Sardines Berry Red by Alice Straker Henri Rousseau Kazumasa's mastery of tone gives

Kazumasa's mastery of tone gives the flower an almost painterly warmth

Where the first plate tends toward dense clustering

the fine linework and balanced tonal range of this piece translate with exceptional sharpness onto matte fine art paper

its elongated neck and dagger-shaped bill rendered with the meticulous accuracy demanded by nineteenth-century natural history publications

and graphic confidence

Sardines Berry Red by Alice Straker Henri Rousseau Kazumasa's mastery of tone givesSardines Berry Red swaps the warm orange ground for a deep, saturated berry tone that shifts the whole mood of the image richer, more dramatic, closer to dusk than afternoon. Alice Straker arranges the sardines with the same casual confidence found in her wider work, but the cooler undertone of the background gives the silver fish an almost jewel like quality against the dark field. It is the same subject seen through a different emotional register.