Before we were tamed

“fox tracks” is 11×14, painted with sumi ink and Japanese watercolors on paper. It is also available as a card reading “happy birthday, bright spirit.” © 2015 Annette Makino

For the past twenty years, my family and I have lived in the country on the side of a redwood-covered hill. In the morning the woods fill with bird conversations, and we often glimpse deer and foxes wandering past our house.

A raccoon that hung around our compost pile got nicknamed Deke, short for “decomposition.” But when “he” showed up one day trailing four fluffy baby raccoons, we had to rename her Delilah. Because we don’t have the heart to chase them off, Delilah and her grown children have grown quite comfortable strolling past our windows and staring at us curiously.

watchful eyes . . .
bit by bit the wild raccoon
tames us

Living among all this wildlife has gotten me thinking about humans’ connection with nature: what we’ve forgotten, what we can learn, and what we know deep down. At a time when human activity is pervading every corner of the planet, from the deepest oceans to near space, I’m wondering what it means to be wild.

fox tracks . . .
who were we before
we were tamed?

“love from the gang” is 11×14, painted with sumi ink and Japanese watercolors on paper. It is also available as a card reading “love from the gang.” © 2015 Annette Makino

Despite our complex civilizations and sophisticated technologies, we humans share 90% of our DNA with mice. How different are we really from Delilah and her children?

With such questions in the back of my mind, this spring I painted a series featuring our woodland neighbors and some of the natural places around Humboldt County.

chigger bites
my finger traces
the wilderness map

The road to our house runs along a lovely little stream shaded by redwoods, alders and maples. But if you look closely, you can find chunks of styrofoam hidden in an old-growth redwood stump. Old appliances and bags of contaminated soil from marijuana grows are dumped just above the stream bed.

Though humans are supposed to be the most advanced species on the planet, ours is the only one foolish enough to destroy its own habitat. Can we remember how to live in balance before it’s too late? Can we regain the common sense of the common field mouse? Perhaps by the simple act of spending more time in nature, walking, watching and listening, we can start to feel our wild hearts again.

in wilderness
we find our way home

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Makino Studios News

North Coast Open Studios: I'll be on hand to share my new wilderness-inspired paintings at Ramone’s Bakery & Café in Old Town Eureka, California this coming Saturday and Sunday, June 6-7, from 11 to 5 both days. My friend Tina Gleave will show her stunning silk paintings of landscapes and other natural images. We’ll also demonstrate our tools and techniques and have new cards and prints for sale. In addition, there will be a free raffle with two prizes: we are each giving away a $25 gift certificate towards our art.

Arts Alive at Ramone’s: Piggybacking on our Open Studios event, Tina and I have a joint show at Ramone’s called “Before we were tamed.” There will bean opening during Arts Alive this Saturday, June 6, from 6 to 9 p.m., and the show runs through June.

New Cards: Twenty-four new and updated card designs are now available in my MakinoStudios Etsy shop. I’ve also clarified how you can order any six designs for $19.99. (My shop will be closed June 13-20 while I’m on a painting vacation.)

Haiku Award: I’m happy to share that one of my haiku won the Dori Anderson prize for the best haiku about Ukiah, California at this year's ukiaHaiku Festival.

Mendocino spring
only ten shades of green
in my paint set

New Fortuna Store: My cards can now be found at Madame Fortuna's Lucky Heart Shop, a store selling herbs, orchids, books, and gifts that just opened in Fortuna, California. See the Store page for a complete list of places that carry my cards.

Connecting: I always love hearing from you. You can get news, fresh art and haiku on my Makino Studios Facebook page and my Twitter feed.

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An earlier version of the haiku “fox tracks” first appeared in The Heron’s Nest, XVII:1. “Chigger bites” was published in The Heron’s Nest, XVII:2.

Adoption journey

“waving fronds” by Annette Makino is 5×7, painted with sumi ink and Japanese watercolors on textured paper.

As I shared in my last post, in April I flew to the Marshall Islands with my sister Yuri to help her adopt a baby. After changing planes in Hawaii and flying across the international date line, we landed in Majuro, on a spit of land so narrow it appeared we were landing right in the Pacific.

adoption journey
we fly into
tomorrow

On the ride into town, on the atoll’s single road, we tried to take it all in: the coconut palms; the brown-skinned children swimming in the lagoon; the jumbled cement ugliness of the town. This was the country where Yuri’s soon-to-be son was born, and we wanted to learn everything about it.

There followed whirlwind days of meeting Yuri’s baby for the first time, along with his birth mother Florine and extended family; going through the adoption hearing; and putting in his visa request at the US Embassy. Just two days after we landed, but after a long and winding journey of many years, Yuri officially became a mother.

