This is one of my favourite drawings I've made this summer, and as it turns out, one of the most functional as well: it is a study for an outdoor decoration I was commissioned to do.

luna moth on lupine. microns & brush pen^[1] on Japanese appointment diary, approximately 8.25 x 5.5", completed 22July20. Photographed 07Oct20, Lumix panasonic, 1/200sec, +1.0ev, shade WB (I think...); unsharp mask, colour and value adjusted, cropped in gimp.

Huge, ethereal, and mint green with those mysterious eyes and lovely twisted tails on their lower wings, how could anyone not love luna moths? The only thing stopping me from indulging in these beautiful insects was that they were just too easy, too cloyingly cliched: but now I had the perfect excuse, as an honest to goodness faery door was to be incorporated in this (outdoor) project.

Perfect.

Unless otherwise noted, text, image and objects depicted therein copyright 1996--present sylvus tarn.