artist in residence

New Artwork: Vigilance Is Our Weapon

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A companion to Surveillance, this work casts black-headed gulls as drones above a sea built from lace- and felt-placemat stencils and stamps. To evoke the stark visual language of USSR propaganda, the composition relies on a limited color palette and flat, simplified forms. The painted red laser beams begin as perfokaart stencils and then scale progressively to convey perspective and expansion toward the panel's edges. The substrate is a crochet base panel used for bags and accessories; ironically, the perforations in the panel are laser cut. Through its use of domestic textile imagery and substrate, the piece serves as a bridge between my Soviet occupation series and my ongoing explorations of Estonian craft traditions.

The title of this piece comes directly from a USSR propaganda poster from 1953.

This is Vigilance Is Our Weapon, acrylic, lace and perfokaart stenciling, and felt stamping on crochet base panel, 11.8x11.8x.125”, 2026.

Shelby Prindaville's gulls-as-drones painting on crochet base panel.

New Artwork: Surveillance

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I took a departure from my textile mixed-media paintings for this piece. When I arrived at Loovlinnak Creative City Artist Residency, directors Al Padrok and Taje Tross generously gave me access to their tools and supplies, including several stacks of paper. Most of it was unremarkable: construction paper, printer paper, and graph paper. But one small stack caught my eye immediately. I could tell it was old and somehow related to typewriters or early computers, and when I asked, I learned it dated to the Soviet occupation. I adopted all of it, just four sheets, one of which had some math scribbled across it in pen.

Research revealed that it is Soviet-era perfokaart: stiff punch cards with holes in specific positions that fed instructions and data into mainframe computers before modern digital storage existed. From the 1970s through the 1980s, Soviet-bloc computing relied heavily on this technology, running the economic planning, industrial control, and record-keeping systems of the USSR, including in occupied Estonia.

I'd already been planning work that referenced Soviet propaganda posters, so the cards were a natural substrate. I cast a black-headed gull (Chroicocephalus ridibundus) as a drone after photographing many of them in flight. The species' limited, high-contrast palette and missile-like profile suited the graphic style of Soviet propaganda posters.

I sketched a range of compositions that played off the perfokaart's holes and contours while keeping that propaganda energy, and landed on a gull flying high, firing a dotted laser beam down into the punched border. I used the scribbled-on card as a stencil for the laser dots.  I kept the first as-is, and then scaled the rest up so the beam widens from a point near the gull into an even band.

This is Surveillance, acrylic on Soviet-era perfokaart (punch card) c. 1978, 8.2x11.75”, 2026.

Shelby Prindaville's painting of a gull cast as a drone on Soviet-era perfokaart.

Pärnu

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After my excursions on my nature and birding tour with Marko Poolamets and my trip to the Applied Arts Fair in Riga, I stayed in Pärnu for the next couple of weeks. While that meant a lot of studio time, it also meant a lot of long walks exploring everything Pärnu has to offer - which is a lot!

On the touristic side, Pärnu’s city symbol is the elephant, and there are concrete elephants strewn throughout the parks and roundabouts, and a large elephant slide is in the sea. There is a quaint Old Town, filled with souvenir stores, fashion shops, and restaurants. My favorite restaurant is a little vegan cafe called Liana Kohvik, but there are a lot of other nice options! There are also multiple malls, where you can get groceries, high end clothing, restaurant meals, and so forth. There are quite a few retailers outside of Old Town, including fabric stores, outlets, and secondhand and vintage shops.

There’s also a lot of beautiful nature! My most scenic walk is is an approximately 5 mile loop through parks and residential neighborhoods down to the protected meadow, out to the beach, along the beach until it ends at the jetty, and then back up and through a park with a sculpture walk. There is always some wildlife to enjoy on that walk, including frogs, birds, and insects. I also really like walking along and across the river.

After almost three weeks and while doing a deep dive online, I discovered an artists’ guild that I hadn’t yet found in Old Town, and I was so confused - but when I went to it, I discovered why: they’ve closed off the whole street for construction for the whole month! With determination, I found an alternate route through back alleys and was pleased I did - it’s got a lot of great artists. There are other arts organizations here as well including the City Gallery and Artists’ House, and the Museum of New Art.

