I actually made quite a few bowls from KD lumber from a local lumber yard, when I was first learning. It was plentiful and fairly inexpensive wood. This makes a good combination for those just starting out. You will want side grain towards the headstock.
A pretty nice looking large bowl can be made by sandwiching two 8/4 squares between some veneer. From the end grain view, put the grain in a rainbow orientation at the top of the bowl. The bottom of the bowl should be a horseshoe grain orientation. If you use light colored 8/4 lumber, use a dark colored veneer for the middle, and vise versa.
Since you will probably want to use a waste block to preserve the proportions, it can be set up to either be held by a chuck, or a faceplate, but it will be turned round while holding the bowl at the top with a faceplate. Back then, I used newspaper to separate the waste block from the bowl itself. This helps to remove the waste block using a chisel.....not sure how much accessories you have, but I'd prefer to part the waste block from the finished bowl, but this requires using a turned jam chuck, or a chuck with jumbo jaws having rubber grippers.
These are easy bowls to make up, and you can do a marathon of practice bowls without ever having to deal with unseasoned wood, or spending a lot of money with prepared seasoned bowl blanks, or twice turned bowls......a good learning experience.
-----odie-----