collage art

To kneel and kiss the (soggy) ground

“this small corner” is an 8x10 mixed media collage made with paper, acrylic paint, colored pencil, ink and glue on cradled wood panel. It is part of the 2025 Makino Studios calendar of art and haiku. © Annette Makino 2024

I’m normally a pretty upbeat person, but I’ve been feeling heavy and down of late. The election results have left me grieving for the alternate future I’d hoped for and dreading the changes under the incoming regime.

election night
slowly unclasping
my pearls

Meanwhile, the bomb cyclone and atmospheric river here on the Northern California coast have kept us mostly housebound for the past week, with brief forays to jump-start the generator or take brief walks between storms.

cold winter rain
the swollen creek also
rushing home

Combined with ceaseless rain, the short, dark days of late November are not helping one bit. Who decided it was okay for the sun to set before 5 p.m.?! The daily loss of light only deepens my melancholy.

mourning dove
the ancient sorrow
in my bones

To combat this gloom, I’m making a conscious effort to focus on everything that’s still good in my part of the world. And what better time to cultivate an attitude of gratitude than Thanksgiving?

this small corner
of the universe . . .
twitching whiskers

It really helps to list all my blessings. For one, though my hair is grayer now, in many ways I feel healthier and fitter than I was fifteen or twenty years ago when I was working full-time and raising two children. Back then it was a challenge just to get dinner on the table, let alone work out and walk in nature every day. Now I take pleasure in my improving strength and balance in tricky yoga poses. And I appreciate that my legs willingly carry me for miles.

Annette Makino and husband Paul W. Blank on the Oregon Coast, October 2024.

I’m also thankful for Paul, my beloved mate of 33 years, a brilliant, funny and kind partner through weather fair or foul.

shore pines
bearded with moss
his laugh lines

We are very fortunate to have warm and easy relationships with our two adult kids. They are interesting and delightful young people who actually seem to enjoy spending time with their ancient parents (within reason). I’m also blessed with a close-knit extended family (hurray for tension-free holidays), a comfortable home and a vibrant community in a beautiful part of the world.

And I’m especially grateful for the gift of meaningful work. In the past I’ve held positions where I felt valued but not essential, meaning someone else could step in and do the same job. And the work, though worthwhile, wasn’t my personal passion. But as Chief Cook and Brush Washer at Makino Studios, I now create art and poetry that no one else could make because it is an authentic expression of my being, borne of my unique life experience.

It means even more that my art resonates for others, providing a bit of beauty and insight in a world that sorely needs both. With zero paid advertising, I sell more than 15,000 cards a year. Though that is barely a rounding error for Hallmark, I see each card as a little spark between two people, helping them express their caring for each other. My calendars, prints and books, often given as gifts, play a similar role. I’m honored to be a vehicle for those connections.

My poems also seem to speak to people: a recently published haiku sequence about losing our dog Misha, called “At the Exit,” garnered heartfelt responses from readers who took the time to email, comment on social media or tell me in person how much it meant to them.

So this season, I give special thanks to you, my supporters, for giving me a sense of purpose, for the gift of right livelihood. As the Sufi poet Rumi said, “Let the beauty we love be what we do. There are hundreds of ways to kneel and kiss the ground.”

Happy Thanksgiving!

Makino Studios News

Calendars, books and notecard sets are among the Makino Studios items offered at 15% off through this Sunday, Dec. 1, 2024 with code THANKS2024.

Thanksgiving sale: Cards, notecard sets, calendars, books and prints are all 15% off in the shop through this Sunday at midnight. Enter discount code THANKS2024 at checkout. Good on orders of $20 or more while supplies last.

2025 calendars: For the 12th year running, my mini-calendars of haiku and art are still just $12 each (or $10.20 if you catch the Thanksgiving sale). These beautiful little calendars make great gifts for friends and family!

Notecard sets: Browse several designs of holiday and everyday notecard sets. These come eight to a box with eight kraft envelopes.

Greeting cards: You can find 70 single cards in the card section of the Makino Studios site, including some holiday designs. Note that some designs are almost sold out at the moment.

Holiday shipping deadlines: For arrival on or before December 25, please place your order no later than December 17. The mail has been slow these days, so even sooner is safer.

Made in Humboldt Fair: For Humboldt County folks, this event at Pierson Garden Shop in Eureka, CA is running now through Dec. 24. There you can find my book (Water and Stone: Ten Years of Art and Haiku), signed and matted prints, 2025 calendars and notecard sets.

