I was standing in the closet on Thursday morning when my phone started screeching. A couple seconds of confusion, then strong shaking. I quickly crawled under an oak coffee table to ride out a very scary earthquake. Everything rattled and swayed, and in the hot tub, my husband Paul got sloshed around. I was still under the coffee table when my phone squawked again, this time with a tsunami warning. But thankfully, though it was a 7.0 shaker just 63 miles away, there was very little damage and no tsunami. The only casualty we sustained was a taper candle that fell over and broke. This was ..read more

“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 houseboun ..read more

software update the maple releasing its obsolete                        l                             e                                        a                                 v                        e       ..read more

software update the maple releasing its obsolete           l           e a             v           e s “software update” is 11x14, made with acrylic paint, paper, pen and glue on cradled wood. This is a page from my 2025 calendar. A card version reads, “have a wild and crazy birthday”. © Annette Makino 2024 I had a wonderful time at the Seabeck Haiku Getaway last month! It was four days of marinating in all things haiku with fellow poets in beautiful Seabeck, Washington. Since the conferen ..read more

Happy October! This harvest season I’m excited to share a release of ten new card designs for birthdays, condolences, holidays and more. You can browse all 70-plus single cards, as well as boxed notecard sets, in the card section. I am also now shipping my 2025 mini-calendar of art and haiku. The Eureka Times-Standard just ran this fun feature called A calendar tradition on the origins of my haiku calendar, going back to a childhood art project with my two sisters. (Journalist Heather Shelton was inspired by my last blog post/e-newsletter about this history.) Shipping is free for orders of $35 ..read more

“mixed ancestry” is 8x10, made of a letter and envelope from my Swiss grandmother, Japanese washi paper, buttons covered with kimono fabric, a feather, acrylic paint, thread and glue on cradled wood. It is on view at Medium Gallery in Ukiah, CA through August 2024. © Annette Makino 2021 What a wild stretch we’ve had on the political front! Just three weeks ago, with Joe Biden insisting he was staying in the presidential race and the assassination attempt on Donald Trump, things felt very dire to me. The mood at the Republican National Convention was triumphant as surveys of voter opinion show ..read more

“baby sparrow” is 11x14, made from paper, acrylic paint, pencil, charcoal and glue on birch panel. It is one of two pieces now showing at the Medium Gallery in Ukiah, CA. The image is also available as a card reading, “so happy you were born.” © Annette Makino 2022 First of all, Happy Fourth of July! To celebrate, I’m offering 20% off everything in my Makino Studios shop (except original art) on orders of $20 or more. Just use code 4JULY at checkout before midnight this Sunday. In the months since I last wrote, I’ve spent a lot of time caregiving for my 96-year-old mother. I’ve also been been ..read more

“fields of lupine” is 8x10, made with acrylic paint, washi paper, part of a map, colored pencils and glue on cradled wood. It is part of the 2024 Makino Studios calendar. A card version reads, “love you, mama bear.” © Annette Makino 2023 Today is the 13th anniversary of Makino Studios! A huge thank you to all the customers, store buyers and fans who have made this art business possible for a lucky thirteen years. To celebrate, I’m offering 13% off everything in the store though this Sunday with code 13YEARS. And tomorrow marks the official return of spring! Here in Northern California, it’s b ..read more

“dawn’s early light” is 8x10, made from Japanese washi papers, metallic gold paper, book pages, paint and glue on cradled wood panel. It is the February art for my 2024 calendar. A card version reads, “you light up the room.” © Annette Makino 2023 I must admit I ignored Taylor Swift for years, thinking a pop star with such mainstream popularity, a pretty blonde beloved by teenage girls, would not be my cup of tea. But with the 2020 release of her folk-pop album Folklore, I took another listen—and became a fan. I belatedly discovered she is a gifted songwriter who writes original and interesti ..read more

“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 f ..read more