Butterflies, Birds & Wildlife · horizontal

Ember Koi - Orange Koi in a Blue Painterly Pond

A bright orange koi with a scaled, blue-tinged back swims through dark blue pond water. Green lily-pad shapes and pale reflections sit around it, and the white and yellow tail of another koi enters at the right edge. The whole scene has a soft, painterly look.

Most koi art is a gold-and-white fish on a dark pond, photographed straight. This one is a single saturated orange koi, its back tinged blue and amber, set against deep blue water that is brushed like paint and scattered with green lily-pad shapes. Seen from above, with a second koi's pale tail pushing in from the right edge, it reads as a moment caught mid-glide rather than a fish portrait. Someone wants it for the colour first: a warm orange point of focus in a cool blue-green field. It also suits a person who likes a recognisable subject but wants it softer and more painterly than a photograph.

Artwork by Omaste Witkowski