Glimmers in the dark

“touch of frost” is an 11x14 mixed media collage made with paper and paint on cradled wood. This is part of my 2026 calendar. A version of boxed holiday notecards reads “joy to the world.” © Annette Makino 2025

I must admit, these short, dark days are hard to take. Being more of a night owl, I miss part of the limited daylight we get in the mornings, then feel shocked and cheated when twilight approaches before 5 p.m. So unfair! 

How to cope? I try to appreciate merino wool sweaters, flannel sheets, and our wood-burning stove. And ignore the fact that spring is still months away—in fact, it’s not even officially winter yet! Still, it’s cold, dark and damp, and I struggle.

otter dusk
what’s left of the light
slips downstream

But it turns out that the worst is already behind us: yesterday saw the earliest sunset of the year here, at 4:48 p.m. From today on, the days will feel longer even though the winter solstice is not until December 21. So hurray for the return of the light!

I’m finding that the best way to make my way through this hard-to-love season is to look for glimmers of joy. Last Thursday my husband, son and I went tide pooling during a ridiculously beautiful sunset (see below), which we would have missed had the sun set after dinner. 

Sunset at Houda Point in Trinidad, CA, during a minus tide. December 2025.  Photo: Annette Makino

a cormorant air-dries its wings

         sea-washed stones

Saturday night we took part in Arts Alive, a monthly cornucopia of local art and music during which Paul and I  got to join our old choir for a few songs. Sunday we watched a fun play featuring an evil sock puppet orc who sings a hilarious but poignant solo. On Monday morning I taught a haiku workshop to a class of surprisingly engaged high school sophomores who impressed me with their creativity.

Holiday season brings the special pleasures of gathering with family, friends and community. This coming weekend, I’m looking forward to having a Makino Studios booth at the Arcata Holiday Craft Fair. As my only in-person event this season, this is a rare chance to meet face-to-face with my customers and to hear their stories. That is a key part of what keeps me going in my art biz.

However winter hits you, here’s wishing you bright glimmers to celebrate in this dark season. Happy holidays!

touch of frost
the dog smiling
from nose to tail

warmly, Annette Makino

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Happy merry holidays!

Makino Studios News

Free shipping: Use promo code HOLIDAY2025 at checkout for free shipping on all Makino Studios orders, no minimum. Good for first-class shipping within the U.S. One promo code per order. Promotion ends at midnight this Sunday, Dec. 14, 2025.

2026 mini-calendars: Small calendars of art and haiku make great holiday gifts! They feature 12 colorful Asian-inspired collages with my original haiku. $12 each.

Cards: Holiday, birthday, sympathy or everyday  . . . right now there are around 80 Makino Studios card designs to choose from. I also have notecard sets, including holiday designs.

Water and Stone: My award-winning book of art and haiku includes 50 watercolor paintings with my original poems. Cost is $25. I will sign them on request—just send me an email after you order. 

Holiday shipping: The US Postal Service advises that to ensure that packages arrive by Dec. 25, they should be shipped by Dec. 17.

Arcata Holiday Craft Market: Featuring food, music, and local vendors, this festive fair takes place 10 to 5 on Saturday, Dec. 13 and 10 to 4 on Sunday, Dec. 14 at the Arcata Community Center in Arcata, CA. Look for the Makino Studios booth on the lefthand side of the main room. This will be my only in-person event this season. Admission is a $2 donation benefiting the Youth Development Scholarship Fund.

Made in Humboldt fair: The “Made in Humboldt” event at Pierson Garden Shop in Eureka, CA runs through Dec. 24. There are more some 300 local vendors; Makino Studios items include my 2026 calendars, books, prints and boxed notecards.

CREDITS: “otter dusk” - Acorn, Fall 2025; “a cormorant” - Nowhere Else: Haiku North America 2025 Anthology, Eds. Michael Dylan Welch and Chuck Brickley, Press Here, 2025; “touch of frost” - 2026 in Art and Haiku, Annette Makino, 2025

On grateful wings

This mixed media collage, “evening rays,” is 11×14, made with acrylic paint, paper, pen and glue on cradled wood. © Annette Makino 2025

Happy Thanksgiving! Isn’t is amazing that we have a whole holiday dedicated to gratitude? (With a side of cranberry sauce.) There’s so much I’m grateful for, but a key element is the sense of purpose I gain from my Makino Studios work. It turns out that being an artist and poet doesn’t bring in the big bucks—who knew?! But unlike hedge fund managers, I get to regularly hear from people how much my offerings touch them.

