Starting from scratch. I always feel like that when trying to form a new piece of art. Sometimes the wood calls out to me because of the form it already has. Sometimes it is not so easy, such as when I am dealing with a milled piece of lumber. Trying to come up with something that won’t feel flat, just as flat as the board it when it comes from the mill.
I use to do a lot of bending of wood, accessing a hot tub that I used to accomplish that. I used plain Douglas Fir, and sometimes it worked, other times not. I still have strips of hardwood that I bent, hoping it would call out to me to do something with it.
I got a piece of Black Walnut from a distant family member in Salem, Mass. I played with that until I finally saw something that appeared like a human figure. I will post those pictures of the piece in progress.