06/27/2026
Happy Saturday friends! Cindy here. One of the questions I’m asked most often is, “How did the specimens die before you used them in your art?”
Many of the moths and butterflies I work with lived exactly as nature intended. The magnificent Imperial Moth, for example, spends months growing and transforming, only to emerge as an adult with a single purpose: to find a mate and ensure the next generation.
Their adult lives are fleeting—often lasting only about a week or less.
I create with specimens that have completed their natural life cycle, preserving a small piece of their beauty long after their brief time has passed. In a way, these pieces are a celebration of the extraordinary lives they lived and the wonder they leave behind.
Today I am celebrating the imperial moth. I have a few beautiful imperials and will share some creations soon❤️🦋
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He emerged from the soil at dusk on a warm July evening. Seven-inch wingspan, bright yellow with purple-brown speckles that mimic the pattern of a decaying leaf.
He has no mouth.
No digestive system. No way to feed. He spent an entire year as a giant caterpillar burrowed in the dark earth, building a body from pine and oak leaves to fuel one final mission in the sky.
He is an Imperial Moth. And he has seven nights.
Night one — he crawled from the dirt and climbed the bark of a pine tree to expand his wings. They are thick and powerful, designed to withstand the winds of a midsummer storm.
Night two — he took to the air. He is sifting the night for the scent of a female, navigating by the stars and the moon across miles of suburban forest.
Nights three through five — he found her. They spent their limited hours securing the future of the canopy, ensuring the next generation would hatch in time to feed before the first frost.
Night six — he is slowing down. He is burning through the final fat reserves he stored underground. His flight is low, heavy, and frantic.
Night seven — he will die. In the pine needles where he began, or beneath a security light that trapped him against a wall and cost him the hours he needed to finish his task.
Every flight required to sustain the forest giants, completed in a week, on a body that waited a year for its only chance to fly.
🌿 How to protect the emperors:
- Turn off your outdoor lights from dusk to dawn in July and August — large moths are mesmerized by artificial light and will flutter in circles until they die of exhaustion
- Leave the leaf litter and undisturbed soil under your trees — unlike other moths in cocoons, Imperial moths pupate in the ground and need soft, undisturbed earth to survive
- Plant native host trees like Pine, Oak, Maple, and Sassafras — these are the essential nurseries where the next generation of giants are born
- If you find a large yellow moth sitting on a wall or trunk in the morning, leave it alone — it is resting between nights and every disturbance costs energy it cannot replace
The most royal insect in your yard was born with no way to eat and seven nights to finish everything 🌿
