Frida Kahlo · A world of your own colours

ZENA MEETS

Frida Kahlo

A world of your own colours

Written by Zen Bloom
Art direction by Rowan Vale

A little book to read together.
Turn the page and come along!

Book 03 in the ZenBloomBooks collection

Hello, little explorer!

Zena is our storybook guide. She dresses up and acts out ideas from this real person’s life.

The girl in these pictures is Zena. The story is about Frida Kahlo.

Read. Point. Wonder. Play.

MEET THE REAL PERSON

Frida Kahlo

Frida Kahlo was an artist from Mexico. After a serious accident, she began painting while she rested. She painted herself, her feelings and the world around her. Her pictures helped her tell her own story.

Zena wears Frida-inspired connected dark eyebrows. Zena stands with a sketchbook in a sunny courtyard outside a simple bright blue Mexican home, with two large leafy plants and a pink flower

Her home, a house of blue,

Had colours, old and new.

She looked at leaf and sky.

And watched the birds fly by.

Zena wears Frida-inspired connected dark eyebrows. Zena notices a red flower, green leaf and blue sky in a quiet garden, holding a simple paint palette with three colour blobs

Bright flowers. Leaves of green.

What colours could be seen?

A brush, a shape, a line.

A world that seemed to shine.

Zena wears Frida-inspired connected dark eyebrows. Zena sits comfortably propped on pillows in bed with a drawing board on her lap, making a gentle picture while resting

When hurt, she had to stay

In bed for many a day.

A brush and paints were near.

She drew what she held dear.

Zena wears Frida-inspired connected dark eyebrows. Zena paints an original self-portrait of the fictional Zena character at a wooden easel

A mirror showed her face.

She found each line its place.

Her eyes, her hair, her nose

Became the shapes she chose.

Zena wears Frida-inspired connected dark eyebrows. Zena looks into a small round mirror and then at her sketchbook, thoughtfully choosing how to draw her face

Some days were bright and glad.

Some days felt slow and sad.

Her pictures helped her say

How she had felt that day.

Zena wears Frida-inspired connected dark eyebrows. Zena shows her coral blouse and teal skirt in front of a blue courtyard wall with a single simple embroidered geometric motif on her collar

Her skirts and shirts were bright.

With colours full of light.

She loved her home and land.

A brush was in her hand.

Zena wears Frida-inspired connected dark eyebrows. Zena sketches a bright green parrot perched on a low branch, with one simple plant pot nearby

She watched a bird nearby.

Its bright wings caught her eye.

A leaf, a bloom, a tree

Gave shapes for her to see.

Zena wears Frida-inspired connected dark eyebrows. Zena sits at a large table with original small paintings of a flower, a smiling sun and her own face

Her pictures told a tale.

In colours, bright or pale.

She painted from her heart.

Her life became her art.

Zena wears Frida-inspired connected dark eyebrows. Zena and two child friends look at three original colourful paintings in a simple gallery

Her pictures went away

For others to display.

And people came to see

How bold a brush could be.

Zena wears Frida-inspired connected dark eyebrows. Zena and a child friend make their own colourful portraits at a low craft table, with broad crayons and sheets of paper

A colour, shape or line

Can make a picture shine.

What story could you show

With colours that you know?

Look again

Find a red flower.

Find a green leaf.

What other colours

can you see?

Zena stands with open hands, inviting you to try an activity, in an art studio.

Have a go

Choose a few crayons.

Draw your own face.

Add a thing you love.

This picture is yours.

Tell the story

What helped her make art

when she needed to rest?

Which tools did she use?

What might you draw?

Zena sits cross-legged and thinks about a question, in an art studio.

A little wonder

A picture of yourself

is a self-portrait.

Look in a mirror.

What shapes make your face?

FOR GROWN-UPS

A real life, a first little story

Frida Kahlo lived from 1907 to 1954. She was born in Coyoacán, Mexico City.
She began painting seriously after a bus accident in 1925. A special easel and mirror helped her paint while recovering in bed.
Many of her paintings are self-portraits. Her work explores identity, her body, feelings and Mexican culture.
The paintings in this book are original imaginary pictures by Zena. They do not reproduce Frida Kahlo's artworks. Her illness and disability were lasting parts of her life, not something painting made disappear.

This book simplifies a longer life. Zena’s play, friends and props illustrate ideas; they do not reconstruct particular childhood events.

Read slowly. Leave time for questions. Adapt the activities to your child.

Keep discovering

Original text and illustrations for ZenBloomBooks.

Choose another adventure

Written by Zen Bloom
Art direction by Rowan Vale