more tallit workshop work

Sarah is one of the participants in my never ending Spring tallit workshop. She came by today to finish doing her lettering for the corner pieces, ( the squares) and to outline all of her letters with metallic paint.

Sarah is a smart kid who is a deep thinker. She just came back from a Great Books summer camp. ( That would have been my idea of an ideal summer camp when I was a kid.) Sarah does great work but she is very much of a perfectionist and it got in the way of getting this piece done.

While Sarah was working I took out a piece that I was working on that needed a bit of help.It felt very companionable with both of us working together. I showed Sarah how to outline the letters using just the tip of the brush, and not the side so she could get a finer line.

As she was working she asked me lots of questions about my own work, how I improved. I Talked about how I was not particularly good at making art when I was her age, but by plugging away, I improved.

When she worried about particular brush strokes, I told her not to judge until the whole thing was done. She actually listened.

After she finished outlining her letters, I asked her if she wanted to add anything else to her pieces. she practiced a couple of different ideas on a piece of scrap fabric and settled on making a simple star. She asked what if she make a mistake? I assured her that we would figure out a way to make the mistake work.

As she finished each piece I held it up at a bit of a distance to see if she was satisfied. She was. this was the first time I saw Sarah really pleased with her work.

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