Cherry blossoms for Haiku Poetry Day

“spring fever” is 8x10, made with paper, acrylic paint, pen and glue on cradled wood panel. © Annette Makino 2025

Today, April 17, is Haiku Poetry Day! To celebrate, I’m sharing a piece on a classic haiku theme: cherry blossoms.

Last spring, on a visit to my sister Yoshi’s house, I noticed that her flowering cherry tree was absolutely humming with hundreds of honeybees.

That inspired a haiku:

spring fever
the whole tree
buzzing

At home later, I mixed acrylic paints in the colors I wanted. I then used a gel press to apply the paint to an old typewritten letter, an insurance statement, rice paper embedded with mango leaves, and other specialty papers from Asia.

Using reference photos, I carefully tore the pieces into the desired shapes, then laid them in place on the cradled wood panel.

Next I took a second panel, placed it on top of the first one, and flipped both together. Now the whole collage lay upside down on the spare panel, so that the background pieces—the first ones I needed to glue down—were on top. I then worked my way up to the foreground pieces.

Inspired by the Japanese tradition of haiga (art combined with haiku), I added the haiku to the collage digitally. It is the April art for my 2026 calendar, and I also made a birthday card version, above.

Every spring, I spend some time with a Yoshino cherry tree on our country road, soaking in the delicate beauty of the pale pink blossoms. The experience is joyful with a tinge of heartbreak, knowing how briefly this stage will last.

blossom season
earlier each year
this fleeting world

It’s the impermanence itself that makes these days of peak blossom so precious. The bees certainly seem to know they need to make the most of the moment! Happy spring and happy Haiku Poetry Day.

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Makino Studios News

Annette Makino hangs her “Paper Alchemy” show at the Arcata Library, running through May 2026.

“Paper Alchemy” art show at the library: Thirty of my mixed media collages are now on view at the Arcata Library in Arcata, CA, with an original haiku accompanying most of the pieces. The show runs through May. You’re invited to visit and check out some books, DVDs or a telescope while you’re at it! If you can’t make it, you can explore my online gallery.

“Our Art, Our Story” group show: I also have a piece in this exhibition showcasing Asian and Pacific Islander artists of Humboldt—as does my daughter, Maya Makino! Sponsored by Humboldt Asians and Pacific Islanders (HAPI), the show runs through May 12 at the Redwood Art Association Gallery in Eureka, CA. Join the artists for Arts Alive on Saturday May 2, 6-9 p.m.

Moms and grads: Mother’s Day is Sunday, May 10 and locally, Cal Poly Humboldt’s commencement is Saturday, May 16. I have several card designs for those occasions and dozens more besides, available in the Makino Studios shop and in select stores.

Chinatown book update: As I shared last month, working closely with HAPI under a grant from the California Coastal Commission, I am writing a children’s book about the 1885 expulsion of the Chinese community from Eureka, CA. The story centers on a real girl named Yung and her tuxedo cat, Miu Miu. I’m happy to share that the book has a title! It is Yung Stands Strong: A Story of Expulsion and Resilience. The illustrations by Yukari Mishima are coming along beautifully and the historical background section will be fascinating. We go to press this summer.

Touchstone Awards for Individual Poems: Today the Haiku Foundation announced the five awarded poems in this prestigious annual contest, which my husband has dubbed “the Nobel Prize of haiku.” Congratulations to the winners as well as the poets included in the short and long lists! Big thanks to coordinator Matthew Markworth and my fellow judges, Sarah Paris, Thomas Haynes, Dan Schwerin, and Mary Stevens, who sorted through 1500 poems from 35 countries.

In Basho’s Footsteps: I appreciate everyone who joined my Zoom talk for the Yuki Teikei Haiku Society about my walking tour in Japan last fall! It was fun to relive the trip and show some of my art to an enthusiastic crowd of sixty people. I plan to give a version of the Basho talk at the Seabeck Haiku Getaway in Seabeck, WA in October.