Arcata Holiday Craft Market: This fair takes place Dec. 14-15 at the Arcata Community Center in Arcata, CA. This is my only in-person event this season. Look for the Makino Studios booth on the lefthand side of the main hall.

“It’s complicated”: A year ago I wrote this post about the uneasy history of Thanksgiving, which is relevant again.

Thanks: I always appreciate your feedback, whether by email, in person or on social media.

Credits: Haiku in this post were first published in tinywords, The Heron’s Nest and Wales Haiku Journal.

The tale of three sisters and a blank calendar

“egret wings” is 8x10, made with paper, acrylic paint, pen and glue on cradled wood. It is part of the Makino Studios 2025 calendar of art and haiku. A card version reads, “wishing you a wonder-full birthday”. © Annette Makino 2024

First of all, I’m excited to share that my 2025 calendars have arrived! This is the twelfth year in a row that I’ve produced a mini-calendar of my art and haiku (and they are still only $12). I’m so pleased to be able to share the culmination of a year’s worth of art-making with you.

fresh calendar
the squares empty
with promise

But today I want to tell you about the deep roots of this calendar project. I co-produced my first art calendar back in 1976, at the ripe old age of 13. My mother, two younger sisters and I were living in Basel, Switzerland with my elderly grandmother that year. One fall afternoon, my mom brought home a calendar for the following year with a blank space for each month’s image. She asked us three girls to create the art. We set to work with our colored markers on the floor of our shared bedroom. I remember drawing a scene of the birch woods near my grandmother’s house, fiery in yellow and orange leaves. Our mom, who always encouraged our creativity, loved the calendar.

"Another Makino Production" - art calendars by Erika, Annette, Yoshi and Yuri Makino

Back in the US the next year, we three created another calendar from scratch, photocopied it and gave copies to close friends and family for the holidays. We continued to make these every year through our teens and college years, labeling them “Another Makino Production.”

Through the 70s we drew unicorns, butterflies and mimes. In the early 80s these gave way to punk/New Wave-inspired designs and absurdist pen and ink sketches with titles like “Mr. Zapkins Takes a Bath.” When we were in late high school and college, the calendars included portraits of boyfriends and, in the case of my sister Yoshi, detailed assignments from art school. Besides pen and ink drawings, we featured scratch board art, black and white photos and linoleum block prints—anything that would Xerox well.

"Birth of Annette" by Annette Makino, December 1966 (age 3-1/2).

But as we got busy with the rest of life, it became harder to come up with four artworks apiece. One year we stretched our offerings by producing a “special artistic retrospective” that featured some charmingly strange drawings from our toddler days. One depicted my birth, or so I explained at the time. We also included sketches by our mom, Erika, as a guest artist.

Untitled, by Yuri M., produced around 3 a.m. some night in late 1980 (age 13)

Another year, my sister Yuri stayed up till 3 a.m. the night before our deadline, making a sketch of one of her running shoes, laces trailing. It was a decent likeness, but oddly small and pathetic on the page. It looked like the desperate last-minute measure that it was, and we have laughed about it ever since. Though my sisters and I stopped producing our calendar in 1987, my collection is a precious time capsule of our youth.

Fast waaaay forward to 2013, and I created the first Makino Studios calendar of my art and haiku. To my surprise, the 400 calendars I printed that year sold out—even though my customers were not all blood relatives! Over the past dozen years, these annual calendars have continued to earn fans—I love hearing how people ship them to friends around the country and abroad. And my sisters still provide valuable critiques of my works in progress.

November rain
the swaying palms
on the calendar

While my artistic technique has improved since I was 13, I still get just as much pleasure from creating a usable collection of art and sharing it with the world. In fact, I consider the Makino Studios mini-calendar to be a tiny rotating art gallery. Thanks to all who have served as curators by hanging one on your wall! There are no unicorns (or running shoes) in the 2025 edition, but I hope you will enjoy it all the same.

Makino Studios News

These 2025 mini-calendars measure  5-1/2” wide by 7” tall closed (5-1/2” x 14” open). 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.

NEW! 2025 calendars: Featuring original haiku and Asian-inspired collages of peaceful landscapes and animals, my mini-calendars are $12 each. Special thanks to those who agreed to serve as my focus group, helping me decide which pieces to leave out and which to put on the cover.

New cards coming: Birthdays, sympathy, get well, holiday and everyday—I have ten new card designs coming off the press soon. Check for them around Sept. 25 in the card section of the Makino Studios site!