You can click into any of these cropped thumbnails to see the whole, larger images! They’re a mishmash of everything I mentioned above and some extras, like my favorite tree and the cat who demanded a lot of pets while I was eating vegan sushi.

New Artwork: Woven Thresholds

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I’ve been painting red flowers lately, and I intentionally chose to continue that trend since I was building around a component I planned to use from the start: a jacquard folk pattern trim I picked up at Karnaluks OÜ in Tallinn. Once I saw a stand of vivid tulips, the rest of the composition came together..

The process differed from Between Worlds. Here, I painted the floater panel and tulips first, then laid down plastic and painted the lace pattern on top of it. After removing both those layers, I worked through a wide range of compositional options before settling on this angled, mirrored lace overlay. From there I secured the lace, added the trim, then cleaned up and secured the back. This was the second piece I started, but the third to finish! The delay was due to the sequential steps I needed to complete, each of which involved drying/curing periods.

Iconographically, tulips function as shields, threshold filters, and barriers across multiple traditions, a symbolism rooted in their nyctinasty: they close their petals tightly at night or on cloudy days, sealing their core away from cold, damp, and nocturnal threats. That self-protective habit is part of why tulips are believed to draw in positive energy while keeping poverty, bad luck, and hostility from crossing into the home, and why they carry associations of safety within oppressive environments. The lace adds a further veil over the tulips, while the mirrored, overlapping composition contributes a sense of movement and dissonance.

The outer border carries its own layer of meaning: it is a traditional Baltic woven band steeped in regional folklore and protective symbolism. Its color scheme has historically represented life, fire, and an active shield against negative energy. The pattern combines two ancient Baltic symbols: the Cross of Māra, tied to the Latvian goddess of earth and home and read as a sign of grounding and stability, and the hourglass motif, which represents the rhythm of time and the meeting point of the spiritual and physical worlds.

This is Woven Thresholds, acrylic, lace, and jacquard trim on wooden floater panel, 14x11x.5”, 2026.

Shelby Prindaville’s mixed media lace painting of tulips on a floater panel with Baltic jacquard trim.

New Artwork: Sower's Shadow

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Wool is ubiquitous here in the Nordic-Baltic region, appearing in many forms: knitted, crocheted, and felted into clothing, mittens, and gloves; accessories like hats, necklaces, and pins; and home goods like placemats, blankets, and children's stuffed animals.

When I came across a felt letter board at a vintage shop in Pärnu, it spoke to me as a viable substrate. I wanted to incorporate wool in some way into my Estonian body of work given its regional importance, and I also liked the idea of converting a familiar mechanism for rigid text-based communication into artwork that through removal of its frame, rotation, and incorporation of organic form brings new associations.

This second finished mixed media painting depicts a rook (Corvus frugilegus). A member of the corvid family (which also includes crows, ravens, and jackdaws), rooks forage on arable land and nest close to farms and villages.

This is Sower’s Shadow, acrylic, molding paste, and matte medium on felt letter board, 11x14.9x.4”, 2026.

Shelby Prindaville's painting of a rook on a felt letter board.

My First Days in the Baltics - Helsinki, Tallinn, western Estonia

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I flew into Helsinki, Finland; when I was looking at my flights, I saw they all routed through Helsinki to Tallinn. Since I knew I wanted to visit it during my stay, I figured I’d save on time and ferry costs if I just landed in Helsinki to begin with and then ferried down to Tallinn after a couple of days.

In Helsinki, I visited two different museums (the Architecture and Design Museum and Amos Rex), Temppeliaukio Church, and checked out Hietalahti flea market, Market Square, Old Market Hall), and the Design District. I was lucky enough to get to visit Amos Rex with a former student of mine who was also in Helsinki, so that was quite cool! As I was seeing all the arts and crafts, I noted how much knitting, crocheting, fiber arts, fabrics, and fashion are a part of the design landscape here - particularly that of women. I decided I want to lean into that for my own artwork.