This weekend a friend told me that one of my cards was perfect for a difficult situation: her brother is in his last weeks in hospice. Another wrote that she was so moved by a poem that she sent it on to family and friends. And there are hundreds of people who make a point of giving my haiku calendar to friends, family, book club members, caregivers and coworkers every year. It means so much to have that impact as an artist and poet. Your support helps my dreams take wing, so thank you all!

Today I’m sharing my process for the mixed media collage of a blue heron shown above. This haiga (art + haiku) appears in my 2026 mini-calendar, with a poem inspired by a late afternoon on the Klamath River:

evening rays
the driftwood stick
spreads its wings

There is a card version reading “may your dreams take wing.” Enjoy this season of gratitude!

I rolled blue paint on my gel press, created texture with a stiff, dry paintbrush, then placed and smoothed a sheet of rice paper on top.

One of my reference images for the art helped guide my choices of colors and shapes.

NEW! blue heron art card for graduations, birthdays and life changes (473)

$5.00

I needed to make collage papers that could work for the heron wings. I painted the water right on the wood panel with blue, black and silver acrylics.

My studio in process as I decided which papers to use.

Considering where to place the heron—and soon realizing it looked way too chubby!

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Makino Studios News

Thanksgiving sale: Use promo code THANKS25 at checkout for 15% off everything in the Makino Studios shop except original art. Good for first-class shipping within the U.S. One promo code per order. Sale ends at midnight this Sunday, Nov. 30, 2025.

Arcata Holiday Craft Market: Featuring food, music, and local vendors, this festive fair takes place 10 to 5 on Saturday, Dec. 13 and 10 to 4 Sunday, Dec. 14 at the Arcata Community Center in Arcata, CA. Look for the Makino Studios booth on the lefthand side of the main room. This will be my only in-person event this season. Admission is a $2 donation benefiting the Youth Development Scholarship Fund.

Made in Humboldt fair: The “Made in Humboldt” event at Pierson Garden Shop in Eureka, CA runs through Dec. 24. There are 250 local vendors; Makino Studios items include my 2026 calendars, books, prints and boxed notecards.

2026 mini-calendars: Small 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, and I will sign it on request—just send me an email after you order. 

Cards: Holiday, birthday, sympathy or everyday… right now there are more than 80 Makino Studios card designs to choose from. I also have ten different notecard sets, including several holiday designs.

Art prints: Blake’s Books in McKinleyville, CA carries 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: The US Postal Service advises that to ensure that packages arrive by Dec. 25, they should be shipped by Dec. 17.

Thanks: I appreciate all the responses on my last post, “Three Wayfarers in Japan,” and love it when someone takes the time to write. I read and answer every message. You can read past posts on my blog.

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Credit: The haiku “evening rays” was first published in Bee Here Now: The Haiku Foundation Volunteer Anthology 2024

Three wayfarers in Japan

The trail to Jizogura shrine (shown left) outside Hijiori Onsen village in the Tohoku region of Japan.

Paul, Annette and Gabriel in Tohoku, Japan, October 2025

Konnichiwa! I’m back from a wonderful 18 days in Japan with my husband Paul and son Gabriel. On this, my fifth trip there, we toured Tokyo boulevards, mountain trails, rice paddies, rural villages and temples.

sacred shrine
worshippers raise
their selfie sticks

Paul has been studying Japanese intensively and was able to have brief exchanges and read some signs, which was very helpful. The Google Maps and Google Translate apps were also key companions.

We traveled by subway, bus, bullet train, boat and on foot, walking up to ten miles a day even when we weren’t hiking.

rice paddies blurring into the past bullet train

Annette sitting at the feet of the master, 17th century haiku poet Matsuo Basho, at Motsuji Temple, Hiraizumi.

The focus of the trip was a six-day self-guided walking tour in the northern region of Tohoku following the route that haiku poet Matsuo Basho took over five months in 1689. That resulted in his classic haiku-laced travelogue, Oku-no-hosomichi, or Narrow Road to the Deep North. Basho is considered Japan’s greatest poet, and it was moving to visit places that he wrote about almost 350 years ago and to see the many statues and monuments commemorating him.

