‘Too safe,’ said nobody standing in front of deep blue-grey water. The wall goes quiet the moment this one is up, and the room reads cooler and calmer than it did an hour before. The white of the swan does the work of a lamp, pulling light into the darker half of a room without adding a single bright colour. Hang it above a bed, a low sideboard or on a hallway wall where people slow down as they pass. Pair it with linen, pale grey upholstery, dark wood and simple stoneware. Don’t crowd it with busy pattern or hot colour warm orange and heavy florals fight the blue and flatten the reflection. On paper it keeps that soft, matt painted look.