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

Henderson Haiku Awards: This year I was honored to serve as one of the two judges for the Haiku Society of America’s flagship haiku contest. Fellow haiku poet P.H. Fischer and I pored over more than 1200 poems to find our favorites. Check out the winning poems and our commentary.

Seabeck Haiku Getaway: Sponsored by Haiku Northwest, this fun and inspiring gathering takes place in Seabeck, Washington October 24-27. I will be there and can highly recommend this annual event for beginning and experienced haiku points alike. P.H. Fischer and I co-edited the conference anthology for last year’s getaway, sparking memories of a great long weekend of marinating in haiku.

Made in Humboldt Holiday Fair: I’ll have Makino Studios wares, including 2025 calendars, notecard sets and books at Pierson’s Garden Shop in Eureka, CA November 5-December 24.

Arcata Holiday Craft Market: Mark your calendars: my only in-person event of the whole year will take place Saturday and Sunday, December 14-15 at the Arcata Community Center in Arcata, CA. This festive event raises scholarship funds for low-income youth to participate in the City of Arcata’s recreation programs.

The haiku “egret wings” was first published in Wales Haiku Journal.

“November rain” was first published in Frogpond, the journal of the Haiku Society of America

"The Three Sisters" by Yuri Makino, 1971 (age 4).

The reality of the artist life

“dream journal” is 8x10, made from book pages, newsprint, junk mail, vintage Japanese letters, washi papers, acrylic paint, glue, charcoal and white ink on cradled wood. It is also available as a card reading, “happy birthday to an extraordinary being.”

When you picture the life of a working artist, do you imagine days filled with sketching ideas or brushing canvasses in a paint-splattered studio? Maybe mixing buckets of paint and experimenting with colors and textures? That was certainly my impression before I became a full-time artist myself!

That picture may be true for some artists, but for me the reality is that actually creating art is just a small part of my work. You might say it's just one arm of the octopus. To give you some idea, here are a few things I’ve been doing these past few days.

  • preparing a Zoom presentation and workshop on creating haiga (art with haiku) for a haiku group this Saturday afternoon (and you’re invited! Details in the Makino Studios News section);

  • co-editing a conference anthology for the Seabeck Haiku Getaway I attended in October;

  • updating my CV and submitting materials for a proposed show of local Asian American artists;

  • shipping Makino Studios orders (especially 2024 calendars) and restocking stores (especially cards); and

  • working on year-end accounting and tax prep for my business.

Oh, and I wrote several haiku. (As per usual, they are mostly bad, though I think there are a couple with potential.) I also went on several long walks at the beach, woods and marsh, which ultimately inspires most of my art and haiku.

While I sometimes feel frustrated that I don’t have more time in my studio, the reality is that most of these other activities are enjoyable too. For instance, I’m learning a lot about the editorial process by co-editing a publication for the first time. But I definitely do not enjoy bookkeeping!

year-end accounting
I try to reconcile
the past

The truth is that while most of my other commitments are ongoing throughout the year, I tend to create art in concentrated bursts, especially during my summer retreats on the river. My collage papers are just gathering dust right now, but the time will come when I dive back in to art making, tearing paper and splattering paint with gusto!

I did dip into art-making when my two sisters visited recently. We had fun creating plant prints using leaves and grasses on a gel press, which I will use in future collages. (Photo: Yoshi Makino)

Makino Studios News

Haiga presentation/workshop: In this Zoom event for Komo Kulshan Haiku, a group based in the Pacific Northwest, I will present a selection of my haiga (art with haiku), talk about how to create haiga, and then lead a workshop on pairing haiku with images. You are invited to join this free meeting, which takes place this Saturday, January 20, 1-3 p.m. Pacific. Zoom link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89424637034

2024 mini-calendars: I still have some of these calendars of art and haiku for sale, which feature 12 colorful Asian-inspired collages with original haiku.

Valentine’s day cards: February 14 will be here before you know it! I have several cards suitable for Valentine’s Day, such as this collage design reading, “you are my heart’s delight.”

Free shipping: Use promo code FREESHIP35 for free shipping on any order of $35 or more.

From the archives: For more about the challenges of being an artist—and my 23 failed attempts to paint a simple frog—see my 2013 blog post, “The truth about being an artist.”

Thanks: I always appreciate your comments, especially the kind responses to the feature article, “Annette Makino’s life in collage” that ran in the North Coast Journal last month.

A few gel press prints made with plants, which I’ll use for collages.

