Welcome to the Debut
of the August Blog Bash 2012!
I am very much excited and honored to be hosting this new feature series... and it is a great way to end the summer! This Blog Bash is an impressive talent showcase of poets, artists, and writers/authors from all walks of life. For each day of this month, one individual will be featured here on this blog, at Origami Lotus Stones, my Twitter (hashtag will be #augblogbash), my Facebook community page, and on my blog page on Writing Our Way Home. Please be patient while I post on all platforms.
**Please note that all authors/artists have given me permission to post their work on the following platforms/sites I have just mentioned. Please do not plagiarize, modify, reproduce, or distribute any work without permission from the original authors/artists. Thank you!**
If you are interested in participating in this Blog Bash, feel free to check out the details here.
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Today's Feature: Annette Makino
Today's exciting Blog Bash features Annette Makino, a poet and an artist. She merges haiku and senryu with Japanese ink paintings (as shown here in today's feature) in the form of haiga. Her techniques in both poetry and art embody the concept of wabi-sabi in Japanese aesthetics and philosophy. There is simple beauty to her haiga without overwhelming the reader/viewer. In each haiga, there are soft touches of brushstrokes which resemble watercolor painting to me (other than Japanese ink painting). Nevertheless, each haiga is lovely and unique in its own way.
In the haiga, "[June morning]" (above), I love the sense of mystery as the speaker of the poem (or author) tries to decipher each birdsong and match it to the correct bird. However, it is a symphony of "unseen birds," so distinguishing each bird note from the other may be difficult. The pivot between lines 2 and 3 of the haiku within the haiga is skillfully employed. In fact, it is visually divided (note the white space between lines 2 and 3), giving a sense to the reader that perhaps on one June morning, a person is receiving "unknown calls" via the phone or by some other means. Once we get past the white space (a little pause here), we find that we are brought back to nature ("unseen birds"). Note the similarity and familiarity of unknown/unseen people and things. In this haiga, sounds of human nature reflect sounds of nature (or so it seems). Such depth, this haiga...
In "[summer solstice]" (below), there are elements of simplicity and the natural process of life. In this particular haiga, peaches mark the beginning of summer as they "ripen / into sweetness." There is also tangibility (evoking the senses) because the peaches look drool-worthy delicious. Even though this haiga reads simply, I think it goes beyond the reader's eyes. For instance, perhaps the author/artist/speaker of the poem associates peaches with the lingering "sweetness" of summer carried over from the end of spring. This haiga invites the reader to fill in his/her "sweetness" while reading and enjoying the haiga because after all, I am sure we each associate the summer solstice to a number of different things, people, and places.
P. S. All August Blog Bash contributors will be receiving one of Makino's card! There are also other drawings too (prizes to be updated). Stay tuned!
Such beautiful work, Annette! Thank you so much for sharing and being one of the contributors!
(NB: Text arrangement on MS PowerPoint by Kathy Uyen Nguyen. Please note that text/graphics will be in this format.)
To check out more of Annette's work, you can click on the following link(s): Makino Studios (website) Makino Studios (blog) Makino Studios (Facebook) @Ant99 (Twitter) Please do promote this new feature on Facebook, Twitter, etc.! Thanks so much for all the support! And look, my blog now has buttons (see below) to make your life easier! Come back tomorrow for a new artist/author feature!
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