Have you ever heard of Tom. Skinned Tom that is. A few years back we had this local lothario taking a special interest in all the housewives in the area, like a tomcat prowling around. He wasn't very discrete and the husbands knew, but they couldn't do anything becase he was a very vicious sort. Now one day he picked on the wrong woman. He took her for a 'nature outing' to the local woods as usual, but this time the husband wasn't some guy who could be pushed around. He wasn't violent or agressive, but he always protected what was his and he never backed down. So that day the husband set off for the woods, taking his work tools with him. His wife returned home about an hour later, very quietly. A few hours later the husband turned himself into police, along with his tools which he used in his trade as a slaughterman. One knife was missing. The police went to the woods and found the complete skin of a man, strung between two trees. They never found the body. The story goes now that anyone going into those woods in the pursuit of infidelity may encounter our skinned tom, but who would admit that. Some couples have gone missing, but we put that down to runaways. It is the most likely explanation. It is the more comfortable explanation. Ok, this render took about a couple of hours to process, but including all concept drawings, false starts, and alternate camera angles, it's probably taken about 8 hours actual work over 4 days. Put together and rendered in Carrara 8Pro, little bit of layer and post work in Photoshop Elements and PSP. I heard The Skinned Tom story locally about 25 years ago and its one that just sticks in the head, but since the internet I've read it as originating all over. So much for local legends. There's plenty more that my Dad used to tell on quiet nights. I'll hold on to those until next year.