Paul warns bears of our presence on the trail.

Some trails had clappers and at one trailhead, our driver set off firecrackers to warn away bears before we started our hike. Being used to California’s shy black bears, we weren’t terribly worried, but after our walking tour we learned that since April of this year, bears have killed 12 people in Japan and injured more than one hundred! Luckily, we didn’t encounter any bears nor any evil wild monkeys.

At one of our inns, a dish was grilled at the table on magnolia leaves.

Our tour company, Walk Japan, reserved traditional Japanese inns for us which each had on-site onsen, or hot springs—a real treat after hiking for miles over mountain passes or trudging up a thousand temple stairs. These inns served amazing breakfasts and dinners of 12 to 18 courses each, exquisitely presented on various types of pottery or lacquerware. Most of it was delicious, if sometimes mysterious. But I drew the line at tasting the raw horse meat on one sashimi platter!

Amida Buddha in Kamakura, completed in 1252.

We spent a total of six days in Tokyo, where we got to see my Japanese relatives. There we also caught the women’s qualifying rounds for the Tokyo Open, especially fun for Gabriel, a tennis player and coach. We took a day trip to see the Great Buddha of Kamakura, which has appeared in Paul’s dreams, reaching the massive, serene sculpture via a hike past five temples.

The iconic two-legged stone lantern at Kenroku-en in Kanazawa.

For four nights we based ourselves in Nagano, in the Japan Alps. We made a day trip to Kanazawa to see one of the most famous gardens in Japan, peaceful Kenroku-en, and to explore the evocative old samurai neighborhood. Wandering through rainy alleys that evening, we stumbled into a restaurant where we were ushered into a private tatami room. There, servers in kimonos brought us gorgeous platters of sashimi and sushi followed by dessert decorated with gold leaf—our favorite meal of the trip.

A special dinner in a private tatami room in Kanazawa.

sushi bar
through fish tank glass
they watch us feeding

We also traveled to the charming town of Obuse one day to visit the Hokusai Museum, which showed the intricate step-by-step process for printing his famous woodblock print, “The Great Wave of Kanagawa.” I was humbled to learn that Hokusai created more than 30,000 artworks in his lifetime!

We took a boat ride around Matsushima Bay, which Basho found so beautiful that he couldn't write a single haiku about it.

I could go on and on, but I’ll let my photos do the talking. This trip was covered by Makino Studios, so a deep bow of gratitude to all who have supported my art business. And thanks for your patience with orders while I was traveling; I’m all caught up on shipments and store deliveries, so feel free to order now (free shipping through Sunday). And thanks for coming along on this trip to Japan! As Basho wrote, “every day is a journey, and the journey itself is home.”

warmly, Annette

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Makino Studios News

Free shipping this weekend: I’m offering free shipping on everything in the shop, no minimum order, through midnight this Sunday with code JAPAN2025.

2026 calendars: These mini-calendars of art and haiku are now for sale in most of my local stores and available here for $12. They make great gifts!

New cards and notecards: You can browse all new and ongoing designs here. Some of the newest designs are already almost sold out, but more are coming in a couple of weeks.

Made in Humboldt Fair: The holiday market at Pierson Garden Shop in Eureka, CA starts this Monday, Nov. 12 and runs through Dec. 24. It includes more than 250 local vendors. You can find my calendars, notecard sets, books and prints there.

Arcata Holiday Craft Market: Featuring food, music, and local vendors, this festive fair takes place Dec. 13-14 at the Arcata Community Center in Arcata, CA. Look for the Makino Studios booth on the lefthand side of the main room. This will be my only in-person event this season.

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Torii gates lead to Sasuke Inari Shrine in Kamakura.