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CREDITS:

“spring fever” (haiga): Contemporary Haibun Online, Haiga Gallery, 21.3, 2025; Contemporary Haibun Volume 20, Red Moon Press, 2025

“blossom season” - Vancouver Cherry Blossom Festival, Honourable Mention, United States, 2025 Haiku Invitational

How to move through a broken world?

“copper-tinged waves” is an 8x10 mixed media collage made with paper, acrylic paint, colored pencil and glue on cradled wood. A greeting card version reads, “take heart.” © Annette Makino 2025

Although I try to stay connected with my readers, I haven’t written you in close to three months. The truth is, with all the upheaval in the world these days, it has been hard to know what to say.

On the one hand, I know I’m not obligated to say anything about the news—no one really expects artists and poets to analyze the political events of the day. Somehow the New York Times still hasn’t phoned for my take on the war in Iran! On the other hand, it seems oblivious at best to chatter about my creative projects and my happy little life while the regime is locking up children and murdering US citizens in broad daylight.

How to navigate these dystopian times? I know many of us attend protests.* We’ve got our reps on speed dial. We donate to help people in Gaza, Ukraine, Minnesota. We stay informed as best we can without drowning in the horrors of the day. Yet faced with the shocking cruelty and corruption of this administration, it never feels like enough.

Still, I take heart from these words by Rabbi Rami Shapiro, interpreting a part of the Talmud: “Do not be daunted by the enormity of the world's grief . . . You are not expected to complete the work, but neither are you free to abandon it.”

Under an administration that stokes fear and hatred of “the other,” I believe that connection, creative expression, and celebration are all forms of this work. Whether it’s taking in a beach sunset, writing a poem or petting a stranger’s dog, joy is an act of resistance.

copper-tinged waves
trying to fit the ocean
into my camera

One spark of joy: I have been writing a children’s book about the 1885 expulsion of the Chinese community from the nearby town of Eureka, California. The story centers on a real nine-year old girl named Yung and her beloved tuxedo cat, Miu Miu, who are forced from their home in Eureka’s Chinatown and shipped to San Francisco.

To work out some book details, we toured the site of Eureka’s historic Chinatown.

I’m working closely with Humboldt Asians and Pacific Islanders in Solidarity (HAPI) under a grant from the California Coastal Commission. The book, as yet untitled, is due to be published this fall by The Press at Cal Poly Humboldt. Doubtless this will be one of their less scholarly works, but it will include about ten pages of background material with historical context. And how many academic tomes can offer a cute cat?

The book will be used in local schools, especially fourth grade classes, to teach about this dark chapter in California’s history. Yukari Mishima, a talented Japanese artist whose style reminds me of Hayao Miyazaki, is creating the beautiful illustrations. And the Humboldt County Office of Education is designing an accompanying curriculum.

I’ve spent a lifetime writing and editing, from three-line haiku to multimillion dollar grants. But I’ve never written historical fiction for children before, so this is all new territory for me—a sometimes challenging and ultimately rewarding process. It’s a gift to collaborate with goodhearted people on such a meaningful creative project. May the story of Yung and Miu Miu help shed light on the racism and injustice that is still so present today—and help us see our common humanity.

moth holes
the part of the world
I can mend

all the best, Annette

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Makino Studios News

15th anniversary sale: Makino Studios celebrates its 15th anniversary this month! When I launched my art biz in March 2011, I had no idea whether it would last. In thanks for your support, I’m offering 15% off all cards, prints, books and calendars in the shop till midnight this Sunday, March 8. Enter code 15YEARS at checkout.

Hanging out with haiku master Basho in Tokyo, October 2025.

