Perfect Picture Book Friday -- Pocket Full of Colors

Hello World, It's #PPBF time!

Title: Pocket Full of Colors: The magical world of Mary Blair, Disney artist extraordinaire
Authors: Amy Guglielmo and Jacqueline Tourville
Illustrated by: Brigette Barrager
Publisher: Atheneum Books for Young Readers, 2017

Ages: 6 and up

Themes: Biography, Artists, Women


First page: Under a wide blue sky, on a red dirt road,in a lemon-yellow house, there lived a girl named Mary. Other children collected marbles or dolls, but Mary collected colors of every shade and hue.

Why I love this book:

I am sorry to admit that until Vanessa Brantley Newton talked about the art and style of Mary Blair in my character design class, I didn't know who she was. But, it's never too late to learn.

Over the past couple of years, I have taken a much closer look at who the artists and illustrators are in picture books. I try to figure out their medium and style. Vanessa talks about the little feet that Mary Blair incorporated into her drawings of people. I realized, I needed to put a face to those little feet. I looked her up and came across this picture book biography.

It is a beautiful book which takes you through Mary's life and ties it all together with her love of color and her unique and daring style of art.

As you can see, Brigette Barrager used the bright swirls of color throughout Mary's life to show her never ending love of color.  In the last image above, you get a glimpse of the men she was working with at Disney. The are all in brown and white. While Walt Disney loved her colors and vibrant style, the other men's ideas and acceptance of Mary's style paled in comparison. Mary never gave up her dreams. She went off and created illustrations for many books with Little Golden Books.

When I was 10, our family went to Disney World. I fell in love with the "It's a Small World" exhibit/ride. Little did I know, that this was the work of Mary Blair. I wanted to go through that ride over and over again. Today, it would be kind of boring compared to the glitz and glamour of rides today, but back then, when the world felt so big, before everything was on the internet, when we hardly talked about all the cultures of the world, the It's a Small World, boat ride through tunnels and animated characters from around the world, inspired my love of people, color, and art. If Mary Blair were alive today, the ride would likely be bigger and brighter, and even more exotic, but it would have her same flair.

So I love this book because it tells me the story of a courageous artist who didn't give up, when others wanted her to be different. She persevered and created exciting art for her time inspiring artists to create and experiment with their own style and flair.

It is beautifully written and illustrated.

Activities:

Learn more about Amy Guglielmo
Learn more about Jacqueline Tourville
And Brigette Barrager
Learn more about Mary Blair

Create a Color Bingo game to collect colors when you travel.

Find your color. A friend posted this video of Sam Adams skin color comedy routine on Facebook, and it feels so appropriate here. It's good clean comedy. I am currently three colors: Indulgent Peach (sun tan/burn), Provincial peach (where the sun hasn't shined), and my freckles are Reindeer Herd according to Sherwin Williams color charts. What's your color/colors?

Make art!

Sing along: It's a Small World After All

Roussillon -- a Village of Color

I read about Roussillon in Susan Vreeland's Lisette's List. It is a historic fiction novel set before, during, and after World War II. It is a story of a young woman who after leaving her Paris City life learns about living a rural life, learns about art and artists, and discovers that love comes in many forms. 

I was fascinated about the ochre mines and the pigments made from the colors described in the book. I knew this was one place I wanted to visit on my journey in France.

After my hot air balloon ride, I took the route to Roussillon rather than heading straight home. Winding roads led to a busy little village in the Vaucluse hills. Everything was reddish, golden and ochre. The village spiraled in a Fibonacci swirl up to its peak looking out over the incredible beauty of the region. I found a place to park, it was still early in the day, but the sun was hot, and there were tourists everywhere.

I walked down from the parking lot and the first store was filed with colors. It was a store selling the pigments of Provence.  I was in heaven. I wanted them ALL! I wandered the little store enjoying all the colors for a while. The employee was bored and seemed to prefer smoking her cigarettes to talking with customers,  but that did not deter me. I was in a little slice of heaven and she could not shake that lovely dreamy place from me. 

 

Such a vibrant little village filled with shops, narrow streets, people, and restaurants. After wandering, taking many photographs, stopping for a delicious lunch, I made my way back to the pigment store once again soaking in all of the beautiful colors. I wanted everything and the only thing that slowed me down was knowing that I would have to pack all that I purchased in my bags to come home. I settled for a lovely sampling. 

One of these days, I will open them and try them out to create an ode to this very special place.