Haiku credits:

“rice paddies” - Last Train Home: tanka, haiku, rengay; Ed. Jacqueline Pearce; Pondhawk Press; Vancouver, BC, Canada; 2021

“sacred shrine” - 3rd place, Gerald Brady Memorial Awards for Senryu, September 2016

“sushi bar” - Prune Juice, Issue 17, November 2015

How a haiku is hatched

spiral journal this bit of the galaxy

This mixed media collage is 11×14, made with acrylic paint, paper and glue on cradled wood. © Annette Makino 2025

It was almost midnight on February 18, 2023. My back was injured from repeatedly picking up our elderly dog Misha. I was lying in bed with one of the large spiral-bound notebooks I use for journaling. Feeling sore and tired, I didn’t have anything profound to say, so I just wrote about the moment: journaling about my wee life despite my stunning insignificance in the grand scheme of things. The first draft read:

spiral notebook
these random jottings in this bit
of galaxy

This felt very awkward, but it had potential. I cut “these” but it was still clunky. Next I tried:

spiral notebook
recording my small part
of the galaxy

I crossed out “small” but it still seemed too long and too obvious. I gave up for the time being.

The next day, I came back to it with fresh eyes. Changing “notebook” into “journal” covered the journaling aspect without having to detail it. And instead of hitting readers over the head with my point, the new, condensed version gave them a little something to work out. I changed “part” for “bit” because it sounded smaller.

The haiku was now so short that I thought it worked better as a one-liner, or “monoku.” In English-language haiku, this is a popular variation from the typical three lines. The poem now read:

spiral journal my bit of the galaxy

Three weeks later, I submitted it to the esteemed journal Modern Haiku, and happily, editor Paul Miller accepted it for the summer 2023 edition.

Last month, while perusing my haiku collection to find good subjects for haiga (art combined with haiku), this one spoke to me. But I’d noticed that many of my poems are in the first person. For pieces that will go into my annual calendar, I worry that too many “I” poems could seem too self-involved; I would rather include the reader. So for the haiga version, I changed “my” to “this.”

Now I wonder if my meaning is less clear in this version, but I guess that’s OK; each reader can interpret it as they wish. There are plenty of haiku that I find mysterious but interesting, as long as they aren’t completely obscure.

The art came together quickly using acrylic paint, paper I had painted black and archival white and silver gel pens for the gazillion stars. In my informal focus group last month, this simple but powerful image (without the words) was the top choice for the cover of my 2026 calendar. It’s also the featured art for November.

Oy vey, that was a lot of verbiage about a seven-word haiku! You can see how much effort can go into this shortest form of poetry. It reminds me of the 1657 quote from Blaise Pascal, often misattributed to Mark Twain: “I would have written a shorter letter, but did not have the time.”

I guess I buried my lede: the 2026 Makino Studios calendar of art and haiku is back from the printer and available online! These will make their way into local stores over the next couple of months. I’m really happy with this collection of twelve new mixed media collages and I hope you enjoy it.

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Makino Studios News

NEW! 2026 mini-calendar of art and haiku - Japanese-inspired collage - 913

$12.00

NEW! 2026 calendar: Featuring peaceful landscapes and animals, my 2026 mini-calendars of art and haiku are still just $12 each, same as the first one in 2013. These little calendars of my mixed media collages make great gifts for friends and family.

NEW! Holiday notecard sets: I’ve designed two new notecard sets for the holidays: one featuring the galaxy art above and reading “PEACE”, and another with a happy dog reading “joy to the world.” I also offer several other notecard sets for everyday and holidays. A box of eight cards with kraft envelopes is $20.

NEW! Custom cat print: By customer request, I’m offering custom prints of a tuxedo cat catching falling leaves, printed to order in several size options. You can browse all my prints here. Let me know if you have a favorite piece not shown that you’d like to order as a print.

Haiku North America: I’m really looking forward to this bi-annual gathering of haiku poets in San Francisco Sept. 24-28. I will read a few of my poems as part of one session and my books, calendars, notecard sets and art will be available for sale at the conference.

Journey to Japan: I’m heading to Japan Oct. 13-30! The trip will include a six-day walking tour in northern Honshu, following in the footsteps of famed haiku poet Basho and his disciple Sora, who spent five months in 1689 walking there; the trip resulted in Basho’s seminal book of haibun and haiku, Narrow Road to the Deep North.

Makino Studios orders will be on break: Makino Studios orders will not be shipped during my two trips. I am sorry for the inconvenience.