In Basho’s Footsteps: This Saturday, March 7 at 11 a.m. Pacific, I’m giving a presentation to the Yuki Teikei Society on my recent walking tour in Japan of the 1689 journey by the famed haiku poet Basho. I’ll share photos, haiku and art. You are invited to attend and sign in as a guest (the first few minutes will include some organization business). This presentation will not be recorded. Click here to join the Zoom. Meeting ID: 818 4373 6721

Museum of Haiku Literature Award: I’m honored that the following poem was chosen as the best haiku of the Autumn 2025 issue of Frogpond, the journal of the Haiku Society of America:

milkweed leaf
a butterfly sheds
its deadname

Touchstone Awards: Since January I have served on the panel of five judges for this contest sponsored by The Haiku Foundation. The Touchstone Award for Individual Poems is considered a premier honor for English-language haiku, and the judging process is very thoughtfully designed. The winning poems will appear on The Haiku Foundation website starting April 3.

Art show at the library: The Arcata branch of the Humboldt County Library has invited me to show my art there in April and May. The show will feature a range of mixed media pieces including some haiga (art with haiku). And probably some cute cats!

*No Kings: The next nationwide protest is No Kings on March 28—it may well be the largest one-day protest in US history!

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Haiku publication credits:
“copper-tinged waves” - Kingfisher, Spring 2024
“moth holes” - The Heron’s Nest, March 2026

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.

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

$5.00

may your dreams take wing

In this colorful card, a great blue heron spreads its wings, preparing to swoop off from a riverbank. Based on an original mixed media collage, this inspiring card is suitable for graduations, birthdays, moves, new ventures and other life changes.

Add to cart

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

A cornucopia of cards

Happy fall! I’ve got some good news—with a small catch. I’m excited to share that I have ten brand new card designs! These came back from the printer sooner than expected. Below you’ll find designs for birthdays, the holidays, hard times, and everyday. And you can browse all 70+ current designs here, $5 each. There are also boxed sets of eight notecards for $20, including five holiday designs. These designs and more can also be found in the new 2026 calendar of art and haiku.

The catch is that I’m flying to Japan on Monday and I won’t be able to ship orders till my return on October 30. So the upshot is: place your order this coming Saturday at the latest, or prepare to wait till November. So sorry for the delay! But I look forward to sharing my adventures with you, including a self-guided walking tour in the footsteps of 17th century haiku poet Basho.

warmly, Annette Makino

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

$5.00

may your dreams take wing

In this colorful card, a great blue heron spreads its wings, preparing to swoop off from a riverbank. Based on an original mixed media collage, this inspiring card is suitable for graduations, birthdays, moves, new ventures and other life changes.

Add to cart

funny and wise birthday/everyday card with cherry blossoms (468)

$5.00

celebrate!
you’re younger today
than you’ll ever be

This card, based on a mixed media collage of cherry blossoms on the branch, has a wise and humorous message: now matter how old you are, you can still make the most of the moment. This makes a great birthday greeting, but can be shared any time with a friend who will appreciate being encouraged to look on the bright side of aging and seize the day.

Add to cart

peace - holiday card of starry galaxy evoking awe and wonder (474)

$5.00

This simple, powerful image shows a figure raising their arms to the galaxy of stars above. The message is equally simple and powerful: PEACE.

The original mixed media piece was created with acrylic paint and paper on wood.

Add to cart

have an otterly amazing birthday - funny otter card (471)

$5.00

have an otterly amazing birthday

In this card based on an original collage, an otter floats on its back on a sunset-colored body of water, living its best life and encouraging the recipient to do the same.

Add to cart

starry night sky card for birthdays and everyday - “you’re one in a zillion” (477)

$5.00

you’re one in a zillion

A silhouetted figure raises their arms in celebration and wonder at the night sky in this card. Send this card for a friend’s birthday or any time you want to share your appreciation of their existence. How amazing that in all the multitude of stars in the galaxy and people on earth, there is only one of them!

Add to cart

card for encouragement and support in tough times - dog and ocean sunset (475)

$5.00

take heart

A silhouetted dog gazes at an ocean sunset in this beautiful scene. Based on an original mixed media collage, this card with its simple and sincere message is meant for anyone going through a hard time, be it the loss of a loved one, a breakup or divorce, health challenges or any kind of rough patch.

Add to cart

joyful running dog holiday notecard set - box of 8 cards with kraft envelopes (821)

$20.00

joy to the world

A little white dog races down a path, ears streaming, tail high, smiling with his whole body. The image and message is bound to lift the spirits of everyone who receives these holiday notecards.