Some general takeaways from Helsinki - the downtown and all associated destinations felt more contained and smaller than I anticipated. There is pretty clearly a decent vegan and vegetarian scene. The tram system is really nice. For whatever reason, Helsinki is like Japan wherein they give you the smallest of cups even for water, so you have to ask for refills constantly. Or you just outright have to pay for water, and even then it’s a tiny bottle. I much prefer the US’s large glass of free tap water approach.

After I was done touring Helsinki, I took the Tallink ferry down from Helsinki to Tallinn, Estonia. The ferry was absolutely enormous, and fortunately it did not set off any significant motion sickness. Once in Tallinn, I hauled my luggage from the port terminal to my hotel and set off on an evening walking loop of the Old Town. Note the seagull-man standoff; they were arguing about whose dinner it was that the man was trying to consume.

The next morning, I headed to Karnaluks OÜ to check out fabric and ribbon options, and had lunch in Tallinn before catching a bus down to Pärnu. After I arrived, I met with the residency directors Taje Tross and Al Paldrok, and they showed me the ins and outs of the residency and nearby neighborhood. I popped out to grab some groceries and then met up for dinner with Marko Poolamets, a Renaissance man. Amongst his many professions, he serves as a nature photographer and tour guide; I had booked the next day with him and his gear. He is also a university professor of marketing, an oral history interviewer, sits on the board of two museums, does environmental science work…

The next morning, Marko and I woke up quite early and went out for a long, delightful day of mostly birding (we were open to other species too, but the birds are plentiful here!). It was lovely to work with him and to get to borrow his gear, including his spotting scope with phone attachment. We spent a full twelve hours touring around a chunk of western Estonia including Matsalu and Haapsalu.

Then the rest of that first week I spent in the studio!

Upcoming: Takt Residency in Berlin, Germany

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I have previously completed multiple summers with two residencies when it was logistically and/or financially efficient to do so. Because international airfare represents a significant portion of the overall expense, the timelines lined up, and the locations are reasonably close, I’m pleased to share that I will be doing another two residency summer!

Following my residency this June at Loovlinnak Creative City Artist Residency in Pärnu, Estonia, I will be undertaking a residency in July at Takt in Berlin, Germany. I’ve been working on setting this up for several months, but though it does save on airfare it nevertheless is of course more expensive than doing just one - so part of the organizing included seeking funding. Fortunately, I was just awarded a Morningside University 2026 Ver Steeg Faculty Scholarship Grant that will partially support these projects (it was a very competitive year, so I was fortunate to be funded at all and did not get the total amount I asked for… but I received enough that I’m able to personally afford the rest!).

I am very excited to get to research and document ecosystems in Baltic and Northern Europe for the first time! My interest list includes Matsalu National Park, Soomaa National Park, the Botanischer Garten und Botanisches Museum Berlin, Tegeler Fließ, and Grunewald Forest.

German is an easier language to learn for English speakers than Estonian (German is category II, while Estonian is category III), and there is a Duolingo course for it, so I now plan to memorize a few phrases in Estonian but primarily work on my German!

On a personal note, I’ve been repeatedly told by other travelers that Berlin is one of the top vegetarian and vegan meccas of the world. I’m really looking forward to experiencing that firsthand!

Upcoming: Loovlinnak Creative City Artist Residency in Pärnu, Estonia

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I’m excited to share that I will be attending the Loovlinnak Creative City Artist Residency in Pärnu, Estonia this summer for a month-long stay in June 2026! This will be my first time in the Baltics, and I’m excited to experience and document the environment and atmosphere in and around the “summer capital of Estonia.”

As always, I’ll try to get some Estonian under my belt before I go. However, there are no local classes in Estonian nor is it even available on Duolingo, and it’s a language family with which I’m unfamiliar (Finnic, a division of Finno-Ugric). I imagine I’m not going to get very far with this one, but I’ll do what I can!

Japanese Site-Specific Pottery!

