There’s a little bit of animal magic currently delighting people in one area of Dundee.
City illustrator and artist, Clare Stansfield, is in the process of creating her own garden alphabet zoo.
Clare, 38, began her project on July 1 and decided she would continue creating a new animal every day using consecutive letters until she had used up all the letters of the alphabet.
After every wooden animal is finished she displays it in her garden and welcomes people to come along and take a look.
Clare said: “It’s a bit of fun but it has really taken off and now people come along every day to see what animal I have done that day.
Yesterday was day 16 so the corresponding letter of the alphabet was P, which Clare decided would be for pig.
She said: “I carve my animal out of wood and then paint it. It usually takes around two to three hours and then I can display it in my garden.
“People love to come along and see what animal I have done for that day.”
Clare created wooden animals for fun before the pandemic struck and, at the beginning of lockdown, she created wooden rainbows.
She told the Tele that, so far, she had given away most of her art work.
She said: “When I struck on the idea of the daily alphabet wooden animals I thought it might add a bit of fun to the daily walk for many children and families.
“I’ve also created little videos and Instagram messages giving people a little fun fact about the animal I have done that day.
“For example, for yesterday’s pig I gave people a message explaining that pigs are smart! Their intelligence is higher than a dog’s, some primates and even young human children.”
To date her alphabet animal zoo includes an ostrich, a narwhal, a lemur, a mountain goat, a jellyfish and a koala.
Clare said her zoo, located on the corner of Bingham Terrace and Old Craigie Road, was open 24 hours a day and is visible from the roadside.
She said: “It’s easy to socially distance if there is another family looking too.”
Recent visitors to Dundee’s Swannie Ponds might be interested to know that the recent appearance of a family of yellow ducks was also the work of Clare.