Fine art, feasting and footpaths in France

Paul and Annette at the ‎⁨Pont Saint-Michel on the Seine⁩ in Paris⁩, May 2025

I’m writing this on the last leg of a trip back home after a rich and wonderful three weeks in France with my husband Paul. Once I get back, I’ll start prepping for North Coast Open Studios this coming weekend, joining twenty other local and international artists at Creekside Arts in Freshwater (details below). But before I get swept up into Open Studios, I want to share some highlights of this inspiring art-filled trip.

Annette on the hike to the hill town of Gordes in the Luberon region of France. Part of the trail follows a dry stone wall built in 1725 to keep plague-ridden people away from the pope.

We did a self-guided walking tour through the Luberon region of Southern France, hiking nine to twelve miles a day through farms, forests and centuries-old hill towns. Instead of having to carry heavy packs and sleep in a tent, our bags were sent ahead to our next inn—a system we loved!

While the wilderness sections were beautiful, some of my favorite stretches of the hikes took us past stone farmhouses, olive and cherry orchards, lavender fields and red poppies.

white hill town
the herder shakes down cherries
for his goats

Least favorite part: huffing the equivalent of 89 flights up a mountainside trail—made of loose rock—on a hot day—only to reach a modest, non-native cedar forest, full of people who had simply driven there. Pretty underwhelming for those of us who live near Redwood National Park!

After the walking tour, we spent five days in the Provençal town of Arles, which we’ve visited many times. There we met an eclectic array of artists during Arles’ first-ever weekend of “Ateliers Ouverts,” or open studios. And we followed in the footsteps of Van Gogh, who lived and painted there.

The Roman amphitheater in Arles at sunset.

Our home base was a lovely Airbnb apartment just steps from the ancient Roman arena, where we happened on a reenactment of gladiatorial combat, and the Roman theater, where groups of children performed hiphop dances. We enjoyed memorable meals outdoors under grape vines or in sidewalk cafes. We stocked up on rotisserie chicken, goat cheese, olives, crusty bread and strawberries at Arles’ vast Saturday market.

sandal tan
the summer
at peak tomato

But the best part of our time there was just rambling through the narrow cobblestoned streets with their faded pastel shutters and occasional wafts of jasmine.

A panel of Les Nymphéas, a cycle of eight paintings by Claude Monet at the Musée de l’Orangerie.

We also spent some interesting days in Paris, exploring new and familiar neighborhoods and having dinner with old friends. Seeing Monet’s water lily paintings at the Musée de l’Orangerie was a highlight—they are truly massive. I was impressed to learn that once Monet had a vision of these paintings, he built a special studio to create them. Now that’s commitment to an artistic vision!

At the Musée d’Orsay, we hung out with iconic works by Cezanne, Monet, Degas, Renoir, and Van Gogh, all housed in a stunning former Beaux-Arts train station.

So weird. Despite all that walking, I came home with a couple extra pounds!

Though we were unsure how Americans would be treated at this time, most of the French people we met were friendly and understood that not all Americans—especially those who travel to Europe and speak decent French—are aligned with the current administration. In some ways it seems frivolous to take a European vacation these days, but as the street art in Arles said, “la joie est un acte de résistance.”

And now I’m looking forward to settling back into our spacious, comfortable home in the redwoods. My aim is to recover from jet lag in time to be coherent for Open Studios this weekend. Hope to see some friendly faces there!

morning rain
blurring the redwoods
his three-note yawn

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Makino Studios News

Midway through the day’s hike, we enjoyed a leisurely lunch in the hill town of Lacoste.

North Coast Open Studios: On this 25th anniversary of North Coast Open Studios, I’m joining twenty local and international artists at Creekside Arts in Freshwater, CA. It’s a free, public event happening this Saturday and Sunday, June 14-15, from 10 to 5 at 465 Howard Heights Road. (About two miles up Freshwater Road, turn right on Howard Heights Road.) Look for the Makino Studios popup tent, where I will share my art and process.

On Saturday from 2-6 p.m. the venue will also host their annual Creekside in Bloom event, with snacks, wine and live music by James Zeller and Katie Belknap of Ponies of Harmony and Blasé Bonpane and Stellar Jays (Soul to Swing).

Books and cards restocked: I was down to two copies of my award-winning book of art and haiku, Water and Stone, but just received a shipment of 100 more—these make nice gifts! And I’ve also just gotten a big printing of my cards, which you can browse here.

