And a splendid time was had by all…

Yesterday the twins and their parents came by to tie the tzitzit on their tallitot.  Unfortunately, the twins grandmother was snowed in and could not join us.

When we had met earlier it was pretty clear that the twins’ mother was worried that the tallitot would look like some sort of a camp craft project, far too wild and wooly for her taste.

 

One of the things I really do pride my self on as an artist is hearing what my clients want and incorporating the needs of the client into the final piece.  I have noticed that lots of figurative painters make every portrait look  something like the artist rather than like the client. One of my long time clients once quipped that each of my pieces is a portrait of the client. I take that as a big, big compliment.

 

So here are the two tallitot.

Here are some details:

I set the girls up side by side to tie the tzitzit. like most kids who have gone to camp the knots were familiar to them, albeit with a different name…

Like anything, else beginning the task was a little tricky. But after a few checks and corrections the work of tying tzitzit  went more easily.

 

As the girls began to tie the tzitzit they and their parents noticed ways small and large that I had heard them during our initial meeting.

When both sets of tzitzit were tied on one side of the tallit I had each twin teach one of her parents how to do the knotting and tying.

 

I love seeing families working together.

I then had the girls don their tallitot with all of the verses that surround the ritual.