Torrit Grey 2008 Workshop
 

Each spring, the Gamblin Company cleans its particle filtration system of all the pigment dust collected over the year, and tubes it as "Torrit Grey", a complementary grey. The color and value of Torrit Grey is different each year - often, according to the Gamblin folks, because of the proportion of Pthalo dust in the mix.

Each year, Gamblin holds an online competetion for artists, who are allowed to use black, white, and Torrit Grey only.

This June, I conducted a 3-day Torrit Grey workshop for the Scottsdale Artits' School; the Gamblin marketing people supplied the tubes of paint for the students. I opened one of the tubes and tried out the grey beforehand (and am SO glad I did !) The color has a VERY srong staining violet cast. Only in class, when we opened up the other tubes, did we find that there were actually 2 different colors tubed this year - the second is a much warmer, non-staining color. As I experiment more with the second color, I'll add to this demo.

I began by creating a color chart. The top row is comprised of 5 values, using black and white. The middle row has 4 values (Torrit Grey out of the tube is at the second darkest value level) and uses only Torrit Grey and white (Titanium). The third row uses all three colors. It may be difficult to see on the your screen, but the TG +TW has distinctly violet cast. I gave students canvas scraps so they could practice mixing before beginning their paintings.

First practice demo -Alexandra from photo
 

Step 1

A couple of weeks before the class, I tried out a demo with the TG,using an older photo I had on hand. I used an inexensive, acrylic primed canvas, which subsequently turned out to be a mistake.

Figure placement is the first and most fundamental decision to make, and here I didn't do a thumbnail sketch or work out the placement on my computer beforehand, and I paid the price. The size of the head was fine. But t was in the wrong place on the canvas.

Step 2

It's important to evaluate the success or failure of your composition at every step, and to fix it AS SOON as you're aware of it.

Here I move the head slightly to the right, and a lower it a bit. I start to find the horizontal curves and angles of the face.

Step 3

By separating the light from shadow, I can start to work out the value scheme of the painting, adding a vertical shape on the left, and darkening the background on the right.

Step 4

Stating the dark and middle values, I hope you can see how purple the background on the left of the head has become. The TG behaves like a crushed blueberry, when it gets wet...adding either white or mineral spirits lightens it but moves it between blue-violet and red-violet, depending on how much black's in the mix.

Step 5

Now all of the canvas is covered with light, middle and dark values; the paint is still pretty thin

Step 6

Here I start to pay more attention to locating the features, and adding more value detail.

Step 7

Starting to model more of the form through corrections.

Step 8

More of the same:)

Step 10

This was as far as I got - just paying attention to the eyes and mouth, and continuing to puzzle over the TG.

Second practice demo- Sammie from life
 

Between the time I did my first demo, I became re-engergized about monochrome paintings after the development of this thread. So in my Prescott open studio group I decided to paint a monochrome, just using TG and mineral spirits, trying out a wipe-out method. Again, I used an inexpensive, acrylic primed canvas.

Here I place the head, locate the horizontals, and start to separate light and shadow.

Step 2

In using a wipe out method, corrections are made by removing pigment, and putting it somewhere else.

Here's what happened when I tried to wipe out the TG, "wipe-out" being the operative phrase. I scrubbed and scrubbed, but the stain remained. Worse, I'd just killed off about an hour of open studio time, sigh.

Step 3

The good news is that I've only ruined part of my canvas, so I start over just using black and mineral spirits.

Step 4

The black doesn't wipe out a whole lot better, so I concede defeat on the wipe out thing for the day, and decide just to use black and white, and leave the TG for the end.

Step 5

Finding the light, middle and dark values, I cover the surface with paint.

Step 6

Working in smaller spaces, locating features.

Step 9

Adding some lights.

Step 10

At the last sitting of the session, I go for a little judicious TG, using it in the earring, part of the mouth, a bit in the shadow of the nose. When all is said and done, I've decided that the violet of TG should probably be referred to as "violent".

Tonal arrangements and thumbnail sketches
 

We were extremely fortunate to have the artist Lisa Schubach as our model. As an accomplished painter, Lisa's input into the clothing and set up were instrumental in creating a set-up that had clean value separation and which lent itself to solid design opportunities from all angles.

Students made up several thumbnail sketches from their easel positions, spending a lot of time on composition.

Here is one view of Lisa in her pose. You can see how simple the value patterns are.

Here's a pic of the class.

Lessons learned
 

Overall the class was great fun,and much more difficult than I would have expected. Much of the difficulty revolved around the handling of the paint.

Here's what I've learned so far:

Your process and outcome will depend, to some extent on whether you find a tube of the purple Torrit Grey or the warm Torrit Grey. They all look the same on the outside.

Regardless of the tube color, the biggest constraint is the ground you use. One of my students, Kay brought some New Traditions art panels to use in class. For those of you have used any of the the NT oil-primed panels, you know that the surface is more tightly woven and much slicker than an acrylic canvas. It makes all the difference in the world.

Below, I used a scrap of NT oil-primed linen and brushed a little of each of the Torrit Grey colors on it, then went in to wipe out the color. Both lifted beautifully. Had I know this in advance I would have been more specific about the type of support in my materials list. When I am in open studio, or doing a demo, I typically use whatever cheap canvas I pick up,since I am pretty sure I will throw out the canvas after the studio, and the NT panels are a lot more expensive (a note here: I have used NT panels exclusively on my commission for a number of years). Live and learn. I plan to work up a Torrit Grey painting on the NT panels,with the warm color, and I'll add to this thread when I learn something more. I expect that any slick surface will enable color-lifting, but if I were you, I'd check it out first:)