Glad tidings to all my February-born readers!  Things have been a bit rough for me the last few weeks, sorry for my missed posts, but more on that later — for now let’s check out some beautiful birthday dragons, starting with this adorable hatchling Amethyst Awakening by Australian deviantartist Kristin Mills.  You can check out more dragons in this unique style in her gallery, and find more of Kristin’s amazing art, writing, and travel blogging at her official website!

From the International Gem Society:

Amethyst has many popular associations, including serenity and royalty. Traditionally, it’s believed to provide courage and strengthen relationships.  You can find amethysts in a wide range of violet colors, from pale lavender to deep, rich purple… [and] deeper hues typically draw higher values.

Next we have this pretty Amethyst by American professional artist Lav, posting as RabendaBurakki.  This is her dragon from the game Flight Rising, where her profile says her mixture of genes is “white tiger, lavender facet, and azure basic,” with “lightning” eyes!  For more, check out some cute Pokemon in her gallery, or see her official website and follow her on Twitter for details on her current projects.

Then here’s another, darker Amethyst Dragon by American professional artist Bryan Syme, created for Gem Dragons of Faerun by Kobold Press.  You can see this dragon and check out its stats in the book preview here, and also see more of Bryan’s fantastic work in his gallery, check out his ArtStation, and visit his official website.  (Also check out my extra note about Bryan’s art at the bottom of this post!)

And finally, because I’m keeping these posts short(-ish) this year, here is Crystal Dragon by American professional artist Beth Zyglowicz, posting as SpaceTurtleStudios.  A “crystal dragon based on amethyst” and part of a “30 Days of Dragons” challenge she set herself back in September 2015, Beth captions this one: “Felt like practicing some crystal formations. Spoiler: they’re still really hard to get right. I think this came out pretty good for a speed paint, though.”  Pretty good, eh?  😉  I love how this one looks like it comes from a cool comic book — and there’s a reason for that, it turns out.

Beth is a prolific artist and you can see more of her work in her gallery, follow her on Twitter and Instagram, or check out her Etsy shop — but the coolest thing I found about her is that she has a well-established webcomic with a POC protagonist called Lanterns of Arcadia, “a tale of monsters, magic, and mad science” that she updates on Sundays.  Her quick synopsis reads:

Avani Patel was content researching a method to create a better magic battery. But when her rival’s science experiment goes disastrously wrong, vicious shadow monsters are released that threaten not just her work– but the existence of all magic. Avani must do her best to find out just what these monsters are, and how to stop them, before they destroy the world as she knows it.

So that’s my present to all of you — go read an amazing webcomic starting here — where someone’s got a pretty white dragon in a cage, what?!?! — and support another independent artist’s work!  I know I’ll be checking it out when I have the time!

Well, this Birthstones post has already gone a bit off the rails, so I’ll just continue the slide to tell you about the exciting event I’m heading to this weekend — the board game convention called Con of the North, the “Twin Cities Longest Running Games Convention” held just west of Minneapolis.  I’ll be trying out tons of new board games all weekend and geeking out and trying not to buy everything in sight! 😀

And that brings me back to the artist Bryan Syme from above — besides his gem dragon, I saw in his gallery that he also created some of the card art for the Pathfinder Card Game, and I’m signed up to learn to play that on Friday!  It looks like it will be a lot of fun, and I hope to tell you all about it and Con of the North some time soon!

And that brings me back to the last two missing weeks — it turns out, we’re going to be moving soon!  I’ve written about it in my as-yet-unfinished and un-posted Writing Thoughts post, and I hope to share that and more details soon.  But suffice to say, it’s been a bit hectic, so writing has taken a back seat lately.

I hope everyone else’s year (and Lunar New Year!) has kicked off with as much excitement as mine has, and for now I’ll just say to take care and stay creative, no matter what comes your way!  🙂

Image credits:
+ Amethyst Awakening by Kristin Mills 
+ Amethyst image from the International Gem Society article What is my Birthstone? 
+ Amethyst by RabendaBurakki 
+ Amethyst Dragon by Bryan Syme  
+ Crystal Dragon by Beth Zyglowicz, posting as SpaceTurtleStudios