Summer break: I’ll be on a creative retreat at the Klamath River July 12-19 and won’t be able to ship orders until my return. Sorry for the delay!

Free shipping: You can get free shipping on Makino Studios orders of $35 or more with code FREESHIP35, entered at checkout.

Thanks: I always appreciate your feedback, whether by email, in person or as an online comment.

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Publication credits: “white hill town” - Presence; “sandal tan” - Acorn; “morning rain” - Hauling the Tide: Haiku Society of America Members’ Anthology 2024.

A haikupalooza for Haiku Poetry Day

Today, April 17, is International Haiku Poetry Day, which falls in the middle of National Poetry Month. As it happens, I have four upcoming public events focused on poetry and art: a haiku festival, an art opening, a poetry reading and an open studios weekend. All very exciting—see below for dates and deets!

Every day last month, the Mann Library Daily Haiku site at Cornell University featured one of my haiku, selected by editor Tom Clausen. To celebrate Haiku Poetry Day, here are a dozen of my favorites. You can read all 31 poems here along with publication credits.

“maybe we too” is an 11x14 mixed media collage made with paper, acrylic paint, ink, colored pencil and glue on cradled birch panel. © Annette Makino 2024

for better or for worse
our lights and darks
tumbling together

home from errands—
a hero’s welcome
from the dog

our easy silence
every puddle
sky-deep

fog-shrouded coast
we listen
to the view

art studio
a full day’s work
under my nails

hunger moon
a descendent of wolves
licks our plates

lights out—
we discuss
our extinction

maybe I too
have softened with age
moss-covered stones

long before language the S of the river

cowlick
some part of me
still wild

what remains
of the mountain
sand between my toes

redwood time
the steady journey
from earth to sky

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Makino Studios News

ukiaHaiku Festival: The 23rd annual ukiaHaiku Festival takes place on Sunday, April 27, 2-4 p.m. at the Grace Hudson Museum’s Wild Gardens in Ukiah, CA. I’m honored to be the keynote speaker this year, a cool twist for a Ukiah High grad! The organizers write, “Join us to celebrate Ukiah’s palindrome with readings of past haiku contest winners from various local luminaries followed by an all-ages open mic for those who wish to read a haiku of their choosing.” It’s free and open to the public. I’ll have a Makino Studios table with some books, calendars, prints and cards.

A dozen artists ages 36 to 92 will show their work at “Ten Thousand Gates - A Humboldt Celebration of Asian Artists.”

Ten Thousand Gates - A Humboldt Celebration of Asian Artists: This art show at the Morris Graves Museum of Art in Eureka, CA will feature a dozen local artists of Asian descent. The show opens during Arts Alive on Saturday, May 3 from 6 to 9 p.m. The exhibition runs April 26 to June 8. The art ranges from traditional landscapes to contemporary street art. Techniques include Chinese brush painting, ceramics, photography, spray paint, junk art, airbrush, collage and digital art. The artists are Karla Kaizoji Austin, Cate Be, Jeremy Hara, Ted Hsu, the late Suk Choo Kim, Ali Lee, Thao Le Khac, Amy Leon, Annette Makino, Yoshiko Skelton, Amy Uyeki and Libby Yee.

Six poets will share their work at “Ink to Paper - A Reading by Asian American Poets of Humboldt.”

Ink to Paper - A Reading by Asian American Poets of Humboldt: This is the first public reading by poets from our local Asian American community. The event will take place at the Morris Graves Museum of Art in Eureka, CA on Sunday, May 4 at 2 p.m. Poets include Tony Wallin-Sato, Mark Shikuma, Daryl Ngee Chinn, Annette Makino, Libby Yee and Amy Uyeki reading poems by her grandmother, Shizue Harada. Three of us will show slides of our art with the poems.  

Asian and Pacific American Month: The art show and reading are among several Humboldt County events in May held in conjunction with Asian and Pacific American month. See the Humboldt Asians and Pacific Islanders in Solidarity (HAPI) site for details. Events also include a chorale opera about the Eureka Chinatown expulsion and a Chinatown street festival. 

Open Studios: After several years off, I will be able to share my art and process during the 25th anniversary of North Coast Open Studios. I’ll be joining half a dozen international artists-in-residence plus local artists at Creekside Arts in Freshwater, CA on the second weekend, June 14-15.  

