James Gurney
Birthday Pageant 1995

Humans and dinosaur enjoy very long lives in Dinotopia--sometimes up to 250 years. Birthdays, which are also called hatchdays, are celebrated in grand style. An adult and a young Triceratops lead this parade with a pink Protoceratops. They are followed by a grand Parasaurolophus, who could stay in touch with other members of the herd by forcing air from its mouth up into its hollow crest and out through its nostrils.

To obtain reference for this painting, James Gurney invited friends and neighbors to gather in his backyard, where they tried on costumes and enacted a celebratory procession of their own.

Illustration for Dinotopia: The World Beneath
Oil on canvas mounted to plywood

Link to image of plaque at Norman Rockwell Museum