Cottonwood bowl

This is a bowl I made from a very large cottonwood my dad cut down about two years ago. I turned it to about 65% complete and let it sit for a little over a year in the shop. I did wrap it in paper to slow the drying. 
I was really surprised at the look of this when put first coat of an oil based polyurethane. It really popped. I was thinking it would be a pretty plain wood. 

I did have an issue with the finish on it. I wound up sanding it down to bare wood. I was glad I did because I got rid of a lot of imperfections that I had left the first sanding. 
I wound up thinning the poly with some denatured alcohol which seemed to help. 

So here is the finished product. It is 12-1/4” wide by 5-1/4” tall. 

Hope you like it!!