Dartmoor National Park Moor Otter Project 2017
In 2017 I was pleased that my design was selected to be part of the Dartmoor National Park’s ‘Moor Otters’ project. The otters were about 3 feet tall and were plain white when the artists received them. I nearly always paint in water colour but that would not have worked for this project so I used acrylic paint for the first time in years. I had forgotten how quickly it dries!
I had, initially, intended to paint botanical specimens onto the otter but then I literally had a dream where the name ‘Otterly Spotterly’ came to me. I loved the name so I decided to go to the Buckfastleigh Otter Sanctuary to observe some real otters to get further inspiration. I saw that the otters love to be under the water and when they dive under all you can see of them is a trail of bubbles left in their wake.
So this is how you ‘spot’ where the otter is… which led to the play on words – spotting the spotty otter!
‘Otterly Spotterly’ was one of 100 otters to be sited at different venues across Dartmoor over 3 months during the summer. There was an otter trail that encouraged people to get out and about on the moor and to spot as many otters as possible. The otters were sold at the end of the project to raise funds for environmental projects for Dartmoor National Park.

Dartmoor National Park Moor Otter Project 2020
My otter is called 'Mayflower' because of this year's 400 years celebrations since the ship 'the Mayflower' sailed from both Dartmouth and Plymouth in Devon to America. There are mayflower blossoms and hawthorn leaves and berries on the front of the sculpture and on the back I have done a seascape with the ship sailing off to America. There is the addition of the Devon flag to ensure they took a little bit of Devon with them!