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While I was in Japan this summer, I visited a number of important ceramic-production locations (Shigaraki, Imari, Arita, and Karatsu). I’d wanted to make ceramics during my first Arts Itoya residency, but the firing timings did not align with a one-month stay; for my second I was there for even less time due to my Kyoto solo show so I knew it couldn’t happen.

However, on this second trip I bought a small quantity of Shigaraki clay (Shigaraki is one of the six ancient kilns of Japan) and gathered volcanic ash (with the permission of my tour guide) outside of a shrine on Mount Aso. I brought these materials back with me, and made a couple of pieces!

My hope had been that the Shigaraki clay I purchased had the feldspar inclusions that lead to a sort of blistered, weeping surface; those descriptors don’t sound particularly aesthetically compelling but I really like the unique finish. However this didn’t happen with the clay I bought. It could potentially be due to how I fired it (Cone 6 electric), but from its pre-fired texture, I don’t think it had those inclusions in it to begin with. Though that was a disappointment, I am still happy with the resulting pieces.

I made a medium-sized bowl and a very small bowl, and the images below depict them individually as well as together for a better sense of scale. They are site-specific to Japan and materially meaningful!

Arts Itoya 2025 Residency Artwork 5: Edge of Motion

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After I painted After the Rain, I still had one sheet of the Nao Washi paper I had purchased left, and I was still very interested in working with the sumi as well - so I decided to make another in the same vein! This time, the subject is a grey heron (Ardea cinerea) I spotted hunting in a river. I fortunately finished this painting just ahead of when I needed to pack up at the end of the residency!

This is Edge of Motion, sumi and acrylic on washi paper, 5.3 x 15", 2025.

A Second Residency with Arts Itoya!

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Due to my return to Japan in May 2025 for two solo shows in Yamanashi City’s Nezu Memorial Museum and Hirakata’s Kansai Gaidai University, I am happy to share that I will be completing a second artist residency in June 2025 with Arts Itoya in Takeo-onsen, Japan. I still have a lot of reference material and washi paper to make use of, and also plan to visit all three of the nearby well-known ceramic towns of Arita, Imari, and Karatsu. On my June 2024 residency I only carved out time to visit Arita once, and it was overwhelming; my artist travel friend Emily and I spent a full day there, walked until our feet were about ready to fall off, and we saw fewer than half of the studios and shops. I look forward to checking it out again and visiting Imari and Karatsu for the first time!

Arts Itoya Painting Progress Pics!

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I often get asked about my studio practice and processes, so I like to share some photos of how my artwork develops! Here are progress images from my Arts Itoya residency in Japan. Note that I do not take the time to precisely color adjust progress photos, and they are often taken in poor lighting conditions (late at night) and sometimes at angles. I also can forget to pause to take pictures when I’m in a rush!

First, here’s Duality:

Next, Pursuit (Ichi-go Ichi-e):

Then we have Lifelong Renter:

Shingling:

Messenger:

And finally, Fleeting:

Arts Itoya Painting 6: Fleeting

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I had mostly finished this painting in time to exhibit it at Arts Itoya, but I knew I wanted to work back into it before declaring it actually complete. Once I returned home from Japan, got past the jet lag, and had a bit of time remaining before the school year started, I tweaked a number of areas until I was truly happy with the resulting piece.

This is Fleeting, acrylic on decorative Japanese stationery, 10.7x10.7”, 2024. It depicts a male crimson marsh glider (Trithemis aurora), also called a crimson dropwing, in flight above water.

Shelby Prindaville's acrylic painting of a male crimson marsh glider.

Shelby Prindaville's acrylic painting of a male crimson marsh glider.

Arts Itoya Painting 5: Messenger

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My fifth painting is of a sika deer (Cervus nippon), painted atop a decorative camellia metal leaf washi paper. I applied the paint atop the gilding in a thin, translucent layer so that the metal leaf is still visible. In areas where the paint colors are similar to that of the metal, it’s difficult to see much difference head-on - but in darker coloration spots, you can discern it. However, if you stand at an angle or due to the light environment when reflections are apparent, the gilded decoration is visible throughout the whole painting. Below are two photos of the same painting, visually demonstrating what I describe above!

