Plate 40 by Ogino Issui Canvas Print

Plate 40 by Ogino Issui Canvas PrintSomewhere between Ogino Issui and early twentieth century Japanese woodblock, this fish study refuses to behave. Reeds cut across the picture like flat strokes, and the fish slip between them in cream against a deep olive ground. On the wall, the room calms down. The deep green pulls the eye, the cream gives it somewhere to rest, and the whole thing feels considered without being precious. It works above a low console, beside a reading chair, or at

this glasshouse belonged to another kind of home — a Victorian botanical palace stuffed with tropical specimens

Put it up and a quiet kitchen suddenly has a sense of humour

The cream background keeps it easy on the eyes

fairly clear wall: above a bed

It lifts pale pink

and the sky-blue sea gives the eye somewhere calm to land

the wall stops feeling blank and starts feeling lived-in

and the room reads as somewhere people actually have fun

Watch the mushrooms land

Skip pairing it with very polished

Hung in a dining room or kitchen

The canvas finish softens the edges of the linework slightly and gives the black ground a quieter