I think this came out pretty good, and I agree on the shadow effect - nice effect.
It took me several minutes to pinpoint the multi-axis turnings. I've done this once in the past, on table legs. Multi-axis turning on table legs results in pad feet with the appearance of a leg ankle. Then it hit me, the circles on the back were created by this method. Didn't centering on each of the four circles make this so lopsided that it shook?, and with the bulk of the piece swinging around didn't it make turning a little hairy?
Anyway, nice work.