Butterflies, Birds & Wildlife · horizontal

Ember Drift, Three Koi on Dark Water

Three koi fish swim close together at the surface of a dark pond. One is red-orange at the left edge, one is golden-yellow at the center with pale whiskers and a flowing tail, and one runs along the bottom with a net-like scale pattern. Ripples and small bubbles spread across the blue-green water around them.

Someone wants this piece because the koi glow. Warm orange and gold fish sit against deep blue-green water, and the dark pond makes the color look lit from within. Many koi pictures show one tidy fish on a pale or flat ground. Here three fish drift close together, one cropped at the left edge and one running along the bottom, so it reads as a moment you have stumbled on. The painterly surface adds a second reason to stay: brush-like strokes, a netted scale pattern, and a pale-whiskered golden fish with a veil-like tail.

Artwork by Omaste Witkowski