This painting expresses my own lifelong love of flight. The flying reptile is the Quetzalcoatlus, the largest of all the flying reptiles.

The Quetzalcoatlus lives in Dinotopia as the most revered of creatures, the Skybax. In this painting, beneath the Skybax and its rider is the shimmering city of Sauropolis, the capital of Dinotopia. Canal boats carry people and dinosaurs beneath the golden dome of the Hall of Science. Other nearby buildings, including an art gallery and music hall, are based on Roman architecture built on a grand-enough scale for the dinosaurs to actually enter the buildings.

There's a very strong bond between the rider and the Skybax, of course, so there's no need for reins or anything like that.

What I'm trying to express here is the thrill of flight - the sense of wonder and of the air rushing by you, and the youthful feeling that anything is possible

- James Gurney