The Excursion

 The giant Camarasaurus walks gracefully along, as Ornithomimuses dash by with the speed of ostriches.

There will be plenty of time for swimming, picking flowers and flying kites before the shadows lengthen and it's time to return home. 

I set up the dinosaur on an illuminated patch of ground, sandwiched in space between shadows in the foreground and more shadows in the middle distance.

To figure out that lighting idea, I adapted a maquette of a Camarasaurus (made by Kaiyodo), outfitted with a saddle that I made out of cardboard, wire, and starched cloth. The little plastic figures (made by Britains) helped me to figure out the overlapping and the cast shadows. I recruited some neighbor kids to wear my Renaissance-fair costumes (made by Moresca) and pretend they're riding dinosaurs.

The painting appeared in Dinotopia: The World Beneath. There's also an Excursion Art Print (signed and numbered) in my web store.