Hiking haiku for nature lovers

“morning hike” is 11x14, created from handwritten notes, book pages, and Japanese washi papers. These were painted, torn and glued on cradled wood panel. This is one of the pages of the 2024 Makino Studios calendar. The image is also available as a card reading, “the woods may be dark but I’ll walk beside you.”

I recently attended the annual Seabeck Haiku Getaway in beautiful Seabeck, Washington. Organized by Haiku Northwest, this is always a magical and fun gathering. As a featured reader there, I chose to share some poems I’ve written over the years inspired by the hikes my husband and I take several times a week. It seems fitting that during my reading at Scenic Beach State Park, a bald eagle’s cry punctuated my words.

As I explained at my reading, here on California’s redwood coast, we are blessed with amazing variety in the natural landscapes around us, including deserted beaches, old-growth redwood forests and tree-lined rivers. Here is a sampling of the haiku that I’ve found along the trail.

morning hike
my face undoing
the spider’s work

leaf light
tree by tree
the path unfolds

I highly recommend the Seabeck Haiku Getaway for haiku poets anywhere. For more details and photos of this year’s gathering, see @annettemakino on Instagram or Makino Studios on Facebook, links below.


our easy silence
every puddle
sky-deep

tree pose
the redwoods and I
wave our branches

untold stories
tufts of rabbit fur
line the trail

edge of the woods
some things I may not
want to know

chigger bites
my finger traces
the wilderness map

A trail on the grounds of the Seabeck Conference Center in Seabeck, WA in October 2023.

fallen shore pine
an egret’s long glide
over still water

solo hike
slowly catching up
to myself


mountain switchbacks
a turkey vulture
considers our odds

summer dusk
we cede the great outdoors
to a mosquito

egret wings
the evening sun
glides to earth


In these turbulent times, here’s wishing you the peace and healing of time spent in nature.

Publication and contest credits: Acorn; A Warm Welcome: 2013 Seabeck Haiku Getaway Anthology; The Sacred in Contemporary Haiku; Harold G. Henderson Memorial Awards Contest; Wales Haiku Journal; Modern Haiku; The Heron’s Nest; Dust Devils: The Red Moon Anthology of English-Language Haiku 2016; Presence; Something Out of Nothing: 75 Haiga.

Makino Studios News

New card designs: I’ve created eight new cards for a range of occasions. Browse the whole collection.

New holiday notecard set: I also designed some new boxed notecards of persimmons, reading, “wishing you joyful holidays.” See all notecard sets.

2024 calendar: My mini-calendars of haiku and art make great gifts—and they are still just $12 each.

Haiga presentation: October was a busy month: I was also a featured reader for Haiku Poets of Northern California, where I showed a selection of my watercolor and collage haiga (art with haiku). The 15-minute Zoom presentation is on YouTube.

Made in Humboldt Fair at Pierson’s: This event at the Pierson Garden Shop in Eureka features locally made gifts and food products by Humboldt artisans and craftspeople. You can find my calendars, notecard sets, signed prints and books there. Runs through Dec. 24.

Arcata Holiday Craft Market: This fair benefiting youth development scholarships takes place the weekend of December 9-10 at the Arcata Community Center. Look for my Makino Studios booth on the lefthand side of the main room. Mother’s Cooking Experience will cater.

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

The Galápagos in haiku

“Enchanted Islands” is 11x14, created with oil paint, cold wax medium, rice paper and sumi ink on paper. © Annette Makino 2023

So my husband and I made a once-in-a-lifetime trip to the Galápagos Islands last December. We had a truly magical week seeing blue-footed boobies, Galápagos penguins, land tortoises and sea lions, all unafraid of the gawking humans.

We kayaked through a lagoon with sea turtles, marine iguanas and rays. We snorkeled through lava tunnels with whitetip reef sharks and schools of brilliant tropical fish. And we hiked around a volcano crater, meeting a land iguana in the wild. I now understand why the place that Charles Darwin made famous is known as the Enchanted Islands.

As soon as we returned to mainland Ecuador, I came down with a nasty case of Covid. I had to spend the next week alone in a hotel room while my husband traveled around with our son, who spent fall semester there. (Fortunately for me, Uber Eats operates in Quito!)

Despite getting sick, I’m thankful that I got to the Galápagos, and am still processing the trip. Today I am sharing a recently published haiku sequence from that time. I hope this gives you a sense of the experience—without the cooties!

Galápagos 

Enchanted Islands
a sea turtle glides
along our kayak 

through the waves
without a narrator
marine iguana 

local character
a sea lion snoozes
on a park bench 

cumulus clouds 
flowing over the rim
cooled lava

luggage piled
on the boat taxi’s roof
frigate birds 

my breath
into thin air . . .
volcano fog

I would love to know hear what places are on your bucket list!

