First, I held the knife at a completely different angle. Traditionally, the knife is held at 65 degrees to the wood. I made many cuts with the knife held as close to parallel to the wood as possible.

Second, as my teacher Wayne Barton likes to say “clean cuts are the hallmark of good carving”. I purposely left wood in many of my cuts to create a different effect.

Lastly, instead of uniform staining, I spot stained to create areas of light and dark better reflecting the mood of the carving.
It was both interesting and difficult to carve and finish this piece. Hope you enjoy it!