- Hello. I'm certainly glad you could join us today 'cause I thought today we'd
just have a fantastic time. So I'll tell you what,
let's start out today and have them run all the
colors across the screen that you need to paint along with us. While they're doing that let me show you what I've got going up here. I have my standard old
18 by 24 inch canvas but you use any size that you want. And I've just taken black gesso and I've just sorta
painted a little design. I thought today I would do
a scene where maybe you're deep in the woods and walking
through a little path. So I've just painted that
basic design, that idea, on here with black gesso
and then we've allowed the gesso to dry totally on top of that then I've added a little
bit of liquid clear. A very, very small amount of liquid clear and then we've taken a
little transparent color and I just made that from
sap green, phthalo blue and a little Van Dyke brown
and covered the entire canvas. So we have sap green, phthalo
blue and Van Dyke brown and then a very thin coat. We put the liquid clear on
there so that you just have to put a very small amount of paint. If you don't have the clear
it takes a lot of color to cover the entire canvas. But use it sparingly, one
can will probably last you the rest of your life. It takes very little. So, let's have some fun today. Shoot, we'll take the old two inch brush and let's start out with
some titanium white. I'm just gonna pull a little
color into the bristles, be right back, be right back
with the least little touch of cad yellow. Maybe a little bit more. There we go. See? But very little color. Let's go right up here now. I want to have a light
source coming out from here. So we'll start with this white
with a little yellow in it and just begin making
little criss-cross strokes. Just like so. I love these little scenes
where the lights coming from behind or its coming from
behind a tree or something and just projecting through. To me, those are so beautiful and it's unbelievable
what you can do with them. Now then, just blend it
outward, outward, outward. But you want to get darker and darker as it moves away from that light source. There. About to there or somewhere. Now you can make this as
bright as you want it. So you could go back and
pick up a little more of that same color and
come right back in here and do it again. You can make it as bright as you want. You can do it several times. There. And already it looks like there's a glow happening back here and
that's what we're looking for. Okay and very lightly we'll
just brush it a little to take out the brush strokes. Sometimes when you're doing these it's interesting if you
want to put the indication of light rays you can just pull, I don't know if you can see that or not, but it'll make the indications
of little rays of light zinging through the woods or
wherever it happens to be. This an excellent way to
make those type of scenes just like so. It looks just like
there's a glow back here, big lantern. Let's wash the old brush. That's the fun part of all this. Shake it off. (chuckles) And just beat
the devil out of it. Now then, let's go into that same color, I'm gonna take a little white
and add to that same color that we covered the canvas with and this is just a mixture
of sap green, phthalo blue and Van Dyke brown. The brown is in there only
to dull the color down otherwise it'd be very bright. Just gonna tap a little
of that into the bristles so just give it a little tap, little push. Now then, let's begin
thinking about little shapes back in here. So, we'll just take this
brush, use the corner of it. You can just tap. But begin thinking about how
maybe tree branches and stuff would be hanging over here. Just let it go like that. There we are. Think about shape, though. How do you want your tree to look? And all we're interested is
just the very basic shape, we're gonna come back and put a few little highlights on that. So we're just looking for
some little basic shapes. That easy. There we go. Alright. A little more color. Maybe a few more little things. And already it begins
to give the impression that it's layered. And that's what we're looking for. Want to make it look
like there's just layer after layer after layer of
beautiful trees hanging over. Maybe we'll have a little path in this. Or maybe when you do yours, maybe you want to turn that path into maybe a happy little
stream or a little pond or any of those things, you could
do that very, very easily. There. Okay. Now, let me grab my old liner brush. We'll take a little paint thinner, go right into that same color,
the same identical color, and I'm gonna thin that 'til
it's almost like ink or water. Turn the bristles. Nice sharp point. Now then, let's go up in here and we'll put the
indication here and there of a few little sticks and
twigs that live out here. There. Don't want these to be very dark, they're way out here in this light so they also would be
very subdued and quiet. Don't get too strong with them yet. We'll make some on the
other part back here a little farther away and
they'll be a little stronger. But initially we want
these to be very subdued. You almost can't see 'em. There. But we know they're there. We know they're there. If you have trouble making it flow add a little more of the paint thinner 'cause a thin paint will slide right over to
the top of a thick paint. Alright. Now, just wash it off
with a little thinner. We'll just use that same
old brush. What the heck. I'm gonna just tap this
