One of Ursula's talents, and the reason why I wanted to highlight her here, is for making fantasy beasts convincing as real species.

She writes about this little guy here, "I sweated over the rocks and the pine needles for quite awhile. If I may be permitted to digress a bit, I think realism is a great tool for fantasy--even much as I love Art Nouveau--because you establish a sort've credential. ...people want to believe in dragons, but we all know that Smaug isn't gonna come flying over the horizon. On the other hand, this little guy might well have slipped through the cracks and be catching mice at the bottom of the garden."

You can see more of Ursula Vernon's art and find out how to order prints at her website: /www.metalandmagic.com.