Hello, I’m Otter Boyd. I come from a story book set in the early 1900s. It’s a fine time and place to live but sometimes I like to explore beyond the boundaries of my book. This site gives me the special ability to jump from the pages of a book and play in other times and places too. Here I can share the very real art I’ve done and photos I’ve taken while out on adventures around my home in Muskoka, Ontario. As my book develops I can share that here as well.

Both in my story and the present day I am living and growing up in a peaceful natural area surrounded by vast unspoiled wilderness, forests, fields, lakes, rivers and abundant nature. The Barkway-Lewisham wilderness (near Gravenhurst, Ontario) is an ideal environment for playing outdoors, painting and photographing! Almost every photo you see on the site is taken on my property or within a few minutes of it. While nature is abundant and diverse I see very few people out here. On the website however it is always nice any time people can stop to say “hello” or leave a sign that they have visited!

New for 2018

Message from Otter’s dad: You know how it is with little kids; They let us think we’re in charge but one day we look around and find their toys and little clothes strewn about, accidents, spills and paw prints on everything. It is their mission to take over the world and that ever-growing mountain of evidence is proof of their success at it. Some parents try in vain to fight back but the wise will retreat. We carve out our own little adult space and time and try to hang onto it as best we can! That is what has happened on Otter’s website. Otter has taken over here. I love him for being himself, and for his relentless energy and enthusiasm for taking over the world, but sometimes I need a little rest. The retreat I have is my other site: Hidden Eden, a safe haven free of mischievous little tykes where I can post as myself. Hidden Eden was originally created as a personal site mainly for hosting photos and posts on nature, landscape, wildlife and life in the country and small town Muskoka. If Otter ever runs you ragged over here please feel free to come on over to Hidden Eden and relax for a bit!

New Milestone Reached on G+!

Otter remains small in size but everything else he does keeps on getting bigger. He has a growing community of friends here and on G+. Nearly 120,000 people follow his nature and outdoor photos! Over 24,000 people follow his artwork! And over 2,200 people follow his “postcards”! (screenshot below shows numbers from January 2018). The total number of views on his content now exceeds 100 Million!..and all that is just on Otter’s Google Plus page! If we take into account the subscribers and views here too, and any other place he has appeared, imagine how much larger all those numbers might be!

Otter and I appreciate your interest and help to get him and his site to grow, and to show his thanks Otter will continue to do his best to create and share stories, artwork and photos with you!