Mother’s Day and graduation: Mother’s Day is coming up on Sunday, May 11. Cal Poly Humboldt commencement is Saturday, May 17, and local high schools hold graduation in mid-June. See my card collection for these occasions and others.

Travel plans: I will be on vacation May 20 to June 8, and Makino Studios orders will go out slowly while I’m gone. Sorry for the inconvenience!

Free shipping: I offer free US shipping on orders of $35 or more. Just enter promo code FREESHIP35 at checkout.  

In memory of my mother

“the shape of a life” is 11x14, made of acrylic paint, paper and glue on cradled wood. The original has sold but the image is available as a greeting card and is also part of the Makino Studios 2025 calendar.

My beloved mother, Erika Makino, passed away a month ago at age 96. I was by her bedside, holding her hand, and my two sisters had been with her in recent days and hours.

From growing up in Switzerland during World War II to traveling the world, teaching special education, writing stories and making art, my mom led a fascinating life, as described in her obituary. Also see “An Adventurous Spirit,” a much longer version of her life story with more photos.

I’m learning that no matter how old you are and no matter how inevitable it seemed, it is still really hard to lose your mom. Who else could love you like your own mother? It was not always easy to grow up as the child of a free spirit: money was tight, and somehow we were always moving. By age 16 I had lived in three countries, eleven cities and 20 homes, including two stints in campgrounds. But through it all, I never doubted my mom’s unconditional love for me. What a huge loss. What a huge gift.

Over the past month of mourning, I’ve found comfort in knowing that my mother led a long and full life, getting to do most everything she wanted even into her 90s. And she had the kind of death we all wish for: at home in bed, with loved ones near, in no pain, at peace. I’m also grateful for the ability to grieve, laugh and reminisce with my sisters.

Annette Makino, left, with mother Erika Makino in Santa Barbara in 2013.

Since then my mother has visited me several times in my sleep, a loving and comforting presence. Even in scenarios that involved corpses and coffins, the dream character of my mom conveyed that these were merely the outward trappings of death, while her spirit lives beyond. Other dreams have echoed our close bond: in one I asked her if she needed anything, and she replied simply, “hug.” In another I was washing her dear face with a washcloth, very tenderly, just as I did while caregiving for her in recent years.

My mother not only gave me unconditional love, she modeled how to live an authentic life. As one of my sympathy cards reads, “those we have loved are always with us.” I am truly blessed to be my mother's daughter and to carry her in my heart.

the shape of a life
one sparkling wave
returns to the sea

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Makino Studios News

Debut in Rattle poetry journal: This month I am honored to have my first appearance in the print version of Rattle, a general poetry journal with a 0.2% acceptance rate, one of the toughest poetry journals to get into. My haibun (prose with haiku), “Migration,” connects the monarch butterfly stopover near one of my childhood homes to my father’s absence.

Anniversary sale: To celebrate Makino Studio’s 14th anniversary on March 18, and in thanks for your years of support, I’m offering 14% off everything in the shop through Tuesday, March 18 at midnight. Enter code 14YEARS at checkout.

Featured poet at Mann Library site: I’m pleased to have a haiku featured every day in March on the Mann Library Daily Haiku site at Cornell University, curated by Tom Clausen. You can follow along on the site daily and find work by many other terrific haiku poets in the archives.

Red Moon Anthology: A haiku sequence I wrote last year about caregiving for my mother, “Shorter Days,” is included in Telling the Bees: The Red Moon Anthology of English-Language Haiku 2024. I’m delighted to be included in this annual collection of the finest haiku published around the world.

Ten Thousand Gates: A Humboldt Celebration of Asian Artists: The Humboldt Arts Council will host a show by a dozen Humboldt County artists of Asian descent, including myself, at the Morris Graves Museum of Art in Eureka, CA, opening from 6 to 9 p.m. on Saturday, May 3 during Arts Alive.

Ink to Paper: I’m organizing an accompanying poetry reading and slide show of haiga (art with haiku) by Humboldt-area Asian-American poets at 2 p.m. on Sunday, May 4 at the Morris Graves. There are several other interesting Asian heritage events in Eureka in the works for that weekend; stay tuned . . .