Learning a new thing

"When the student is ready, the teacher will appear."

I've heard this for years, maybe read it somewhere, but I didn't know who said it, or that it had a second part:

According to the Tao Te Ching (thanks internet!): "When the student is ready the teacher will appear. When the student is truly ready...the teacher will disappear."

In my journey through the labyrinth of making things, I have been introduced to so many new techniques and I have been a ready student.

Whenever I've learned about something new (alcohol inks, gel plates, water color powders, acrylic inks, etc.) I've gone out and bought the materials to try it.  At first, my efforts were purely imitative.  I'm a good student and follow the rules--up to a point.

When I opened a folder called Screen Shots, I was struck by the fact that I no longer liked more than half the images in my folder, yet I don't regret a single class.  In every one, I've learned something that added to my understanding of materials and what they would do.  In every one, I've been inspired to get outside my comfort zone and try something new.

Various teachers have appeared: Denise Lush, Robin-Marie Smith, Mike Deakin, Kasha Avery and the entire team at Wanderlust, Cat Kerr, Carolyn Dube, Kim Dellow, Kate Crane, and Robyn McClendon, just to name a few! (Robyn McClendon's tutorials are now my favorites but they are much longer and talkier than the others.)

I'm not entirely ready for the teachers to disappear (I'm an avid student) but I'm now doing my own thing more and watching less.