Woodturning is an exciting craft where one starts off with the broad strokes, taking a large chunk of a tree and shaping it with a chainsaw and  bandsaw into a chunk of wood that can be mounted on your lathe.  You then you get down to the more painterly detail of turning the piece on the lathe.  Here a microsecond of inattention or error, where you are poking a sharp tool at a rapidly spinning piece of wood, can cause instant disaster.  This is a wonderful focus!  For me, this is very immediate process, where every movement creates an instant change, it is super creative.  Of course the added advantage is that I am constantly forming new and unique canvases to decorate!  Wood is wonderful to work with, it is organic, with each and every piece being unique.  One can plan, but the wood ultimately dictates what will emerge. 

I love that the wood that I use is rescued from the bonfire and reshaped into new and beautiful forms instead of becoming a pile of ashes.  Often a much loved tree that came down or had to be felled due to disease or location, gets a new life.  The owners are always thrilled when they are presented with a beautiful, albeit reshaped, memory of their special tree.