right into some white. It still has the other color
on it so it's gonna make it a sort of a light, greenish color here, greenish blue. But push, that creates that little ridge right on the edge of the bristles. Now we can come back in here and create the indication
that sunlight's just zinging right through and sparkling these. There. There we go, but think about
shape and form once again. Most important. Most, most important. There we go. Little individual things. I like these little
paintings. Hope you do too. They're so interesting and
they're very easy to do even for people who have
never painted before. These little paintings are
so nice. They're great. There. Now then maybe. Once again, don't just hit at random. Think about form and shape
that's going on up here. Okay, there's one maybe right there. Darker, darker, darker back on this side. Okay and you can just create layer after layer after layer. There. Mm. Sometimes you get excited when you do this and just want to cover everything
up 'cause it works so well and is so beautiful. Maybe want to add the least
little touch of yellow to that. There. Just begin changing the flavor a tiny bit. Tiny bit. There, maybe even a little
of that yellowish color here and there. Okay. Because that's gonna
begin turning green now as it touches all the
blue that's underneath that yellow color is gonna
begin having a green cast to it and we want these little
trees to be nice and green and full of life and beautiful. There we go. But look how deep that looks already and we've done basically nothing. Alright. Tell you what, let's start
on the other side over here. I have several brushes going,
I'm just gonna right back into that dark color
with the two inch brush and get a little color on it. Now then, let's go up here. I want to make this a big tree that's hanging over this side. That'll push that light area way back so we'll just take the
basic shape that's on there with the black gesso and we'll just improve it a little bit. So it looks like there's nice
limbs hanging out over it. And that dark, dark
color against that light, oh boy, does it show up. That is spectacular. That's what makes your painting special. And you could put a bush here and there that hangs out over. Mm. It's easy to get carried
away with this though. Alright, now back to our brush that has the lighter colors on it and it's time we started
getting into some nice green so we'll take some midnight black, go right into some yellow,
grab a little sap green too, what the heck, that makes
a beautiful green color when you mix them up, that way you have a variety
of things happening in there, not just one dead ol' color. Once again, push that brush so you can see that little ridge of paint. Super good closeup shot right there. Good. Let's go up here. Now right in here we can begin just dropping in the
indication of all kinds of little leaves and
stuff that are happening. Once again though, think
about form and shape and all those things make
your tree so interesting. Add a little yellow ochre and
Indian yellow here and there. Once in a while I'll let a little of the bright red sneak in. Believe it or not, red dulls your color because red and green,
as you know, makes brown. So red is a duller in
this particular instance. Now maybe this is a
different little doer here so we'll change the color
just enough to make him stand out as an individual. There we go. A little more
of the black, darken it down. And over in here maybe
there's a nice shadow area. So this color's quite a bit darker. Want to push him back into the shadows. But look right here, see these dark areas? They're very important.
Don't kill all of 'em. If you kill all those dark areas your painting's gonna look very flat. You don't want that. Now then, here's a nice little
bush that lives there. He looks out over the edge. He's got the best view in the forest. There we go. A little more of that green color. And maybe there's just a
happy little bush that lives, yep, right there. Just layer after layer after layer. Do one bush at a time. Don't get greedy. Sometimes we get in a
hurry and we try to do too many at once. Just do one at a time. Think about each one as an individual. Shoot, if it helps, give 'em names. There's Charlotte and there's Joe. You know, give 'em
names. Just make 'em up. Alright. It's time to start having
some fun back in here now. Maybe, maybe, maybe, maybe. Let's come right down in here. Maybe we're beginning to
get into some nice things that are hanging right over the edge here. There. Just let that hang right over. We said we was gonna have a path here, we don't want to cover that totally up. So let's begin having a little path. For that we'll take some Van Dyke brown, a little dark sienna, we'll
just mix 'em together. Cut off a little roll of paint that lives right on the edge of the knife and let's go back here
and just very gently just begin laying in the basic shape. There. And we'll just
bring it right on out. You have to make some big decisions now. Where does your little path live? He lives right along in there
and just has a good time. Take some dark sienna and
white, mix it together but don't overmix it. Leave it marbled like that, then cut off a little bit
of paint right on the edge. Now we can go up here and
this is delicate touch, barely touching, just let it graze, let it barely graze so it
picks up on those high spots. Let it graze. I want this brighter back here because that's where our light is and as we move away from
