Ed - watch out on that "art" business. It is a dark side of turning
that can actually lead to not having much fun with it anymore.

It seems a while back that many have forgotten the beautiful
simplicity of nice clean lines of a turned piece, or the functionality
of good wooden bowl.

I like a little decoration, but the pieces I see now that are
airbrushed, stippled, woodburned, painted, toned, carved, and on and
on.... well, they leave me a little cold. There have two or three
times the amount of time decorating the wood than they did turning
it. In many cases, the wood no longer even looks like wood.

That's fine, and certainly if someone wants to pursue woodturning in
that fashion, more power to them!

I liked a lot of that stuff initially, but at this point I really
don't care for the "art" aspects of turning unless it is making the
most out of a fine piece of wood.

There are several books out there that do a good job on describing
different turning procedures and ideas. I don't think any of them is
"the" book. If I were you, I would buy a couple of standards (Fred's
book is a great place to start) and go to the library and the half
priced book store in your area and look to see what particular styles
you are interested in developing.

This can give you a leg up on the shapes and designs you are
interested in turning, as well as stretching your $$$. Hey... turning
books are expensive!!

Not all "art" is "art". And while I have no doubt that many of the
turnings that I see that are acclaimed as artful masterpieces are
beyond my turning abilities, I wouldn't want to learn to make them
myself.

As always, just my 0.02.

Robert