- Hi, welcome back. Certainly glad you could join us today, it's a fantastic day here and I hope it is wherever you're at. Tell you what, let's start out today and have 'em run all the
colors across the screen that you need to paint this
little painting along with us. While they're doing that, let me show you what I've got done today. Have my standard old 18 x 24 inch canvas, but you can use any size
that's convenient for you. Now, today I've taken and covered
the top part of the canvas with liquid white. Now, liquid white's just
and oil-based medium that makes the canvas wet and slick and allows us to actually blend color right on the canvas. The bottom now, I started
with liquid black, which is the same identical medium, only it's black. And I started making
little x's and I worked up 'til they blended together, so we have a graduation
from white to black. And with that, let's just make
a happy little scene today, one that's fun and I think you'll enjoy. Let's start out with a
little tiny two inch brush. There we go. Take a little bit of the thalo blue. Now, thalo blue is a
gorgeous, gorgeous blue. Beautiful color, don't need
much though, it's very strong. Tap the bristles, that
distributes the paint all the way through the
bristles very evenly. Okay, let's go up in here. Now, I'm gonna start
up here in this corner, just making little x's,
little criss cross strokes. And we just dance in a
quick little happy sky. There, very easy little sky, something nice and simple, we'll just drop it in like that. There, that's all there is to it, little something like that. Now then, go back in the same color, only this time I'm gonna tap the bristles firmly right into the paint, but very little paint, just tap it. See? Just tap. Now we take that top corner of the brush and I wanna make the
indication of a big old, strong cloud. We're using exactly the same color. But just by doing something this simple, you can create that illusion
without a lot of work. There we go. And I'm lazy, I look for easy ways to make gorgeous paintings that work. That's what makes this whole
technique so fantastic. It works. There we go. Something like that. There. This style of painting is not
for just a few special people, anybody can do this, anybody. I have people in their 90s
that write me letters and say, "My fourth grade art teacher
told me I have no talent "and I've spent my whole
life wanting to paint "and I tried your technique and it works, "it works." Now, those are the kind of
letters that I love to see. There. Alright we just blend it a little bit. Now then, tell you what, I'm gonna grab another brush, I have several of 'em going here. I'm gonna dip it into,
just tap it the same way into a little bit of the titanium white, just a small amount. I wanna put a little
indication here and there, maybe of a little sunlight that just zinging through these clouds, so I just tap in a little area, get our little blender brush, and very lightly you can blend that and it might not look
like a whole lot now, but when your painting's finished it'll look like little light
areas where the sunlight's playing through there. There, it's also a nice
way of making clouds. Today I just wanna put
little indications of little happy floaters that
are going all over the sky. Back to our little blender. And this blender brush is so soft, you can blend right over that firm paint without disturbing it. Alright. That's all there is to it. With that we got a pretty nice little sky. Let's take black, midnght black, alizerin crimson, a little thalo blue, we'll put a little Van
Dyke brown there too, what the heck? It's your world, you make it
any old color you want it. What we're looking predominantly for, black color, dark. Cut off a little roll of paint
and it lives right there, you can see it, lives right
on the edge of the knife. Let's go up in here. Now let's have a big
mountain that lives up here in our world, right there. Just take the knife and
firmly push this paint right into the fabric
of the canvas, push it. Push it, really get in there and this is where you take
out all your frustrations and hostilities. Get in there and just, as my son Steve says, mush it in. There we go. I don't know if that's a word or not, but everybody knows what
he means when he says that. Now we'll take a two inch brush and we wanna grab this, this has the liquid white and black on it. So color will move, you can
literally slide it around on the canvas. If this was a dry canvas,
right now you'd be in agony city trying to pull that paint. But it's wet and we can
move it anywhere we want it. The only thing we're concerned with is that nice top edge up here, rest of it, we don't care. We really don't care at this point. Now, let's go into, let's
just go into titanium white, I'm gonna put the least
little bit of black into it just to grey it down a little bit. Something about like that. Maybe even a little tiny
bit of the bright red. Pull it out as flat as you can get it. Cut across and get that
little roll of paint again. It lives right out at
the edge of the knife. And maybe, tell you what, let's have the light
coming from the left today, what the heck? Or maybe in your world, you want it coming from the other direction. It don't matter. It doesn't matter, however you want it. Totally and completely up to you. And just sort of wiggling the