that we're gonna let it get darker and darker. There we go. Just barely let it graze though. It's just like if you've
painted mountains with me, this is just like putting
snow on the mountains. Shoot, I'll tell you
what. Let me show you. Let me show you. Sometimes it's fun, maybe
there's a little puddle here. Maybe it rained last night. Let's take a little touch of white, little touch of white. There. Let's pull it straight down. I'll show ya. See, when you do these
things you starting seeing all kinds of little things happening. And when you see 'em, use 'em. Pull it straight down,
now very gently go across. Very gently go across. We're gonna make us some water back here. Make us some water. And you can do that. You have unlimited power. Now, decide how your
little puddle's gonna be and just put dirt around it. See there? There. There he is. It rained last night and
there's puddles here. Now all the little birds and everything can come here and have a drink. Look at that. But that's all there is to
it if you want to create that illusion. There. Just let these colors work back and forth, the browns and the highlights. There we go. Mm. And that path just begins
coming right out of there. Now then, if you want to push that path back a little further, we can take a little bit of our color that we used to make
all these little leaves and let some of it just come
right over the top here. That'll push that path right
back into the painting. There we go. Maybe over on this side just let that little bush
hang right over the path. Now then, it's time to get
into some nice big trees over on here. We'll go back to our brush that has the dark color in it
and begin thinking about some basic shapes here. Just let 'em come right out over. That'll help push all that
light area back in there. But you can do this over
and over and over and just create tremendous amounts
of depth in your painting. That's what makes it so interesting. There. There was a time when doing
paintings like this were very, very difficult for me. But this makes it so anybody can do it. Anybody can do it. Go back to our brush
with some green on it. Back into our yellows, yellow ochre, cad yellow, all those nice colors, a little bit of the Indian yellow. Okay, let's go back up here. Now then, here it comes. Begin putting on some
nice little highlights on these leaves. Little squirrels gotta
have a place to live. There we are. Just layer after layer. There. But think about little clumps, don't just hit at random. I knew I keep saying that
but it's so important. Think about the shape and form in there. There he comes. Big old nice limb there. It's unbelievable what you can do with a big old two inch brush if you'll just devote a little
bit of time to practice. It doesn't take a great deal. We get letters from people everyday that have never painted who are doing some of the
most beautiful things. And they send me photographs
of what they're doing. In fact, while I'm doing this, this is just sorta repetitious,
maybe I can get the director to put a few of them up on the screen. We've put a few on the board here. But look at some of these
things that people are doing. And these come from all over the country. They're doing just marvelous things, things that I've never dreamed of doing and they're beautiful and I'm so proud of the people who are doing this. Maybe you'll see your painting here. If you've sent me a photograph maybe yours will be there. If not, send me a
photograph maybe next time 'cause we've put these
together and put them on the screen every once in a while. I like for people all
over the country to see what everybody's doing 'cause that's super. It's what makes all this worthwhile. The fact that people are doing this and enjoying a tremendous
amount of success. That really, really is
the joy of painting. We have people here to go from age four to 94. Look at that. Isn't that super? And once again, some of these individuals had never painted before. And a lot of them have never had a lesson, they've only watched the television shows and from the television
shows they've learnt to create their own masterpieces. And once again, we get so
many letters from people all over the country
that this is working for. And a lot of the people
that start this way and enjoy some success then they go on to colleges and universities
all over the country or take classes from
super hard instructors and this is just their
way of getting started. And anything that gets
people interested in art is fantastic 'cause it's
one of the nicest ways of expressing yourself
that there ever was. And I think all of us have a
creative need inside of us. There, see how we're just letting all those bushes hang over? I'll tell you what, if
there's gonna puddles, maybe we'll have a few more. Take a little more of the titanium white, now there's color on the
canvas so when you pull this white down automatically
you're gonna get a beautiful color change. See there? It's almost like magic. If you do this in front
of friends and relatives and they don't know you've
put any color on the canvas they'll just be amazed
when you start pulling a little white paint down it. All these beautiful colors just appear. They think you're a magician. Don't tell 'em any
different. That's our secret. Now then, you can come right back in here and just put in a little
dirt wherever you want it. Wherever you want it. There we go, maybe it comes zoom right around like that. And with the old knife, it