I encountered wild sika deer in Yakushima (the subspecies C. nippon yakushimae) and in Nara as well as saw them in zoos in Fukuoka and Yamanashi City. They are famous in Nara, as more than 1,200 roam freely around Nara Park and the grounds of several temples and shrines due to the deer serving as sacred messengers to the gods in the Shinto religion.

This is Messenger, acrylic on gilded washi mulberry paper, 26x18”, 2024.

Shelby Prindaville's acrylic painting of a sika deer on gilded washi paper.

Shelby Prindaville's acrylic painting of a sika deer on gilded washi paper, with the metal leaf visible throughout.

Arts Itoya Painting 4: Shingling

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My fourth painting is of a shingling plant I documented in Yakushima, in this case Ficus pumila. Ficus pumila is a native species in Japan (and other East Asian countries). I’m always attracted to epiphytic shingling plants (plants that climb up trees or rocks vertically such that their leaves look like lush shingles atop their substrate). This was a very time-consuming painting in both the drawing and painting stages, but I think it was well worth the effort!

Yakushima Island was not as fertile for rice production as other areas of Japan, so during the Edo period, Yakushima paid for its shoganate taxes by logging sugi trees and producing wooden shingles rather than in the more customary rice. This deforestation had negative environmental impacts. Reforestation and conservation efforts including declaring the island a UNESCO World Heritage site have since tried to rebalance the important island forest ecosystem. This painting’s title references both the plant’s growth habit and common grouping name as well as Yakushima’s ecological history.

This is Shingling, acrylic on round wooden panel, 12x12x.875”, 2024.

Shelby Prindaville's "Shingling" acrylic painting of Ficus pumila on a round wooden panel.

Week 3 of the Arts Itoya Residency

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Shelby Prindaville's Arts Itoya solo exhibition "Ikigai" show card!

In my third week at Arts Itoya, I continued to spend a lot of time in the studio! Rainy season had officially commenced, so studio time was even more cozy. I also caught a cold, but it was a fast one - only lasting a few days. I was happy it had waited to strike until after my Yakushima visit, as that meant I didn’t have any issues with my scuba diving or intense hike.

One rainy afternoon, my bike hydroplaned atop some slick ground tiles and I hit the ground, so I had a number of scrapes and bruises from that. I was even more inclined to stick to the studio afterwards! We were also aware that our exhibition was coming up quickly. I designed my own show card as well as the poster for everyone’s shows within the multi-artist exhibition gallery. For my own show, I chose to title it Ikigai (生き甲斐). Ikigai is a Japanese concept/philosophy that has already made its way into English, much like zen, bonsai, and wabi-sabi. Ikigai is your reason for living; it combines passion, mission, and profession.

There were still a couple of new adventures! I had discovered that there is a lake with swan boats relatively nearby, so Emily and I went on a swan paddle boat outing. We also visited the Yoko Museum and Japanese Garden in Takeo. We observed that all the ceramics were wired down, and my theory is that this is an earthquake-damage-prevention measure.

Arts Itoya Painting 2: Pursuit (Ichi-go ichi-e)

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My second painting is atop an aluminum leaf paper. This paper was hard to work with, as the paint doesn’t grip to it as well as I’d like (and my new Holbein metal primer did not help), and the tape I used to anchor the paper to a board ended up removing the foil off the corners. However, I persevered! The subject is a male Japanese rhinoceros beetle, called kabutomushi here in Japan: Allomyrina dichotoma. The adults only live for 2-3 months after pupating.

I plan to carefully varnish the beetle before framing this piece, but I’ll do that at home - so for here, it’s done! All of the metal leaf papers are hard to photograph, but I’m pretty happy with the below image.

This is Pursuit (Ichi-go ichi-e), acrylic on aluminum leaf paper, 11.5x17”, 2024. The Japanese romaji in the title, ichi-go ichi-e or 一期一会 in kanji, is a four-character Japanese proverb that means “one time, one meeting” and is about embracing the present.

Shelby Prindaville’s acrylic painting of a kabutomushi or Japanese rhinoceros beetle (Allomyrina dichotoma) on aluminum leaf paper.