Publication credit: Frogpond, 46:2, Spring/Summer 2023

Sleeping sea lion spotted in Puerto Ayora on Santa Cruz Island, the Galápagos Islands, Ecuador.

Makino Studios News

Hello summer: Cards, notecard sets, books, prints—take 15% off everything in the store with your order of $15 or more thru 11:59 p.m. this Sunday, July 2. Enter code SUMMER15 at checkout. One code per order.

Sunkist Festival: This small and delightful fair, cancelled due to rain in May, has been rescheduled for Sunday, August 6, from 11 to 5. Besides arts and crafts booths, the festival will feature wood-fired pizzas and other goodies plus live music. 135 Sunkist Lane, off Glendale near the Blue Lake Murphy’s Market in McKinleyville, CA.

Obon Festival: Organized by Humboldt Asian Pacific Islanders in Solidarity (HAPI), the Obon Festival will take place on Sunday, August 13 at the Creamery District in Arcata, CA. There will be taiko drumming, bon odori dancing, bento boxes, games for kids and vendors like me. (I’ve decided not to do the North Country Fair in September, so these two fairs are your best shot at catching my Makino Studios booth in the coming months!)

Studio visits: If you can’t make it to the fairs, I am also happy to schedule a visit to my home studio located between Arcata and Blue Lake, CA.

Meanwhile: I’ve been working away on my art, experimenting with a new technique (oil and cold wax medium, as in the sea turtle piece above), and playing with more mixed media in my collages. In the coming months these will find their way into cards, calendars and eventually another book like Water and Stone!

Big news from the back woods

tendrils of fog
I follow a thread
back into the dream

Featuring a Roosevelt elk in a misty lagoon, “tendrils of fog” is 11x14, made with acrylic paint, washi paper, book pages and glue on cradled birch panel. It is one of the ten work samples I submitted with my Jacoby Award application, and is part of my 2023 calendar.

The call came in from an unfamiliar number, and the voice on the other end said, “Hi, how are you doing this morning?” I immediately suspected a robocall and didn’t even answer, expecting the recorded script to continue by offering me an extended auto warranty or a low-interest loan. When the silence stretched out, I finally asked, sharply, “Who’s calling?”

That’s when the conversation took an unexpected turn. “This is Sydney from the Humboldt Area Foundation and Wild Rivers Community Foundation. I’m calling to tell you that you’ve won a $10,000 Victor Thomas Jacoby Award!”

Having been turned down twice before for this coveted and prestigious grant, I had not expected anything different from my latest application, so I was stunned. I managed an apology for my awkward initial response and gave profuse thanks. After I hung up, I broke out in celebratory wolf howls, confusing the dog.

The 2022 Jacoby Awards, which were announced today, honor Humboldt County artists for their vision and creativity. Winners are encouraged to explore new ideas, materials, techniques and mediums.

In my application, titled “Torn Together: Japanese-Inspired Collage with Haiku,” I explained my plans to make my collages more personal. Among other approaches, I aim to introduce more materials that have autobiographical significance like old letters, children’s drawings and family photos.

I concluded, “I can imagine how delicious it would feel to have permission to develop my art without financial pressures or expected outcomes. The grant would allow me to engage fully in joyful and curious exploration, to allow one idea to spark another. There’s no telling what can arise from creative play!”

“tendrils of fog” in process.

Winning this award really is a dream come true. The money is of course extremely welcome. But I also deeply appreciate the award as a form of recognition of my work as an artist. My thanks to the jury of local leaders in the arts, and congratulations to the other 2022 Jacoby Award recipients!

For years my husband Paul has joked about an imaginary JBYY Foundation that gives grants “Just Because You’re You.” With no reporting requirements or deliverables, the Jacoby grant is the closest thing I know to that fantasy. Deepest thanks to the late Victor Jacoby, a French tapestry artist, for his vision in establishing this trust to support his fellow Humboldt County artists. And I look forward to sharing what emerges.

P.S. I had an amazing time in the Galápagos Islands last week and am now writing to you from Quito, Ecuador! There is much to tell, but I’ll save that for another time. I do have someone filling orders while I’m traveling, so order away.

The haiku “tendrils of fog” was previously published in Frogpond and in On Down the Road: Haiku Society of America Members’ Anthology 2017.

Here are a couple of inside pages from my 2023 calendar.