knife back and forth here, I wanna make a nice, ridge that comes right on down like that and let it blend outward. No pressure, absolutely no pressure. There, just think about where
light would zing through here. And sometimes I use the little knife 'cause you can get in there
and put more detail in it. But right here we have a
very limited amount of time. Shoot, I've got a mean old director, if I don't finish in 30 minutes,
she has no sense of humor. Absolutely none. There we go. So we'll use the big knife, but when you're painting at home, find the tools and equipment that are most comfortable to you and that's the ones you wanna use. That's the ones. Alright, we take a little white, put a little thalo blue in it. We'll make a shadow color, I'm gonna add a little black, too, just to dull it down. Just to dull it down a little bit. There, nice shadow color, same way, cut off a little roll of paint and we go right up in here and begin thinking where
shadows would live. Light's coming from the left, where's all these gorgeous little shadows gonna live in your mountain? There, now one thing you'll find, if you're right-handed, normally it's easier to
have the light coming from the right. Normally. And I say normally because
we're all different. What's easy for one
person is a son of a gun for the next person, so it's up to you. Try it both ways, see what happens. But now if you're left handed, it's a whole different story because I find, as Anette and
I travel all over and teach, we find that left-handed
people have been forced all their life to do right-handed things and for that reason,
sometimes left-handed people prefer to highlight on
the left or the right. It's very individual. Very individual. My brother Jim was left-handed and I grew up with him,
so I'm used to working with left-handed people. There, (chuckling) when we were kids, we used to fight like cats and dogs, you know how brothers are. And I never expected
that left hand to get me. Boy, he used to sock me. Now he grew up and, he's bigger, I hope he doesn't remember all that. There we go. He's a good man, though. He's my best friend in the whole world. There. Something about like that,
and you just let this go wherever you want it. Maybe it comes right on down, just let your imagination
take you to anywhere that you wanna be. Anywhere, just sorta let
those blend together, the highlights and the shadows. Gently, gently, gently work 'em together. And we can use a little
blender brush here. Just tap it gently and very lightly. This blender brush is
so great for softening. There, don't know why I waited
so long to introduce it, we just introduced this, I
think, in the last series, it's relatively a new brush. Just wonderful, just some of
the most fantastic effects. There, alright, we're in business. Tell you what, let's have some fun. Go back, let's use the
old two inch brush today, what the heck? I'm gonna go right into
the mountain color. Well, I'll change it a little, I'm gonna add a little sap green to it. Little sap green to it, just to change its flavor a little bit. I'm tapping the brush
firmly right into the paint, 'cause I'm gonna paint,
I think I'll paint today, show you how to use just the top corner of an old two inch
brush and do some things that are unbelievable, come right up here. Now, take the top corner
and begin tapping in some basic little tree shapes. We're not looking for detail yet. All we're looking for is basic, basic tree shapes and forms,
that's all we're looking for. They live right here in front
of this gorgeous mountain, what a view. What a view, I lived in
Alaska a dozen years or more and I think, as I've
said in some other shows, God was having a good
day when he made Alaska. There are some days,
it's like when you paint, some days you can't do anything wrong, everything works for you. And I think God was
having one of those days when he made Alaska, some of the most gorgeous
scenery I've ever seen. There we go. See? Just using the top corner of
this little two inch brush to tap in all these little basic shapes. There's not right, there's no wrong. There, all you do is drop 'em in and even here, you begin making out, see there's all kind of
little things happening, don't cover them up, leave 'em in there, they become your friend. Shoot, I like these old big trees. Let's have another one over here. Something about like that. There. There we go, see? Just, once again, basic, very basic shape, think like a tree, just think like a tree. How's the tree's arms, how
do they hang off the sides? Look at trees, make friends with trees, study 'em, study 'em, go out in your yard and talk to a tree, what the heck? Your neighbors might look at you like you're a little strange, but
tell 'em you're an artist, they'll understand that. Now, while we have this
little brush going here, down here in the bottom in this black, I want a little bluish color. Little bluish color,
I'm gonna take a little of the Prussian blue, just
a little Prussian blue, and just add a little blue
right in here, not much. Not much. Start at the bottom and
let it blend upward. You're not looking for a lot of blue here, just a little. Just a little. About like that. And maybe in our world back in here, we'll take
a little paint thinner, remember our golden rule, thin paint will stick to a thick paint, so I'm gonna take a little dark sienna, least little touch of white in it. Okay, let's go up in here and maybe, yep, you're right, here
