Happy Birthday to all my May-born readers!  It’s my birthday month too, so if I’ve gone a little over eight dragons this month, well, that’s my prerogative! 😉  First up, check out this beautifully sculpted Emerald Dragon by Ukrainian professional artist Evgeniya Glazkova, posting as MyOwnDragon.  A feathered dragon in beautiful green jewel-tones?  I’m in love!  See more gorgeous art in her gallery, follow her on Facebook, and order your very own custom dragon in her Etsy shop.

From the Wiki:

The word “emerald” is derived (via Old French: esmeraude and Middle English: emeraude), from Vulgar Latin: esmaralda/esmaraldus, a variant of Latin smaragdus, which originated in Ancient Greek: σμάραγδος (smaragdos; “green gem”). …

Emeralds in antiquity were mined in Egypt at locations on Mount Smaragdus since 1500 BCE, and [in] India and Austria since at least the 14th century CE. … [Industrial scale mining in Egypt by successive Roman, Byzantine, and Islamic conquerors] ceased with the discovery of the [South American] Columbian deposits ….

Colombia is by far the world’s largest producer of emeralds, constituting 50–95% of the world production … [and this] has increased drastically in the last decade, [up] 78% from 2000 to 2010. … Rare “trapiche” emeralds are [also] found in Colombia, distinguished by ray-like spokes of dark impurities.

I recommend clicking the link to see the pictures of trapiche emeralds for yourself, but you can get the effect from this next piece called Emerald by Canadian deviantartist Lunoxius, which has the trapiche light and dark tones.  I love the big ears on this vulpine-looking dragon, which was posted by the artist last year on my actual birthday!  Check out more dragons in her gallery.

Up next is this Emerald Dragon by German deviantartist Miles, posting as VaultScout. He captions that it is an image of “[Ubisoft‘s] Heroes of Might and Magic V‘s Emerald Dragon. Beautiful creatures.”  I have to agree, but that green breath weapon is terrifying — according to the wiki, it is a “lethal acid cloud to dissolve their enemies back to the ever-hungry soil.“  Yikes!  Miles doesn’t have many dragons, but you can see lots of different fanart in his gallery and at his Tumblr.

Then I just had to include this next one — another Emerald Dragon, this time by Russian deviantartist Dalagar.  I love that this dragon is holding a book, and that look in his eye just screams “Yeah, and now I’ve got a spellbook, so you’re really in trouble!”  🙂  Find more dragons and other fanart in his gallery.

Of course, next I just have to include this Birthstone Collection: May dragon by American professional artist Lindy Briggs, who posts as How Many Dragons?.  I don’t own this one exactly, but my husband commissioned a beautiful May/October pair holding hands for our anniversary a few years ago (that I shared in my first year of blogging and you can see at that link with terrible photos!).  Check out more of Lindy’s work in her gallery and order your own at her Etsy Shop!  About the May dragon, she writes:

I love this green clay! It’s Premo’s discontinued green pearl which [is one of] of my all-time favorite clay colors. It’s one of those colors that looks pretty good when it comes out of the oven, but becomes absolutely gorgeous after it’s been glazed. It’s hard for me to pick a favorite out of the birthstone dragons, but I think this one might be it. I really like the color progression on his horns, and I adore the pose.

Next up is another Emerald Dragon, this time by Russian deviantartist Alexandr, posting as Sumerky.  He created this for the board game Talisman: The Dragon from Fantasy Flight Games — we have that game and it’s pretty neat, so and now I think I need to pick this up this expansion!  Check out his gallery to see some more really detailed dragons and fantasy artwork he’s created for many different games!

So I’m a little late asking hubby for it, but up next is my requested birthday present, the May Dragon by American artist and crafter Amaze-ing Hats.  I’m actually asking for the smaller keychain version you can see at that link, but the colors are the same!  You can see more in her gallery and order your very own at her website!

Then here’s another from U.K. deviantartist dawndelver, with the detailed scale work she’s shown in all her previous birthstone dragons, called (with a slight typo) Emarld Dragon.  I love the rainbow tones throughout the green!  You can find more of her work in her gallery, follow her on Instagram, and check out her Redbubble shop.

Here was a close second as far as birthday gift requests go, this beautiful Emerald Mountain Dragon pendant by another of my favorites, Russian professional artist and crafter Alvia Alcedo.  Maybe I’ll just have to ask for this for Christmas!  Please go check out her amazing gallery, follow her on Facebook or Instagram, and get your own jewelry and artwork at her Society6 Shop.  Alvia captions this one:

A living treasure of the mountains… It’s [a] miniature handmade painting on the stone, it’s very small in person!  Stone size: 4.5×3.5 cm (2.54cm=1inch), [on] sea sediment jasper … Painted by oil paints, covered by a special lacquer for damage protection.

And last, but certainly not least (it was almost first!), here is the cutest Emerald Dragon by Belgian deviantartist MissFemke.  I just adore the expression on this beauty that looks to be made entirely of emerald!  Check out her very anime gallery for more awesome art.

Okay, so that’s week two of May in the books — next week, I’ll be sharing one (or two, or three, probably) dragons from a single artist, while behind the scenes I try something new for moving the progress of the first draft of my novel, Finding Dragons, further along.  Then stay tuned in week four, when I post my Writing Thoughts post and let you know just what I’m trying, and how it went!

Thanks as always for reading, take care, and stay creative!

Image credits:
+ Emerald Dragon by Evgeniya Glazkova, posting as MyOwnDragon   
+ Emerald by Canadian deviantartist Lunoxius 
+ Emerald Dragon by VaultScout  
+ Emerald Dragon by Dalagar 
+ Birthstone Collection: May by Lindy Briggs, posting as How Many Dragons?  
+ Emerald Dragon by Sumerky  
+ May Dragon by Amaze-ing Hats  
+ Emarld Dragon by U.K. deviantartist dawndelver  
+ Emerald Mountain Dragon by Alvia Alcedo 
+ Emerald Dragon by MissFemke