Description
During volunteer guide shift at the Monterey Bay Aquarium, I love to tell visitors that the aquarium’s best exhibit is the ocean itself. When the founders turned an abandoned sardine cannery into one of the world’s best aquariums in the 1980’s, they kept the tide pool in its original state. Just beyond the observation deck, an amazing variety of marine life including whales pass by while ever-present sea otters feed and groom their pups. My painting commemorates a day in March 2016 when a pregnant sea otter swam into the tide pool and gave birth in full view of a handful of lucky visitors. That the mother otter felt comfortable in such close proximity to humans at such a vulnerable time says a lot about the conservation message of the aquarium.
