on orders of $20 and up! Enter code 4JULY at checkout. Offer excludes original art.

Paper, Paste, and Pulp: I have two collages in this show at Medium Gallery in Ukiah, CA. The opening is during First Friday tomorrow, July 5, from 5 to 8 p.m. and the show runs until July 27. The gallery is in the Pear Tree Shopping Center near Bank of America. I can’t attend the show but if you happen to make it, please send pics!

Anywhere But Here: I’ll also be represented in the Medium Gallery’s August show, with reflections on time and place, longing, wanderlust and exploration. The opening is during First Friday on August 2 from 5 to 8 p.m. and the show runs until August 31.

Made in America II: A Humboldt Celebration of Asian Artists: The Humboldt Arts Council has accepted a proposal for a show by thirteen Humboldt County artists of Asian descent, to be held at the Morris Graves Museum of Art in May 2025. I’m honored to be part of the group and plan to organize an accompanying poetry reading and haiga slide show.

Away on retreat: I will be on creative retreat at the Klamath River for the week of July 13-20, making collages and writing haiku. Makino Studios orders will be shipped out on my return.

Obon Festival: The annual Humboldt Obon festival takes place in Arcata, CA on Sunday, August 11 from 4-8 pm. This traditional Japanese festival, which remembers and honors our ancestors, will be held on 9th Street in front of the Arcata Playhouse. Organized by Humboldt Asian Pacific Islanders (HAPI), this is a fun, family-friendly community event. I don’t plan to have a booth there this year but it’s always a good time!

Publication credits: “baby sparrow” - The Heron’s Nest; A New Resonance 13: Emerging Voices in English-Language Haiku; 2023 calendar of art and haiku by Annette Makino

“red rock canyon” and “a thousand-piece puzzle” - The Heron’s Nest

“thrift store puzzle” - Modern Haiku

“rustling paper” - Kingfisher

Joy, art and healing

“first rain” is 11 x 14, made of paper, acrylic paint, and adhesive on paper. It appears in my 2022 calendar. © Annette Makino 2021.

It’s always a bit awkward having an event online. It’s not just that someone invariably forgets to mute; it’s also just plain weird to have a conversation with people you can only see in their little Zoom boxes.

flossing only
my front teeth
Zoom meeting

But this deep into the pandemic, Zooming has become more routine—and it does allow for some interesting opportunities we wouldn’t otherwise have.

A couple of weeks ago, I was part of an online panel with four other artists and writers on the theme of joy, art and healing. The rich and wide-ranging conversation centered on the experience of being an artist in this particular time.

Right now our world is dealing with climate change, a pandemic, and assaults on democracy, to name just a few threats. We explored whether it’s frivolous or self-indulgent to spend time making art when our world is so broken. 

Is it the highest and best use of our time to hole up in our studios? Should we instead devote ourselves to political organizing or marching in the streets?

A couple of the panelists shared ways they have harnessed their art for good causes. For instance, letterpress artist Jenn Graves donated sales of a print reading “love is a verb” to support young people as they age out of foster care.

More broadly, we discussed how making art is one way of mending the world. As artist Lisa Occhipinti put it, “Art heals us and enables us to give joy.” 

Author Lori Snyder said, “At its best, art is a bridge to all of our humanity.” She noted how creations that feel unique to us can have universal meaning for other people. 

I shared that my younger self thought that the best way to create social change was to work directly on issues, preferably on a global scale. But I’ve since come to believe that we artists can create more profound change at an individual level, when we’re in our truth and sharing our authentic selves. 

I keep this quote by Clarissa Pinkola Estés on my computer 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.”

I called both of my senators yesterday morning and I regularly donate to political and environmental groups. But I believe the part of the world I can best mend is the part I can touch with my art. 

Someday I hope to meet my fellow panelists out of their Zoom boxes, in 3-D! In the mean time, I’m grateful to them for affirming that, despite my occasional bouts of guilt and doubt, art can be a path to joy and healing for both the artist and the viewer. 

art studio
a full day’s work
under my nails

P.S. This panel was part of “Joy, Art & Healing,” a series of seven conversation organized by Lori Snyder and the Writers Happiness Movement in celebration of Lori’s new book, The Circus at the End of the Sea. You can watch the whole discussion here.

An earlier version of “first rain” was first published in Windfall: 2013 Seabeck Haiku Getaway Anthology

“flossing only” was first published in Paper Mountains: 2020 Seabeck Haiku Getaway Anthology

“art studio” was first published in The Heron’s Nest, Volume XXII, Number 2, June 2021

Single cards, notecard sets, signed prints, calendars and books are all available on this site.

Makino Studios News

New cards: I’ve created eight new and updated cards for birthdays, sympathy, support and every day! I also offer notecards sets for the holidays or every day.

2022 mini-calendar: My new calendars of art and haiku are available on this site and at select stores in Humboldt County, California. They feature 12 colorful Asian-inspired collages with my original haiku, which you can see at the top of my collage gallery. At $12 each, these make great holiday gifts. 

Water and Stone: My book of art and haiku, Water and Stone, makes a lovely present! It includes 50 watercolor paintings with my original poems, plus 15 haibun (short prose pieces combined with haiku). Cost is $24.99. You can find it online here, on Amazon and in select local Humboldt stores. 

