Artist shows new haiku paintings at North Country Fair

The Times-Standard
Eureka, California
September 23, 2012

ARCATA — Every summer, Annette Makino and her husband and children spend a week or two on the Klamath River near Orleans. They typically fill their lazy days with swimming, picking berries, hunting for toads and watching shooting stars.

But three summers ago, Makino added a new twist to this vacation routine: She began writing haiku and illustrating her poems with Japanese ink paintings. Naturally, her riverside experiences found their way into her work.

“The gift of writing haiku and painting is that you are compelled to look deeply at the world around you,” said Makino. “When I’m at the river, the unstructured days and the gorgeous, peaceful surroundings allow me to really open my eyes and heart and let creativity flow through me.”

With fall in the air, the Arcata-based artist is ready to share her harvest of 21 new artworks, many emerging from her time on the river this summer.

She will be exhibiting these paintings for the first time at the North Country Fair on the Arcata Plaza this weekend.

Here are two of Makino’s river-inspired haiku:

ripe blackberry
the invitation
dangles

fire circle
sparks rise through darkness
to join the stars

Makino’s latest series of intimate 5-inch-by-7-inch pieces is painted on textured card stock with bamboo brushes. She uses sumi ink and Japanese gansai paint, a mineral-based paint similar to watercolors.

“This collection is inspired by the Japanese tradition of etegami, painting postcards to mail to friends,” Makino said. “In this custom, the subject of each card is usually a simple object from daily life, and a few words are added.”

The two-day North Country Fair is held on the Arcata Plaza and features some 200 craft and food booths as well as two parades and two stages for live music. The fair runs Saturday and Sunday, September 15 and 16, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.

The Makino Studios booth can be found near the corner of 9th and G streets by Hot Knots. In addition to showing her original paintings, Makino will debut a collection of eight brand-new card designs. She will also offer signed prints, handmade books and t-shirts featuring her haiku and art.

Fourteen stores around Humboldt County carry selections of Makino’s haiku greeting cards, and her art is also available online. For more information about Makino’s work, see www.makinostudios.com or call 707-362-6644. For more information about the North Country Fair, see www.sameoldpeople.org or call 707-822-5320.