and there the indication, just the indication of a
little tree trunk stem, whatever you wanna call it, that lives right here, limbs and branches, whatever. But they live in these trees. They live in there. And take a little light color, we said our light was
coming from the left, so the left side, you can
make it a little lighter if you want to. See there? Now most of this we're gonna
end up covering up with leaves, but some of it'll show
through and it'll be gorgeous and people, when they
look at your painting, shoot, they'll think you spent half your life doing this painting, shh, don't tell 'em no different. Alright, we'll go, let's
just keep using the same old two inch brush, I left
the dirty color on it, went right into yellow. There's black and blue in this color, so when you touch the yellow, automatically, you're gonna get all these gorgeous hues of green,
let's go up in here. Now, go slightly above the dark and take this color and very gently, just using the top corner of the brush, that's all, little yellow,
ochre and Indian yellow here and there, just the top corner begin tapping in all
these little basic shapes. If you have trouble
making the paint stick, add the least little
touch of paint thinner. Just a little paint thinner. There. See there? Did you ever
think you could paint all this detail just using the
corner of a two inch brush? It looks like something you've painted the barn with last week. You can do that, you can do anything that you believe you can do. And I know you can do this, so certainly if I know
it, you know it, too. Going to a little yellow
ochre, and I want to touch a bright red once in awhile,
just to change the flavor. Ooh, I like that one, I like that one. That's a nice one. Very nice color. That'd warm up any room right there. There, and begin working
on little individual trees and bushes and things
that live all in here. Just think about all these little guys, give 'em names if necessary. Give 'em names, this is
Clyde, he lives right here. Like that, like that, see? Darker, darker, darker. Just let 'em get way
back in there, like that. As I've mentioned frequently,
when you're painting, I find it helps a great deal
to make up little stories about your painting. Think about, think about this area, would you like to live there? Maybe somebody does live there. There we go, make up
little stories about it. Maybe there's a little
animal that lives here that's your friend and
you know him very well. Talk about him, there. Something like that. Now, got another old big tree over here, it needs a little bit, there. We'll just put a little
in there, I'm gonna dip a least little touch of paint thinner, just to make it a little thinner. There, see? Goes on so much easier. And you have to do that
every once in awhile. Especially if the paint's
the same consistency. There, okay, darker, darker, darker as it works down, darker and darker. That helps create the
illusion of shadows and stuff down in here. Maybe in here is some dark little bushes. They just live in here,
wherever you want 'em. There they are. Alright. Now sometimes you can take this brush, get a little red on it,
and you can just sorta take the corner of it and
move it back and forth, see? Just the corner, what a good shot, there. See? Just take it back and forth. And now, when you go up here and touch it, it'll make little pointy things. See? They got little points on 'em and it sorta, it sorta changes the flavor. Gives you a bush that's a
little different right in there. Okay, take a little bit
of the reddish col-- ooh, I like that one, little
firecracker right there. Little old firecracker. There we go, and just very back and forth between the greens and the yellows and all these little colors. But each one of these layers creates a different plane in your painting and that's what creates that
illusion of depth and distance. There we go. Shoot, let's have some fun. Let's have some fun,
we can clean off a spot to work here. Let's take black, little
bit of the Prussian blue, some brown, thalo green,
I like thalo green, we'll make some evergreens. There, a little crimson in
there too, what the heck? It's our world, we can
do anything we want. We wipe our knife off. i just wipe the knife
on an old paper towel. Go back into our color with a fan brush. Load a lot of paint in the brush, lotta paint, lotta paint. Maybe in our world there lives an evergreen tree right there. There he is, you knew he
was there, didn't you? Now when you're doing this, sometimes to go over all the paint
that's in your mountain, it gets a little difficult,
it don't wanna stick. If that's the case, add
the least little touch of paint thinner, just dip
the corner of your brush into a little paint thinner,
then go back through your paint and it'll the soften the
paint, make it thinner, so it slides right on there. Enough of them little ones,
we need a big old tree. And he lives right in there somewhere. There, see you can go on over this, sometimes you need to add a little thinner 'cause a thin paint will
stick to a thick paint. And that way it'll go
right over the top of it without any problem and without all coming together. We'll put one more in there and then we'll quit over this way. I just like to do evergreen trees, I think they're one of the
most fun trees to paint. And they're very easy. Let's put one on the other side. Artistically, it looks better