Enakai Paulton Makino, age three months at adoption, instantly captured our hearts. He turned out to be a beautiful, bright-eyed, lively little guy, quick to smile, interested in everything, and generally a delight.

When he came to us, he simultaneously had to separate from his birth mother, wean from breastfeeding, and learn to fall asleep without the breast. Despite all this, he was amazingly cheerful and good-natured most of the time.

baby drool
so much
to taste

I love this photo of my sister Yuri with her baby, Enakai. I took it at Eneko Beach on Majuro atoll in the Marshall Islands in April 2014.

Over the following weeks, Florine came to visit every couple of days, usually with her cousin. Although we faced a language barrier, we gradually learned more about Kai’s background and culture. We confirmed what the adoption agency had said: there is a strong tradition of adoption in the Marshall Islands, where it is considered a joining of two families. In a poor country where women give birth to an average of seven children, many children are adopted out. Florine’s extended family lives better than many, in a real house instead of a plywood shack, but when we visited, their refrigerator was completely bare.

Though I could understand her decision, at times I cried at the thought of what Florine had to do: turn over her beautiful baby, whom she clearly loved, to a stranger. Of course, I don’t know everything that went into her choice, but during our time there, I came to believe that it was precisely because she loved him that she was putting him up for adoption, so he could have the chance for a better life and infinitely more opportunities.

Day by day, through bottle feedings and diaper changes and nap time walks in the garden, Yuri and I tumbled deeper in love with the baby. She did most of his care while I focused on logistics, but I still got plenty of time to stare into his shining dark eyes, talk to him, and carry him around while singing the songs I once sang to my own kids.

In the weeks of waiting for Kai’s visa to arrive, we fell into a dream state; some days, we made it no farther than our hotel room balcony, with its view of palm trees. It was a time out of time as we adjusted our days to the baby’s rhythm.

After two weeks on the island, I flew home and our sister Yoshi arrived to take the second shift.

homeward bound
I fly into
yesterday

It was a tremendous gift to have been part of this magical time for Yuri and my new nephew Enakai, whose name means “glowing sea” in Hawaiian. We are grateful to all the people who helped bring this darling child into our family, especially Florine.

named for the sea
he crosses the ocean
to find his way home

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Makino Studios News

Open Studios: Humboldt friends, please join silk painter Tina Gleave, feather artist Marianne Odisio and me from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. this Saturday and Sunday, May 31 and June 1 for North Coast Open Studios. We’ll be showing new work, demonstrating our tools and techniques, and serving free refreshments in the historic Samoa Women’s Club, in Samoa, California. This Times-Standard article has details.

Powell’s: I’m delighted to share that Powell's Books on Hawthorne in Portland, Oregon, considered one of the world's best bookstores, is now carrying my cards!

Haiku Awards: Two of my haiku received top honors at the annual ukiaHaiku Festival in April, held in my old hometown of Ukiah, California. (See my post from last year, Ukiah Backwards.)

rhythm of rain
the dog curls tighter
in his sleep

(1st place, General Adult, ukiaHaiku Festival 2014)

drought season
we run out of things
to say

(1st place, Dori Anderson prize for haiku about Ukiah, ukiaHaiku Festival 2014)

Summer Show: I’ll have a solo show at Humboldt Herbals in Old Town Eureka, California in July and August. The opening will be during Arts Alive Saturday, July 5, 6-9 p.m. Hope to see you there!

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.

Scent of Mint

Summer is almost upon us! Here in Arcata, California, between the redwoods and the sea, the temperature stays fairly constant year-round. A typical summer's day is cool and foggy until mid-afternoon, when the temperature might "soar" into the high 60s. Still, we Pacific Northwest dwellers rejoice in the coming of summer, and all the leaping growth and expansion of this time. Enjoy, and don't forget to stop and smell the mint!

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If you live in the Humboldt area, please join four other artists and me at the Samoa Women's Club in Samoa, California this coming weekend for North Coast Open Studios. Tina Gleave, Gigi Floyd, Cindy Shaw, Marty Flora and I will demo our tools and techniques. I will also have cards and prints for sale.

We will be there the first weekend only, Saturday and Sunday, June 1-2, from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. There will be free refreshments. We're just four minutes from the Samoa Bridge; details and directions are in this May 24 story in the Eureka Times-Standard, "Samoa Women’s Club hosts five artists for NCOS."

As I'm quoted saying in the article, "I'm very excited to be sharing a space with four other dynamic and talented women artists. We each have such different creative approaches, but we all love to share our work with visitors, and I think it will be fun and stimulating for people to see how each of us makes her art."

I hope to see you there!

Also, you can listen to an interview with me and three others about North Coast Open Studios and what inspires us as artists on Artwaves tomorrow. That's Wendy Butler's show about the Humboldt art scene on KHSU, 90.5 FM, on Tuesday, May 28 at 1:30 pm.