Made in Humboldt fair: You’ll be able to find my calendars, prints and boxed notecards at the “Made in Humboldt” event at Pierson Garden Shop in Eureka, CA from Tuesday, Nov. 9 through Friday, Dec. 24. This will be the only fair where you can find my work this season. 

Seabeck Haiku Getaway: I will be presenting a slide show of my art and haiku (haiga) plus a hands-on haiga workshop at the Seabeck Haiku Getaway taking place in Seabeck, WA Oct. 27-31. (Haiku poets, there are still a few spots left!)

Traveling: In related news, I will be traveling and unable to fill orders Oct. 26-Nov. 4, so please get any Makino Studios orders in by Monday.

Pomp and extreme circumstances

After five years, five majors, and three schools, my daughter Maya graduated from college this month. Of course a normal commencement ceremony was out of the question in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic. So we had to get creative. Luckily, artists are good at thinking outside the box!

From the ashes

From the ashes

Last fall’s Kincade Fire was the worst of California’s 2019 wildfires. The school where my sister teaches was closed for three weeks. When it finally reopened in November, Yoshi had an idea: to have her art students harvest charcoal from the burned logs on the school grounds, and use it to draw a mural of phoenixes.

Creativity is catching

Creativity is catching

My husband and I recently joined a small community choir. We knew the choir would be singing a few songs as part of a holiday play, but didn’t fully grasp what a commitment it was: 36 hours of rehearsals and performances last week, with two more shows to go! 

The seeds of inspiration

“the stories waiting inside” is 11×14, painted with sumi ink and Japanese watercolors on paper. It is available as a greeting card reading, “in redwood years, you’re still a seedling—happy birthday!” © Annette Makino 2017

“the stories waiting inside” is 11×14, painted with sumi ink and Japanese watercolors on paper. It is available as a greeting card reading, “in redwood years, you’re still a seedling—happy birthday!” © Annette Makino 2017

People often ask me where I get my inspiration. I tell them that for writing haiku, it could be literally anything I experience. For instance, getting out of jury duty and going from the courthouse to the beach:

sprung
from jury duty
the wind in my hair

But for paintings, 90% of my ideas come from one place: nature. Whether hiking through sand dunes or exploring Arcata’s marsh and bird sanctuary, I find that spending time out in nature is a wellspring of creative ideas.

My family and I are wrapping up a summer of wilderness adventures. Hiking in the King Range along the Lost Coast, we stumbled on a colony of elephant seals, the males bellowing and grappling like sumo wrestlers.

We rented double kayaks and paddled around two islands on Humboldt Bay, slipping past harbor seals, herons and pelicans, and gaining a whole new perspective on our local geography.

In Prairie Creek State Park, we trekked through lush old-growth redwood forest, passing a lovely little waterfall and sword ferns growing taller than my head. It was a nine-mile hike in which we climbed the equivalent of 73 floors. (Undaunted, our 16-year old son Gabriel asked to be dropped off at tennis class on the drive back so he could play for a couple of hours!)

the stories
waiting inside
redwood seedling

“river flow – Klamath” is 11×14, painted with sumi ink and Japanese watercolors on paper. It is available as a greeting card reading, “what a joy to know you—happy birthday!” © Annette Makino 2017

“river flow – Klamath” is 11×14, painted with sumi ink and Japanese watercolors on paper. It is available as a greeting card reading, “what a joy to know you—happy birthday!” © Annette Makino 2017

And this past weekend, the smoke from wildfires cleared just in time for us to get in one last, delicious weekend of swimming and sunning on the Klamath River, where we have gone every summer for the past twenty-one years.

river flow
returning us
to ourselves

Many of these experiences have given rise to art. Working from photos taken on my iPhone, I paint the beautiful places we’ve visited, which allows me to experience them all over again.

As for poetic inspiration, although I’m safe from jury duty for another year, there are always events large and small to inspire haiku. Even a mate's choice of bedtime reading!

War and Peace
a hundred pages in
he surrenders

Makino Studios News

North Country Fair: Celebrate the fall equinox at the 44th annual North Country Fair in Arcata the weekend of Sept. 16-17! This festive event features 170 booths, live entertainment on three stages, and two parades. I’ll have my newest cards and calendars at the Makino Studios booth on G Street near 9th.

2018 calendars: For the fifth year in a row, I’ve designed a mini-calendar of art and haiku. This year’s features landscapes, dogs, cats and flowers. It is now available online and is coming to stores soon. These make great holiday gifts!

New haiga: I’ve posted several new haiga (art that includes haiku) in the Makino Studios online gallery. Many of these appear in the new calendar.

Newest cards: Check out my latest card designs in the MakinoStudios Etsy shop. You can choose any six designs for $19.99 plus tax and shipping

Sociable: I am now on on Instagram as annettemakino. You can also get news, fresh art and haiku on my Makino Studios Facebook page and my Twitter feed.

Connecting: I so appreciate whenever someone takes the time to respond to these posts, and I read and answer every message.

“War and Peace” published in Frogpond, Issue 40.2, Spring-Summer 2017.