Lily of the Valley

Lily was painted in the coolest palette of the studio: porcelain, pale milk, a breath of green in the shadows — like lily-of-the-valley stems in a glass of water. Against that quiet base her lips and fingertips glow all the warmer. Her outfit was embroidered by hand with tiny bell-shaped flowers, one evening stitch at a time, and her bonnet ties with a pale sage ribbon. Lily has already travelled to her new home. Her page stays in the gallery as part of the studio archive — every doll leaves, and every doll is remembered.