Seen beside painted timber, the puffin loses nostalgia and gains grit. The bird is painted in thick, confident strokes, and the red checks behind it push the whole thing into modern territory rather than seaside souvenir. Hang it where a room has gone quiet: a kitchen wall above the worktop, a narrow hallway that needs a jolt, a kids’ room that can take the colour. It sits happily with linen, painted wood, matte ceramics and cane. Keep the surrounding surfaces plain and let the red do the shouting. Don’t crowd it with other loud pattern, and skip busy wallpaper directly behind it the checks already handle that job. As a canvas the texture leans into the painterly surface and the edges stay soft.