Week 2 of the Arts Itoya Residency

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Once we got to the studio, I began to paint! I tend to put in pretty long hours, so there was far less exploring going on - but there was a bit. While all the residents get along well, several enjoy independence. Emily and I both get along really well and like the same destinations so we began doing pretty much everything together. We asked a volunteer with the residency, Charlie, if he’d mind showing us a nearby koi store. With the owners’ permission, I used my underwater camera to take photos, much to Emily’s delight! We got some good images and the koi store owners were so very sweet. Japanese hospitality is outrageous. Despite the fact that it was clear we weren’t going to be customers, and they’d already done us a favor by letting us take photos of the fish, they also sat us down, showed us some documentary clips of their store and fish at different times, plied us with tea, coffee, and cookies, and offered their home’s art up for viewing as well as their bathroom to us. I need to up my hospitality game!

I learned that their average koi’s lifespan is 100 years, but that the oldest koi fish in Japan lived for 200 years! They also shared that this is the slowest time of year for their shop, and that the most spectacular fish come through in October and November. However, they are going to be getting new stock in next week so we plan to return!

We also began to explore a bit more of the culinary scene in Takeo, but it’s rough being a vegetarian here. Our favorite places include Irie, a Jamaican/Italian bar with a delightful owner and employee pair, as well as Sol de Verano (a Spanish tapas bar with delicious Basque cheesecake) and a tofu hot pot and gelato place. We also tend to eat at least one meal per day from a konbini (Family Mart or 7-11).

Hiro took four of us who wanted to go on an excursion to a hydrangea temple and shrine which is up a mountain in Takeo, and that was really beautiful, though my ears refused to pop for some time so I was happy when I could finally hear again!

Intersperse that with a lot of studio time, and a few late night onsen visits, and you have a full picture of my second week!

Arts Itoya Painting 1: Duality

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The first painting I completed at Arts Itoya is of two backlit hibiscus flowers from Yakushima. The substrate is a gold and silver leaf flecked Torinoko paper; I added the translucent green coloration. I was inspired by the dark fantasy iconography of flowers in anime, particularly in Hell’s Paradise as well in Demon Slayer and Suzume.

This is Duality, acrylic on gold and silver leaf flecked Torinoko paper, 14.37x11.6”, 2024.

Shelby Prindaville's acrylic painting, “Duality,” of two hibiscus flowers on decorative washi paper.

Starting the Arts Itoya Residency in Takeo: Week 1

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After flying into Fukuoka, I took an express train into Takeo. It’s about an hour and a half away, and I got there in the late afternoon. Hiro picked me up, and when I got to the residency three of the four other artists had already arrived! They include Stewart from New Mexico, Anna from Massachusetts, and Won from South Korea. Hiro showed me my room, where he had already stowed my two large pieces of luggage I had shipped with the takkyubin. He then gathered everyone together to show us the studio space, which is approximately a half mile away from the house. While that’s definitely walkable, Arts Itoya has very kindly provided each of the residents with an electric bike! This is actually my first time riding one, and I love it. Often if the ride is pretty flat I’ll just leave it off, but when there’s a fair amount of uphill I turn it on and the motor does most of the work! The problem was that one of the bikes was in the shop and Hiro wanted to pick it up, so he jogged to the studio while we rode behind him, and then we all walked to the bike shop together to pick up the other bike. We then explored the studio, made some requests (I needed way more tabletop than was currently on offer), and we rode back! Stewart is also vegetarian, so we then tried to find a place to have dinner and located a pizza shop not too far away so we headed there. It turns out it’s run by an Italian who moved to Takeo with his Japanese wife; they are both very nice. After that, we headed home and went to bed.

The next day, I began unpacking, did some laundry since I’d already been in Japan for a week, and sifted through my photos to see what I’d start to work on in the studio. The last resident also arrived: Emily from California. We’re a surprisingly US-heavy house - apparently a weird coincidence as most of the stays are more internationally diverse. The next few days, I mostly stuck to the house as I began to sketch out a number of pieces from my room’s desk, but I joined Emily on an excursion to a small botanical garden in Takeo and then visited a shrine with a 3,000 year-old camphor tree.