doesn't take but just a second to drop in a lot of color. There we go. Maybe that comes right along in there. Now, don't try to just copy
exactly what we're doing here because your puddles won't
look like these puddles, they'll look better. Just everybody's painting is going to be unique and different and individual. And don't fight that. Don't just try to copy
what somebody else does. I'm not trying to teach you to copy. There. I just want to teach you the technique and turn you loose on the world. 'Cause you have unlimited power. Everybody does and you can do anything. All you need is just a little inspiration and a little knowledge, a little practice. Shoot, you can take over
the world if you want to. I don't think any of us
want to, but should you. There. Alright. To me, the first step of
accomplishing anything is to believe that you can do
it and I know you can do it. So you certainly know you can. Let's have another puddle over here. I like these puddles. Come right in here. Maybe there's a happy little
puddle that lives right here. See? Just once again, just
pull it straight down. If it picks up a little
of that brown? Wonderful. Wonderful. Use it. There. You can always add a little
blue if it gets too bright, take a little of the phtahlo
blue and add it in there and dull it right down. 'Cause you know, if you've
painted with us before, we don't make mistakes. We have happy accidents. Because very soon you
learn to work with anything that happens here. And when you get over that
fear of making a mistake then it becomes fun. Then it really becomes fun. That's when you experience the joy. Mmkay. And in your world you just put as many or as few puddles as you want. Maybe you don't want any puddles. Maybe the sun shines all
the time where you're at and you don't have any
little rain puddles. It's up to you. If you do want to, now you know how. Look at that though. And off we go. Mmkay. Maybe in our world, maybe we
can see the indication here, take a little brown and
white on the fan brush, maybe back in here you can
make out the indication of a little tree trunk
that lives back in here. Just a little. There. Just a little indication
then we're gonna cover it up. We'll take a little of
that black, sap green, cad yellow, yellow ochre,
just mix 'em on the brush and we'll come right in here
and let's just begin putting in all kinds of leaves and things like that wherever we think they should live. Put layer after layer. Let a little bit of
that trunk show through, don't want a whole bunch. There. Mm. These are super little paintings if you've never painted before 'cause they'll work for ya. There. When Annette and I used to
teach all over the country a lot of the times people
would want to paint something that was too difficult
for their first painting so look for a painting that
works pretty good the first time so you'll have some success. I want you to have success on
your first couple of paintings and that way you'll
know that you can do it and you'll do a million paintings. Or at least a hundred. There we are. Now then, maybe in our world, let's get crazy, we got
a minute or so left here. Maybe in our world there lives a big tree. You know me and my big trees. We can see just the edge of him there, maybe there's a big old root
that comes out like that. There it is. Big old root that
just hangs around down here. Take a little bit of our
brown, white and dark sienna, touch it. This is just gonna be
the edge of the tree. There we are. Let it get darker and darker
as it works back in there. Mmkay. Maybe, if I can find
my brush, there it is, old brush with the greens on it. Now we can come right back in here and begin putting all
kinds of little leaves and highlights on there, a little paint thinner
I'm gonna add to my brush just to thin the paint
so it'll stick right over this other color. There. Just begin dropping all these
little rascals in there. Alright. Here comes one. We don't know where they go. Don't know that we're even
worried about it at this point. Just a lot of beautiful
leaves hanging around on the edge of this tree. it's a nice way to do the
redwoods from California if you want to. I'm making this one a little brighter 'cause it's bigger. I think it's projecting
out and maybe that light coming through is hitting it. When you're painting just
make up little things in your mind like that
and it helps to figure out where your light's gonna hit and where it's not gonna hit. Now then, add a little more black, I want it to get a little darker. Maybe back over in here behind that tree that's projected there's
all kind of little things going on in here. There they come. Just like so. There. As many or as few as you want. But isn't that a super
way to make a tremendous amount of trees and bushes
very easily, very quickly? You can do it. You really can do it. A little touch of the yellow ochre there just to sparkle this one
that stands right out here in front of the tree. There. A few little things there like that. Just have 'em hanging all over. Tell you what, the old clock on the wall says it's about time to go for the day. As we finish up here I'm gonna take maybe there's a little limb
that hangs out here like that, we'll put us a little
limb, little paint thinner, brown, and we can put as many or as few as you want or your tree, just a few here showing, just to show the old tree has an arm. I think with that we'll
call this painting finished and from all of us here
I'd like to wish you happy painting and God bless, my friend. (soothing music)
