Linda Baie and Granddaughter, Ingrid

Posted on by Penny Parker Klostermann
Ants may rule the hill, but they don’t rule here! Art by Landon (Click to Enlarge)
Ants may rule the hill, but they don’t rule here! Art by Landon (Click to Enlarge)

Hello, Great Readers of our series! Just in case you haven’t visited before, let me tell you a little about A Great Nephew and A Great Aunt. My great nephew, Landon (a fifth-grader) and I (his great aunt) collaborate. I write a poem which he illustrates. We started this collaboration in the fall of 2014 and have had so much fun with it that we decided to invite others along. Landon and I will continue to have a new episode on the second Friday of each month. The other Fridays are filling up quickly with guests. I have created a page on my website to view all the episodes of A Great Nephew and a Great Aunt. Click HERE to visit the page and enjoy past episodes.

Today it is my pleasure to share a creative collaboration from . . .

Linda Baie and her granddaughter, Ingrid

Words from Linda about the collaboration: In May and June, we had a delightful visitor to my garden, a tiger swallowtail butterfly. There are lots of flowers, including many butterfly weed plants, and it would come flying through, drinking away, then move on to someone else’s flowers. My granddaughters, six and four, come to visit at least once a week, and a couple of times we had fun sitting outside watching this beautiful butterfly together. We would sit on the grass quietly, and hope it would be attracted to our bright clothing. It never landed on any of us, but did make a few close fly-bys! When I suggested to Ingrid, six, that I would love to write a poem that she would illustrate, I asked her what she might like to draw. And she told me she knew just how to draw butterflies, so there was the topic. The girls and I play “I spy with my little eye” sometimes, and when I was messing around with words for a ‘butterfly’ poem, I connected the game, our watching, and the rhymes.

Finally, one afternoon Ingrid came over to hear the poem, discuss it, and examine some pictures I had taken of that one butterfly visitor. It was a special time watching her draw, and I loved writing just for her, too.

Linda’s PoemSlide1

More from Linda: Here are pictures in the garden, and pictures showing the beginning progress of Ingrid’s art, and the final drawing. Special note: Ingrid made sure to put a colorful dress on the little girl so she would attract butterflies!

butterfly
Photo by Linda Baie
tigerswallowtail
Photo by Linda Baie

Ingrid hard at work.

workinghard

Almost done.almostdone

Ingrid’s final art.

final
Art by Ingrid

Proud artist.

Ingrid with final
Art by Ingrid

I just love that colorful dress, Ingrid. It’s perfect for attracting butterflies!

And here are Linda and Ingrid after Ingrid’s performance at drama camp as a cat.

Ingrid-Linda copy
Poet and Artist

Many thanks to Linda and Ingrid for being a part of the series.

Meet Linda: Linda Baie is newly retired from teaching middle-school-aged students and being a literacy coach for many years at an independent school in Denver, CO. She loves being with family, including a son, daughter-in-law and 14-year-old grandson in Texas, and a daughter, son-in-law and two granddaughters very near in Denver. She blogs at TeacherDance.org.

Catherine Flynn at Reading to the Core. has the Poetry Friday Roundup today. If you’d like to know more about Poetry Friday, click HERE for an explanation by Renee LaTulippe.poetry friday button

 

49 thoughts on “Linda Baie and Granddaughter, Ingrid”

  3. Butterflies were my passion as a child – having them land on my hand, just as seen in Ingrid’s illustration! They love to tease by doing “fly-bys”. My favorite picture? “Ingrid hard at work”. It epitomizes the heart, soul and determination of all artists. Beautiful collaboration!

    Liked by 1 person

  8. Lovely photos, gorgeous flowers, and beautiful artist. Oh, I forgot to include talented poet. So fun to watch the collaboration between you two and to see Ingrid’s process unfold.

    Liked by 1 person

  9. This collaboration is pure sweetness. I loved seeing the Ingrid’s artistic process/concentration all the way up to the end product smile! Linda’s photography is gorgeous and the poem speaks a literary love language.

    Liked by 1 person

  11. I meant to get by here all day yesterday but time flitted away. What a colorful and inspiring way to start a Saturday morning, though!
    So much warmth and magic and talent shine through Linda’s poem and Ingrid’s beautiful art. And I just love the peek into time spent between grandmother and granddaughters observing, being still and expectant, and making time to play and create.
    Thanks, Linda and Penny – and a special tip of the beret to lovely Ingrid!

    Liked by 1 person

    1. So glad you enjoyed it. Linda. I know the readers did. I would love to see Ingrid’s smile when she hears the reactions to her art.

      Thanks for writing your beautiful, perfect poem. It really captured the butterfly experience.

      Like

  16. I like the patience and magic of Linda’s poem, and the wonderful rewards you see in Ingrid’s picture! Like Cathy, the detail of the butterfly on her hand particularly charms me.

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  18. What a very special collaboration! I love how it came about in stages, beginning with a quiet, watchful moment, then an idea, a poem, and finally the art. Linda, I love your poem from the title to the final “by.” And bless that little artist hard at work! She did a brilliant job.

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  20. Thanks again, Penny, for letting us visit to share our butterfly love. And thanks to everyone for the wonderful comments. I am not home so will have to wait to show Ingrid how much her drawing was appreciated. She will be so excited!

    Liked by 1 person

  24. Linda’s poem made me smile! And that is a spectacular piece of artwork from Ingrid! My older son is an amateur lepidopterist and I ask for his help in IDing a lot of butterflies in our range. He’ll appreciate Linda’s lovely photos of this swallowtail.

    Liked by 1 person

  25. What a lovely and detailed photo, picture and poem. A beautiful start to my morning. I, too, have seen a swallowtail in my gardens in Ohio. Butterflies were scarce here last summer and it’s good to see others are welcoming this year, too! 🙂

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