We warmly welcomed artist Ginny Elston to the home of Unison Colour at Thorneyburn last week.
We selected Ginny’s pastel exhibit entitled “Archaeological Museum Garden, Piano di Sorrento 111” for the prestigious Unison Colour Young Artist award at the annual UK Pastel Society Exhibition earlier in the year. As well as receiving £500 worth of Unison Colour pastels as part of her prize we invited Ginny to spend a day experiencing the process of making our pastels, culminating in curating her own ‘artist’ set.
Ginny’s tour began in the room where the pigments are stored to meet Jim. Almost an hour later she emerged after being totally immersed in the amazing intensity of colours and how Jim makes up the recipes for each of our 380 colours with the aid of John Hersey’s original formulas.
Now was the time to get hands-on. Ginny looked very much at home and in her element rolling pastels. With the aid of our expert makers, Nessie, Sue and Jim, Ginny was very soon producing great pastels, connecting immediately with the feel of the soft dollops as she gently coaxed it over the blotting paper into the recognisable shape of a pastel.
A spot of al fresco dining was provided by our very own Nigella Lawson, aka Victoria. Sitting out in the lovely warm sunshine we enjoyed a delightful lunch and good company. Post lunch and back in the making studio Ginny continued her ‘Unison Colour Experience’ and made even more pastels!
By the time we had shown Ginny round the remaining studios, where she was introduced to Hazel, Unison Colour’s quality controller and colour expert the day was nearly over. It was decided Ginny would need at least another day to curate her own landscape set of pastels based around her award-winning painting. A future visit we will all certainly look forward to.
