Folk tulip vase, pink & green

Thrown round and full, then painted the slow way, one raspberry tulip on its green stem, a scatter of falling petals, and a dashed border top and bottom like the trim on a good apron. It's the sort of naïve, happy pattern you find on old European country pottery, done freehand so the brush wobbles exactly where a brush should.

Turn it to the light and there's the surprise: the whole inside is glazed a soft blush pink, so it glows from within whether it's holding a posy of sweet peas, a fistful of dried flowers through winter, or nothing at all.

Wheel-thrown and hand-painted at the studio in Woburn. Watertight for fresh stems; just as happy kept dry on a shelf.