On a wing and a prayer

“you give my heart wings” is 5×7, painted with sumi ink and Japanese watercolors on textured paper.

Yokwe! I am writing from the Marshall Islands, a tiny atoll nation in Micronesia, roughly between Hawaii and the Philippines. If you’ve never heard of it, don’t worry: it’s the fifth least visited country in the world, barely ahead of Somalia. But you have to love a country where the main greeting, “yokwe,” means “hello,” “goodbye,” “love,” and “you are a rainbow.”

I’m here for a couple of weeks to help my sister Yuri adopt a baby boy. It’s an incredible, heart-expanding experience, and right now there is too much to process to be able to write about it. (Not to mention all those time-consuming bottle feedings and diaper changes.)

So for now, having just flown across most of the Pacific, I am sharing this haiku sequence about air travel, along with a couple of paintings about flying. Enjoy!

In Flight

luggage store
I pick up a little more
baggage

airport restroom
the toilet seat
still slightly warm

exit row
trying to remember
how planes stay up

30,000 feet
my thoughts more and more
pedestrian

flying United             feeling disjointed

crowded flight
on screen after screen
solitaire

Modern Haiku 45:1 (Winter-Spring 2014)

warmly, Annette Makino

“body lands safely” is 9×12, painted with sumi ink and watercolors on rice paper. It was published in Contemporary Haibun 13 (April 2013).

Makino Studios News

Hungry Ghosts: Thanks to everyone who came to the opening of this group show! What a fun (and crowded) evening! The exhibit, featuring artists with Asian and Pacific Islander backgrounds, runs through April at the Brenda Tuxford Gallery, upstairs at 325 2nd Street in Eureka, California.

Open Studios: Join silk painter Tina Gleave and me for the first weekend of North Coast Open Studios, May 31 and June 1, at the Samoa Women’s Club in Samoa, California. Also, there is a group show of Open Studios artists with a reception at the Brenda Tuxford Gallery on Saturday, May 3, 6-9 p.m. during Arts Alive.

Portland and Mendocino Stores: Two discerning new businesses are now carrying my cards: Oblation Papers & Press in Portland, Oregon, and The Stanford Inn by the Sea in Mendocino, California.

Traveling: As I am traveling for most of the rest of this month, my Makino Studios Etsy shop will be closed April 5-29. I’m sorry for any inconvenience.

A series of unfortunate events

“merry & bright” is available as a print or card. It is based on an original 11×14 painting in sumi ink and Japanese watercolors on rice paper.

It was a very trying couple of weeks. The first thing to go wrong was that mice invaded our kitchen and bathroom, leaving their droppings in most of our drawers and cabinets. Just days after I finished cleaning and sterilizing everything from that episode, the dog did his business on the driveway, my husband stepped in it wearing hiking boots, and voilà— a trail all through the downstairs that even a human could track by smell.

After cleaning the evidence off the carpets and floors, I updated some software for my website—and much of the sidebar text disappeared. I naively thought it would be simple to restore it from the nightly backup, but my web guy said that what with the reconfiguring and testing, it would actually be faster for me to recreate the content. There went another big chunk of the day.

Next up, my digital security service notified me that my Gmail account had been compromised. As advised, I dutifully changed the password. But this foiled only me, as the account could then receive email, but no longer send.

A couple days later, the front door permanently locked while open. We spent 24 hours with blankets draped over the top and side of the door to keep out the chill until a locksmith came to replace the failed lock

During this period, I noticed that the house alarm system was indicating a low battery. When I called the company that had installed the system, they had no record of our account

The way my luck was going, it was just par for the course when I picked up the lid of a ceramic butter dish and part of it broke off in my hand.

As each new calamity arose, I got farther and farther behind on my to-do list, just at my busiest time of the year. Instead of painting and framing art, while my husband was off teaching and the kids were at school, I spent many long and tedious hours cleaning and fixing things that I usually take for granted, like front doors that close, email that both sends and receives, and kitchen cabinets where you can safely store food.

“peace on earth” is 5×7, painted in sumi ink and Japanese watercolors on textured paper. It is also available as a print or card.

It was a small mercy that this series of unfortunate events happened just before Thanksgiving. Even while lamenting all the time I was losing, a part of me remembered to be grateful to have a home at all. I told myself that many displaced people—from Syria to the Philippines to downtown Arcata—are facing situations far more dire than a little mouse poop in the silverware drawer.

Beyond that insight, I am not sure what else to take from this run of aggravations, except that sometimes in life, poop happens. Then you just clean it up as best you can and carry on.

With everything running smoothly in our household once more, this past week I found time to paint several new holiday pieces, including the persimmons shown here. I’m now busy catching up and preparing for holiday fairs over the next two weekends.

Who knows what else might go wrong (what is that weird sound coming from the dishwasher?). But the little white Christmas lights are up and the mood here is turning merry and bright. Here’s wishing you delightful and aggravation-free holidays

warmly, Annette

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Makino Studios News

Humboldt Holiday Fairs:

• Humboldt Artisans Crafts and Music Festival at Redwood Acres in Eureka, CA, Friday through Sunday, Dec. 6-8. I’ll be offering new paintings, prints and holiday cards. The Makino Studios booth will be in the sunroom of the Home Economics building.
• Arcata Holiday Crafts Market at the Arcata Community Center, Arcata, CA, Saturday and Sunday, Dec. 14-15.
• Pierson Christmas Fair in Eureka, CA, now through Dec. 24.

Poetry & Honey: My new 2014 wall calendar has been selling much faster than I expected and is currently on its third printing. You can order copies online at my Etsy shop, find them at select Humboldt County stores, or get them at the fairs above.

