Looking Deeply

An art teacher I had in my early twenties, the abstract painter Leslie Kenneth Price, once pointed out to another student that she had carefully painted a face from her mirrored reflection, then assumed she knew what a neck looked like and simply painted two parallel lines. Under a fairly realistic face, the neck looked stiff and awkward. He told her, "Here’s where you stopped looking. Keep looking!" More than 25 years later, the words "keep looking" still echo in my head when I'm painting.

I love iris flowers and even had a poster of one in my college dorm room, yet I had never really looked at one closely. That changed this summer, when I decided to paint a wild iris from our yard. I was amazed at all the intricate overlapping petals, sepals and markings. The delicate complexity threatened to overwhelm me. But I told myself, "Keep looking!" And for the first time, I really saw the strange beauty of an iris, and managed to capture an approximation on paper.

This is perhaps the greatest gift of making art: it compels us to keep looking. To look deeply at our surroundings, or in the case of abstract art, to look deeply into our own visions. This is also the gift that comes from writing haiku: it reminds me to really see the ragged edge of a nettle leaf, the pattern of tea stains left in a cup, the strange beauty all around us. And the gift is magnified when I am able to share what I have found with others.

You don't need to be a painter or a poet to keep looking, just keep your eyes and heart open. Ultimately, to look deeply is to live more intensely.

new glasses
all the individual leaves
on the oaks

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The wild iris piece above is 5"x7", painted with sumi ink and Japanese gansai paints on textured card stock. The poem fragment on the piece was written for my husband Paul. This piece will be available as a blank greeting card or small print next month.

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Makino Studios News

Show at Morris Graves Museum:One of my "haiku for dog lovers" paintings will be part of a group show on the human-animal relationship. Proceeds from the "Palettes and Paws" event benefit the Humboldt Arts Council and the Sequoia Humane Society. The opening is during Arts Alive on Saturday, Sept. 1 from 6-9 p.m., and there will be an auction event on Saturday, Sept. 22. The Morris Graves Museum is located at 636 F Street, Eureka, California, and the show runs through September.

North Country Fair:Makino Studios will have a booth at this festive two-day fair on the Arcata Plaza, September 15-16. I'll have t-shirts and new paintings, cards and prints. Look for me on G Street near the Hot Knots corner.

Prune Juice:In July two of my haiga (haiku art) and four of my poems were published in Prune Juice, one of my favorite poetry journals. Prune Juice is focused on senryu, haiku's wry, funny cousin, and is a fun and entertaining read. (My pieces appear on pages 50-52.)

Buying in Person: Along with carrying my cards, as of today, Blake's Books in McKinleyville offers a good selection of my prints. A total of 17 Northern California stores currently carry my cards: see the list of retailers. You can also visit my studio by appointment. This past week I even had visitors from Mexico!

Buying Online:Happily, Etsy now accepts credit cards as well as PayPal, so it's even easier to order from my Makino Studios online shop. 

Connecting: I regularly post fresh haiku and/or art on Facebook and Twitter. "Like" the Makino Studios Facebook page for a dose of humor and insight. You can also follow @Ant99 on Twitter for more news.

Parallel Universes

When he was nine, my son Gabriel opened my eyes to the concept of parallel universes, the theory that there could be infinite co-existing universes. Both quantum physics and science fiction have explored this concept. But Gabriel quickly developed his own understanding. After watching a documentary on the subject, he told me mischievously, “I'm warning you, if there are other universes, in one you're wearing a pink fluorescent dress. And you're not regretting it!"

But one does not have to turn to quantum physics or fantasy to enter parallel universes: they exist right under our noses.  There is a microcosmic world in the patch of mold on a rotting stump. There is another universe in the hidden dramas of the raccoons that live in the woods around my home. While we move through our days, focused on our own stories, there are a million other stories unfolding all around us, if only we open our awareness. As a poet and artist, it is my privilege to bring glimpses of these other worlds to light—even if I don’t fully understand them myself. But as for that pink fluorescent dress: not in this lifetime!

June morning
the unknown calls
of unseen birds

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Makino Studios News

First Publication: Small squeal: today my first two haiku were published! They appear in the June issue of Notes from the Gean, a journal of Japanese form poetry (page 90).

New Retailers and Cards: As of last week, Blake’s Books in McKinleyville and Trinidad Trading Company in Trinidad are the latest Northern California stores to carry my haiku cards. (And they are selling so well that Blake's Books reordered two days later!) Also, I now offer two new card designs. See the Makino Studios Store page for designs, retailers, and links to the MakinoStudios online store on Etsy.

Group Show: This is the last week of the group show I’m part of at MikkiMoves Living Room Gallery. Corner of 7th and I Streets in Eureka, California. Shows runs through June.

North Country Fair: It's official: Makino Studios will have a booth at this festive two-day fair on the Arcata Plaza, September 15-16.

Connect: Did you know that I post fresh haiku and/or art on Facebook and Twitter most every day? “Like” the Makino Studios Facebook page for your daily dose of humor and insight. You can also follow @Ant99 on Twitter for more updates.

Holiday Abundance

Happy holidays, and thanks for making this such a successful first year for Makino Studios! With your support, I've gotten terrific response at my first shows, fairs, and retail outlets. It's been so gratifying to see the range of people who are touched by my haiku ink paintings--folks one wouldn't normally associate with poetry and Japanese-inspired art. At a holiday fair, a weathered rancher in a baseball cap bought a "honeybee haiku" book for a friend in Montana. A group of hip young men bought dog greeting cards for their dog lover friends. Two older women who have been friends for 50 years coincidentally each bought the other holiday gifts from me. And I just finished a commissioned piece that is an expression of love from a mother to her teenaged daughter. Meanwhile, through online orders, I have been shipping my work to people as far as Finland and the UK. I still feel amazed that so many other people connect with the odd thoughts and images in my head!

I wanted to let you know that I now offer several new cards, prints, and handmade books. Most of these items are up on the MakinoStudios shop on Etsy, including my whole "haiku for dog lovers" series. Selected card designs are also available at 16 stores in Northern California from Oakland to Yreka.

After the whirlwind of the past three months, I’m looking forward to getting back into my studio to create new paintings. Stay tuned to see what emerges! Here's wishing you a rich and fulfilling new year.

(Photo above was taken at a Bayside, California holiday fair by Lorraine Miller-Wolf)