Makino Studios News

Free shipping through Saturday:
Just for newsletter subscribers and followers, I’ve set up promo code JINGLE for free US shipping with no minimums through this Saturday, Dec. 17. The US Postal Service advises that for first-class packages to arrive by Dec. 25, they should be shipped by this Saturday. Enter the code at checkout.

Made in Humboldt fair: The “Made in Humboldt” event at Pierson Garden Shop in Eureka, CA runs through Friday, Dec. 24. This is the only fair where you can buy my calendars, books, prints and boxed notecards this season. There are 250 participating vendors, all local.

Calendars: 2023 mini-calendars of art and haiku make great gifts and the recipients will remember your thoughtfulness all year long!

Books: Water and Stone: Ten Years of Art and Haiku makes another meaningful present. The fourth printing includes excerpts from the gracious reviews and judges’ comments.

Cards: Holiday, birthday, sympathy or everyday… there is a Makino Studios card for every occasion. I also offer four different notecard sets.

Halloween treats

“all that I am” incorporates "asemic" or made-up writing by my young nephew, book pages, a fern print, a vintage Japanese letter, and washi papers from Japan. I painted the papers, then tore and glued them onto cradled birch panel. The original is 11x14. This is one of the pages of my 2023 calendar of haiku and art.

Fall is definitely upon us. At home we’ve started making wood fires on these crisp mornings and evenings. The leaves on our Mount Fuji cherry trees are turning a deep gold—a less celebrated but still beautiful phase of their year.

“all that I am” collage in process

all that I am
still unfolding
cherry tree in autumn

Meanwhile, I’ve been gearing up for the holiday season. I’ve produced new boxed notecard sets and delivered my new cards and 2023 calendars to local stores.

As a Halloween treat, I’m offering 20% off everything in my Makino Studios shop until midnight on Monday, October 31st. There is no minimum order—just use code TREAT.

For another goodie, I’m sharing a rengay on the theme of Halloween written with one of the haiku poets I mentor, Aaron Samuel. (A rengay is a linked sequence of two and three-line haiku usually written by two or three poets.)

We had a lot of fun taking turns writing the verses. I’m curious to hear if this brings up any memories of your own past Halloweens.

All Hallow's Eve

cloudy skies
toilet paper ghosts
sway from the trees

electric candles flicker
behind the pumpkin's eyes

blood moon
a thumb-sucking Dracula
hides behind her mummy

technicolor blood
the horror movie
plays on
in my dreams

in the dark woods
teens meet for grownup treats

jack-o-lantern grin
the one-eyed pirate
sorts his loot

Aaron Samuel
Annette Makino

Happy Halloween!

“all that I am” published in Modern Haiku, Issue 52.1, Winter-Spring 2021
All Hallow’s Eve published in Failed Haiku, Volume 7, Issue 39, June 2022

Makino Studios News

Rabbit notecards read, “peace on earth, goodwill to all creatures.”

20% off through Halloween: Use promo code TREAT at checkout for 20% off everything in the Makino Studios shop except original art. Good for first-class shipping within the U.S. Offer ends at midnight on Monday, Oct. 31. Only one promo code per order.

New notecard sets: A new holiday notecard set features a small rabbit in a snowy forest. The words read, “peace on earth, good will to all creatures.” Another new all-purpose notecard set features four different scenes of wild places: beaches, redwood forest and a wildflower meadow. These are $20 for a set of eight cards with eight kraft envelopes.

2023 calendar of art and haiku: For the tenth year in a row, I have created a mini-calendar of art and haiku. Featuring natural scenes and original words, the calendar is $12. Makes a great holiday gift!

New cards: I’ve recently added ten new designs to my card lineup, currently numbering close to 80 designs. These cards are made with fiber from responsibly managed forests, and the mill uses green energy and carbon offsets. They are printed in Arcata, California by an independent small business. Card envelopes are produced in the USA from 100% post-consumer recycled paper. $5 each, blank inside.

Book of art and haiku: There are fewer than 20 copies left of my award-winning book, Water and Stone: Ten Years of Art and Haiku. It will take several weeks to have more printed and shipped, so order while supplies last! This makes a lovely gift.

Studio visits: Although I don’t plan to do any in-person fairs the rest of this year, you can always visit my studio by appointment.

Thanks: I appreciate everyone who came to my collage show, “Torn Together,” at Just My Type in Eureka, CA last month, and to those who visited my Makino Studios booth at the North Country Fair in Arcata! It was a real pleasure to connect with you.