I invited Emily to go to Fukuoka with me that Thursday. I wanted to go to Fukuoka pretty early on during the residency for a few reasons: 1) the weather was only going to get rainier and hotter; 2) I wanted to go to Fukuoka Zoo to see tanuki and hopefully get some good images to paint from; 3) Rina, the woman I befriended in the Yakushima airport, was staying in Fukuoka for just a week before heading back to her home in Tokyo and she wanted to meet up again.

We headed out at 6:45am, as that would get us to the zoo right around their opening time of 9am and I suspected that our chances of seeing active tanuki were highest right in the morning since they’re nocturnal. On our walk to the zoo, we happened to see a dead Japanese centipede in the road. Mukade are a pretty iconic Japanese insect so it was interesting to see one; they’re quite large and have a nasty bite. When we got to the zoo ticket office, the worker looked really surprised that the only exhibit we asked about was the tanuki. We nevertheless beelined it to that spot, and after some confusion, we realized it was a very poorly positioned cage behind another caged hallway. There was a lone tanuki inhabiting it, but she wasn’t out - she was curled up in a bed in a hut and we could just make out a little fur. There were a lot of signs, though; upon translating them, we learned that this tanuki was named Immako and she was an ancient little tanuki who had already outlived their average lifespan. Wild tanuki typically live 6-8 years in the wild and 11-13 years in captivity. Immako is 13.75 years old. There was another sign discussing her kidney problems and sharing that sometimes she’s not in her cage at all as she’s receiving kidney treatment.

None of this boded well, but Emily and I decided to circle back and took in some of the other animal exhibits in the meantime. Around 10:30am, our explorations took us right near her cage again so Emily suggested checking back in. I thought it was probably too soon but why not… but when we came back, the zookeepers were getting their breakfasts ready and Immako was up and waiting patiently for it! Unfortunately, while Immako is a very sweet being, she no longer really visually captures “tanuki.” I hope she breaks all the tanuki lifespan records, but for my painting purposes, she wasn’t representative enough of the species as a whole.

After we finished with the zoo, we checked out the botanical garden that is right beside the zoo as your admittance is included to both when you enter either. The zoo had a number of species but on the grand scheme of zoos was a smaller one; the botanical garden on the other hand surpassed our expectations and had some amazing outdoor gardens and greenhouses. Emily currently almost exclusively paints koi fish, and we found our first koi fish in Japan in one of the fountains at the botanical garden. We also saw a wild snake! They had some beautiful roses in the rose garden, and I particularly liked the ones that were grown into tree forms. In the greenhouses, not only did they have some truly stunning specimens (their Welwitschia mirabilis were spectacular and their barrel cacti were also very impressive) but they also had an orchid sale! That was a little torturous, honestly, as I wanted to buy a number of their plants but I’ve looked into it before and transporting plants internationally is a giant headache involving getting a CITES certificate and dealing with customs and it just isn’t practical at this time for me.

Post-garden, we met up with Rina at a vegan cafe and had a really nice late lunch. Then Emily and I walked through downtown Fukuoka to a soufflé pancake restaurant so we could try the famed Japanese soufflé pancakes! After that, we returned to Takeo. That evening, we decided to visit the onsen in Takeo for the first time! We splurged a little for the outdoor onsen at 740¥ (the indoor one is 500¥), and also had to rent towels for another 300¥ since we didn’t bring any along. We discovered the outdoor onsen actually has three different pools and a sauna inside; there’s the outdoor hot bath at 41°C, the indoor hot bath at 42.5°C, and a cold pool called a mizuburo (that doesn’t have a listed temperature but a worker said is maybe around 14°C) which is icy cold. Our tolerance of the outdoor hot bath is probably only around 8 minutes, but then a plunge into the cold bath for a couple minutes and dipping a hand towel into its water to perch on your neck or head in the hot bath means you can cycle through for much longer!

The next day I drew again, and then on Saturday I was finally ready to haul all my art materials to the studio to begin to paint!