He was in the wood

Third day without a walk or a run. Many thanks to all of my well wishers, as I feel sure that has had a positive effect. The really debilitating symptoms have eased and I feel sure I will be out on the road again in the morning.

Because I mostly stayed indoors today, I wasn't thinking of a photo until this evening. Then it became very much a matter of what shall I use.

I remembered some photographs I took of a rosewood chess set we bought not long after we first came to Auckland. Although they were in black and white, I thought I might reprise that. Which led to thinking that this piece was a better option.

About 30 years ago, when we were having some renovations done in the old villa, I rescued a number of kauri rafters, and other boards taken out by the builders. A piece of kauri, just over 8 inches long, had split from a rafter during the process of removing it. Over a few weeks, in the evenings and using a fishing knife (which had never seen a fish, and was moderately blunt) I cut and scraped away bits of the wood and shaped it, in the process finding this man.

That he was there waiting to be released seems clear to me, as thereafter even with some actual carving tools, no fellows for him were ever found.

I took this photo outside on the table on the deck, using macro mode on the Pentax, and with flash. The flash has given the piece a little more of a glow than it truly has. The wood remains unpolished except by handling of it.

EDIT: Looking again at this, I realise that although I started with the knife, I clearly finished with at least some carving tools as can be seen by the shape of the grooves in the crown. Having released him with the old knife without any idea of what I was doing, the final touches were clearly more structured.