Holiday Cards: My newest designs can be found in the card section of the Makino Studios Etsy shop.

Arts Alive Holiday Show: Several of my framed prints and cards are in a group show at the Mateel Cooperative Gallery, 773 Redwood Drive, Garberville, CA through December.

New Retailers: I’m happy to share that you can now find a selection of my cards at Eureka Natural Foods (see the special card rack in the center of the candle section), and at St. Joseph’s Hospital Gift Shop, both in Eureka, CA.

Haigaonline Show: Eleven new haiga (haiku art pieces) will be featured in the next issue of Haigaonline, coming in late December.

Humboldt Holidays

What a rainstorm we’re having! As I write, I can see redwoods swaying in the wind, big green leaves blowing off the alders, and raindrops bouncing hard off the deck. I hope you are finding ways to stay cheerful despite the wet and gloom. steady rain
80% chance
of popcorn

Meanwhile, I have been busy in my studio framing paintings and prints, assembling new cards, and making books with washi paper I brought back from Japan. This post is especially for folks here in Humboldt County, California. I wanted to share with you several local events this holiday season, or maybe we should call it the holiday high hurdles race!

The Makino Studios section at the Pierson Christmas Fair in Eureka, California, running through December.

Holiday Fairs: I will have Makino Studios booths at holiday fairs for the next three weekends, featuring some new paintings, holiday cards, and handmade books as well as prints and t-shirts. The first fair is the big three-day Humboldt Artisans Festival at Redwood Acres starting this Friday. The following weekend, I’ll be at the Arcata Community Center, and the Sunday after that, I’ll have a booth at the Bayside Grange. Details for all those fairs are below. These fairs are a fun and meaningful way for me to connect in person with my customers (see my  December 2011 post, “Holiday Abundance”). I also have a selection of my haiku cards, prints and books at the Piersons Christmas Fair in the Garden Shop, running through Christmas.

Affordable Art Show: For the month of December, several of my framed prints will be on display as part of  the “Home for the Holidays” group show at the MikkiMoves Living Room Gallery at 7th and I Streets in Eureka. The show, featuring affordable art suitable for holiday giving, opens this Saturday, December 1 from 6-9 p.m. during Arts Alive. There will be live music and tasty finger food.

Holiday Card Retailers: I have three new holiday card designs (see them in the Seasons album in my online gallery). Several local stores now carry my holiday cards. In Arcata: the Arcata Co-op, All Under Heaven, and Humboldt Pet Supply. In Eureka: the Eureka Co-op, Eureka Books, Piersons, and MikkiMoves.

You can find a selection of my other card designs at Wildberries, Northtown Books and Plaza in Arcata, Humboldt Herbals in Old Town Eureka, Blake’s Books and Miller Farms in McKinleyville, the Trinidad Trading Company in Trinidad, the Kozy Korner Gift Shop in Fortuna and The Gazebo in Ferndale.

Free Shipping thru Friday: If you would rather shop from the comfort of your keyboard, you can always order cards, prints and books from me online through the Makino Studios Etsy shop. I am offering free shipping through this Friday, November 30, with shipping code THANKS2012.

Holiday Gospel Concerts: And on a personal note, I will be singing gospel-style Christmas songs with the Arcata Interfaith Gospel Choir at our annual holiday concerts. We are performing Friday, Dec. 14 in Eureka and Saturday, Dec. 15 in Arcata (further details on the concert poster I designed, with me in the right-hand corner). Singing joyful songs with 80 other people is one sure way to lift the spirits (see my April 2011 post, “We Lift Our Voices”).

Well, I’m going to try and take my dog out. If you read my August 2011 post, “The Dog Who Wouldn’t Go Out,” you know that Misha is not too keen on getting wet; this is when his dainty poodle nature emerges.

Here’s wishing you all the best. I hope to see you at one or more of these holiday events!

warmly, Annette

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The “winter night” painting above continues my Haiku for Dog Lovers series. The original is 7” x 5” and was painted with sumi ink and gansai paint on textured paper. It will be for sale at my holiday fair booth. The poem was first published in the haiku journal Notes from the Gean in July 2012.

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Makino Studios News

Humboldt Artisans Crafts and Music Festival –Friday, Nov. 30, 12 - 9 p.m.; Saturday, December 1, 10 a.m. – 7 p.m.; and Sunday, December 2, 10 a.m. – 6 p.m. Redwood Acres Fairgrounds, Eureka. Live music on five stages, food and drink. General admission $3 or free with a kid’s toy or gift for a senior. Admission free for kids and seniors.

Arcata Holiday Crafts Market –Saturday and Sunday, December 8-9, 10 a.m. – 4 p.m. Arcata Community Center, Arcata. Music and concessions. Benefits the City of Arcata’s Youth Development Scholarship Fund for low-income kids to participate in recreation programs.

Holiday Handmade/Makers Fair –Sunday, December 16, 10 a.m. - 4 p.m. Bayside Grange, 2297 Jacoby Creek Road, Bayside. Friendly neighborhood fair. Expect good food, too; last year they served tasty hot soups and breads.

Pierson Christmas Fair –Tuesday, November 13-Tuesday, Dec. 25. Ongoing fair of arts and crafts handmade in Humboldt County. Pierson Garden Shop, 4100 Broadway Street, Eureka. Last week they were serving free hot cider and cookies.

Connecting - I regularly post fresh haiku and/or art on Facebook and Twitter. "Like" the Makino Studios Facebook page and/or follow @Ant99 on Twitter for the newest material.