Unison Colour 5 Day Pastel Challenge with Associate Artist Lynn Howarth
It’s with great pleasure that we bring you news on the next Unison Colour 5 Day Pastel Challenge!
1987
The Beginning
Unison Colour was founded by artist John Hersey who, after many years of not finding a pastel he was happy with, decided to make his own. After years of experimenting, the Unison Colour Soft pastel that you know and love today, was created.
But before we go any further...
Why not make yourself a cuppa, and watch our beautiful 8 minute film, which will take you on an intimate tour of Unison Colour HQ, while hearing from Kate Hersey, who tells us about the humble beginnings of Unison Colour, and son Dan, on moving onwards into the future.
Play Video
John Hersey
John Hersey was born in 1925. He was a student at the Byam Shaw School of art in London where he won a Rome Scholarship and lived in Italy for several years. On returning to the UK he ran his own business ‘Fine Art Photography’ while continuing with his own work. Over the years he became more and more interested in and passionate about colour.
John had always found inspiration in the clarity of light and subtlety of colour in Northumberland, and in 1980 he moved with Kate and their 4 children to an Old Rectory in the Northumberland National Park.
Colour Vision
The project began when John decided that the manufactured pastels available on the market broke easily, were not consistent in texture and did not mirror his colour vision. For several years he worked on methods of production, colour sequences and the texture of his pigment mixtures.
In 1987 he decided to offer the results to fellow pastellists. He and Kate took the original range of colour sets (then just 117 pastels!), and the kitchen dresser, to an art materials show in London. To their surprise there was an immediate interest.
Signs of Growth
To start with, the pastels were all made in the coach house and the top spare bedroom in the house was used for packing and storage. Eventually, as sales expanded in the USA, things became easier and they were able to construct another workshop and a packing room.
For John, it was a mission to create a world of colour.
In the Heart of Northumberland
Unison Colour is still based in the beautiful Tarset Valley in the Northumberland National Park, and the newly unveiled Northumberland International Dark Sky Park.
Each year nearly half a million handmade soft pastels are made in the workshops and Coach House at Thorneyburn Old Rectory. From here the pastels are sent out to artists all over the world.
Colourful Chronicles
Using Texture in the Support for your Pastel Art
A few months ago, I prepared some acid-free mount boards with a mixture of gesso marble dust and a small amount of water. I painted it on, purposely leaving painterly marks with the brush.
A Pink Letter Day!
So, like many other artists, I do get some scam emails, purporting to be interested buyers from overseas. It is a common problem. These scams are very clever and we need to be very alert to the issue.
Workshop: Yorkshire Dales in Pastels with Robert Dutton
Unison Colour have joined up with Shop Keep Arty & are sponsoring a Live workshop with one of our Associate Artist’s Robert Dutton! Robert will