if you have an odd number. Now, I know nature doesn't know that rule and you're gonna tell me
you looked out the other day and saw and even number
of trees in your yard, I know that's true, but artistically, it does
look a little better. But if you wanna have an even
number of trees in your world, that's your business and it's your tree and
your world and you do it any way that you want. Alright, now let's take a little white, little bit of Van Dyke and
dark sienna mixed in there. And let's just put us a
indication here and there little bit of tree trunk, it lives there, I don't want a lot over here Just a little, just indications,
maybe even back in there is a little. Wherever you think they should live. We can take that same old
brush, go back through 'cause it has the tree color on him. Go back over some cad
yellow and yellow ochre, little Indian yeller, yellow. Lotta color, let's go back up in here. Our light's coming in from the left so we wanna emphasize
the left side of the tree a little more than the right. There we go, and just begin
dropping in a few highlights, don't overdo, you'll lose
all this gorgeous darkness and evergreens are normally, normally, I say, a little
bit darker than other trees. There they go. Something about like that,
darker, darker, darker. Now, let's go into Van Dyke brown. Time to get crazy here. Maybe in our world there lives some dirt, big rocks, stones, all
kinda things, right here. That easy. That easy. There. Alright, maybe comes right on out in here. We talk a little of that,
that was that brown and white we had left over from the tree trunks. We just pull something
out like that, like that. Now, we'll take a lighter brown and white maybe that one was in shadow, just sorta make up little things, and here, this one here,
is a little bit stronger, little bit more light hittin' that. Just let the knife barely
touch, bounce along there, barely touching, barely, barely touching. Alright, take and just
grab it here and there and sort of pull it down and make it look like a big,
strong bank right there. That easy. Our fan brush that has the
greens on it and stuff, we just take it and
pop in, pushing upward, pop in the indication,
little bushes and things that live right out in here. Now, let's have some fun, I'm gonna take a little bit of black, put some paint thinner with it, and make it very thin,
I want a thin paint. Little bit of black, put
some brown in there, too, black and brown. Okay, but it's very thin, it's got a lot of paint thinner in it. Now, I wanna take some
brown and some white, little black in it, and
we'll make a lighter color that's also very thin. That's all there is to it, just put a little paint thinner with it. We'll take our little filbert brush. We'll go right through the dark, load both sides full of dark, and I'm gonna go right down here, pull only one side through the light. And with that, in one stroke, you can make all kinds
of little indications of little rocks and stones that
live back in here like that. Now, little bit, and I say that again, a little bit of titanium
white on the two inch brush, I wanna keep this quite dark, just touch and pull downward, pull downward a little bit. Just enough, just enough to show. I want this water to be
very dark, mysterious water so that liquid black comes in so great. It makes wonderful,
wonderful effects like that. Little while, little thalo blue and then we'll just take,
and just touch the canvas. This is thick paint, normally
I use a thin, thin paint to do water lines. This one's much thicker, all I'm doing is just touching,
just touch the canvas. The canvas will take off what it wants, give you back what's left, just like a tax man does, (chuckles) just like he
does with my paycheck. Yeah, he just takes off what he wants and what's left, it isn't much. Alright, back into our dark color. That was mostly, we
had some Prussian blue, I think black, brown,
little sap green, crimson, doesn't matter. Let's put a little projections
that comes out of this side. And all I'm doing is
putting some dark color on so our light will show. Something about like that. We don't know where it goes,
don't know that we care. I got another two inch
brush here that I was using that has green on it and with that, yeah, look, look, look, we'll put in, just tapping,
follow the angles though, follow angles, most important. A little more of the
yellow ochre in that one, just enough to change
the flavor a little bit. There, see? Put all these
little things in here wherever you want 'em. Wherever you want 'em. Something about like that. There we go. And you can change angles and stuff and all kinds of things will happen. Back to our blue and white on a knife. And let's put a little water
line right around there. That sorta just brings it all together, keep it dark, though, very, very dark. Our filbert brush, I wanna
put a rock over there, I like these little rocks,
they're the most fun to make. Bloop, bloop, bloop, one
stroke and they're in. That's all there is to it. Shoot, I think with that, we're
about ready for a signature on this one, take a little
red, little paint thinner. We'll call this little painting finished. Hope you've enjoyed it, it's a nice way to use the liquid black, give you a lot of experience. I think with that, we're
gonna call this one done. And from all of us here,
I'd like to wish you happy painting and God bless, my friend. (smooth jazz music)