The original mixed media piece was created with acrylic paint, paper and glue on wood.

These eight cards are 4.25 x 5.5 inches, or A2 sized. They are blank inside for your message. The backs show the Makino Studios logo and contact information.

Each set comes with eight kraft envelopes and is packaged in a kraft paper box with a window. Cards are professionally printed using fade-resistant ink on card stock.

Notecard sets are shipped in a sturdy cardboard box.

Add to cart

birthday card of sunny landscape with stones and lizard - collage art (476)

$5.00

warmest birthday wishes

A sun-drenched landscape with mottled stones, golden grasses and distant hills includes a subtle element: a sun-bathing lizard. This slightly punny birthday card invites the viewer into a warm and welcoming place for their birthday.

Add to cart

joyful running dog card for birthdays/everyday - for the young at heart (472)

$5.00

happy birthday to one of my favorite humans

This birthday greeting card features a sweet little dog with a gently humorous message for a special person. The original collage for this design includes hand-painted papers from Japan and Thailand as well as scraps of letters and notes.

Add to cart

birthday card of blissful cat in flower meadow (470)

$5.00

have a blissful birthday

A striped, green-eyed cat lolls in a field of bright yellow wildflowers in this simple and sweet birthday card. The original collage was made with paper, paint, pen and glue.

Add to cart

Sale

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

Sale Price: $6.00 Original Price: $12.00

Featuring peaceful landscapes and animals, this wall calendar expresses Zen wisdom as well as quiet wonder and delight in the world.

The Japanese-inspired collages in this calendar include haiku by award-winning poet and artist Annette Makino. She created each of these collages with hand-painted washi papers from Asia as well as found papers.

This mini-calendar measures 5-1/2” wide by 7” tall closed (or 5-1/2” x 14” open), so it will easily fit in a small space. Major US holidays are listed. All twelve designs are shown on the back. The calendar includes an artist’s bio and some background on haiku and haiga (haiku art).

These are professionally printed in the USA on substantial paper and saddle-stitched. Each calendar is packaged in a self-sealing cellophane sleeve.

Many users of past Makino Studios calendars save and hang up each month’s painting after it has passed or give the image to a friend. The new calendar makes a great gift that may continue to bring pleasure well past 2026.

Add to cart

Makino Studios News

Free shipping: For orders of $35 or more, use code FREESHIP35 for free shipping in the US.

Made in Humboldt Fair: This popular event at Pierson Garden Shop in Eureka, CA runs Nov. 12 through Dec. 24 and includes more than 250 vendors. I will have books, prints, calendars, and notecard sets there.

Arcata Holiday Craft Market: Featuring food, music, and local vendors, this 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.

Haiku North America: I had a wonderful time at this biennual conference in San Francisco last month! The best part was meeting so many haiku poets I admire but knew only by name. I’m already looking forward to HNA 2027, to be held in Philadelphia.

Thank you: I appreciate the kind responses to my last post, “How a haiku is hatched.”

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

Sale

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

Sale Price: $6.00 Original Price: $12.00

Featuring peaceful landscapes and animals, this wall calendar expresses Zen wisdom as well as quiet wonder and delight in the world.

The Japanese-inspired collages in this calendar include haiku by award-winning poet and artist Annette Makino. She created each of these collages with hand-painted washi papers from Asia as well as found papers.

This mini-calendar measures 5-1/2” wide by 7” tall closed (or 5-1/2” x 14” open), so it will easily fit in a small space. Major US holidays are listed. All twelve designs are shown on the back. The calendar includes an artist’s bio and some background on haiku and haiga (haiku art).

These are professionally printed in the USA on substantial paper and saddle-stitched. Each calendar is packaged in a self-sealing cellophane sleeve.

Many users of past Makino Studios calendars save and hang up each month’s painting after it has passed or give the image to a friend. The new calendar makes a great gift that may continue to bring pleasure well past 2026.

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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.