- Hi and welcome back. Certainly glad to see you today. I thought today we'd
do the little painting that you see at the
beginning of this show, the little animated opening. I'll show you step by step
how that one was made. Now it will not be an exact duplicate of the painting that
you see on the opening, but it'll show you
exactly how it was made. Let's start out and have them run all the colors across the screen that you need to paint along with us. While they're doing that. as usual let me show you what I've got up here. I've got an 18 by 24 inch
pre-stretched double prime canvas, and I've covered the entire canvas with a very thin coat of liquid white. So it's wet and slick and all ready to go. So, let's just take old two inch brush and start off here and have a little fun. I'll start with a little
touch of the bright red, a little yellow orche, maybe a little cadmium
yellow all mixed together. Something like so. Not a lot of paint, just a little. And let's go up in here and very lightly just put in a quick little sky. The little sky in that was sort of a sort of a orangey yellowish color. Just a very nice color. Put it on a little
darker than you want it. It will mix with the liquid white that's already on the canvas and get lighter and
lighter as you work down. And that's really about all there was to making the sky in that little painting. Just something like so. There we are. Couldn't be any simpler could it? All there is. Okay, now then. Okay, let's have some fun. Today I'm going to make
a big pile of brown, using sap green and alizarin crimson in about equal parts. About equal parts, the two together make a gorgeous, gorgeous brown. Gorgeous brown. One of our instructors, Audrey Golden, who lives in Florida, calls it Christmas brown because you use red and green. That's a good analogy. There we are. Okay. Now then. Wipe off the old knife. Basically, all we did here to make all the little background trees, I'm just using the same old dirty brush, it doesn't matter. Tap in a little bit of
color, this brown color. Right into the bristles. And you just decide basically, where you want to start and off you go. Maybe there's a little happy
tree, lives right there. And all we're looking for is
just very, very basic shapes. We're not looking for a lot of detail. Not a lot of detail. This is background trees. We had a little covered bridge in there. So this is just background
material for the little bridge. There, little opening's neat isn't it? The title comes out of there
sounds like an old car. That's another invention
of my good friend here, Jerry Morton, who's one of the engineers. Jerry comes up with these
ideas for the opening and don't know where he gets them, but I really enjoy working with him. He's like the rest of us, he's about half crazy, and that's what it takes to work here and to do this. You'll see that quick, we just put in a little background. Just a little background. Alright. Now then. You sort of have to decide at this point, where the water is going to be. There's a little bit of water here where the bridge goes across. We don't see a great
deal of it, but a little. So you bring these trees down to basically where you want water to be. Alright. Let's say we're getting pretty
close right about there. Used to when I was a traditional painter to paint this many trees, this quick, would have taken me forever. Here, use an old two inch brush just knock it in. All there is to it. Okay, let's take our liner brush, old number two script liner, and we'll take a little but
of that same brown color that we made from the
crimson and the sap green, mix the paint here with paint thinner until it's very thin. Very, very thin. Turn the bristles in there. It brings it to a nice sharp point. And then we'll go up here, and you just sort of look around and pick out places you think
there'd be little trunks and stems and limbs and all those things peapod and all my little friends play on out here. There, just put in a
few little indications. Where ever, where ever. It's up to you. Totally and completely up to you. There, old tree needs some arms to hold up all these
leaves that it has here. There. Okay, that's all there's to it. If you have trouble
making the paint slight, add a little more paint thinner. If you have enough paint thinner it'll slide right over the
top of that thicker paint. Very, very easy. Okay. Shoot, old brush is working pretty good. We'll go right on back to him. I'm going to take that same brush and begin tapping it into
the yellows and the red. The bright red. And just go around, try them all. That way you're loading all
kinds of different colors right into the bristles of the brush. Okay now. Let's just sort of test it. See if it's bright enough. It's the color we're looking for. Maybe I'll add a little more yellow. There we go. Something about like so. And then with that we can start. I'll put a little touch
of liquid white in there. I'm going to thin it down a little more. There we are. That sticks very easy. Thin paint will stick to a thick paint, always remember that. And there's one, maybe Jack
Frost has touched this one. I'ts up to you, you decide. These are just using little colors and just the two inch brush and just tapping on it. Just tapping it. That's all there is to it. Alright, maybe, why not. There. Isn't that a neat way of making just little background trees? It's good when you're not
looking for a lot of detail. You're looking for more detail, then you get into different
ways of making them, but here we don't want detail, it'll ruin the illusion of distance if you have too much detail. Little sap green every so often. Maybe there's a little one, yup, right there. Little one right there that
Jack Frost didn't hit yet. He'll get him. That rascal's sneaky, boy. He gets them all sooner or later. There. Okay. Now. Yup, this little devil right here. He needs something too. Okay. Little bit of the red. And you decide, you have to make these big decisions where all these things live. You decide. You can make many, many,
many layers though. That easy. That easy. Okay. I've got several old
two inch brushes going. Let's take, we'll take a little black and add it to that brown. I want a darker color, stronger color, and just tap a little
right into the brush. Maybe right in here, we'll put a few little trees and bushes. They're a little closer, little darker. Just to help push everything back, create that illusion of distance. There we just let it fade off. We don't care where they go over there. That's that same brown color with midnight black in it. There we are. I like that color. Let's get crazy here. We'll take a little more of that. We're going to have water in this painting that the bridge covers up. We'll take that same color black and that brown we made and just pull it straight down. Straight down, straight down. It's important that it does straight down. There. We don't care where it goes here. Don't worry about it. Don't worry about it. Because as you know, we don't make mistakes, we just have happy accidents in our world. See there? A little bit over here. Where ever you think it should be. There, darken that a
little bit right in there. And just pull it straight down. I know you get tired of hearing
me say that over and over, but if you make these
lines go at an angle, your reflections just
absolutely will not look right. Then we'll go across. That's really about all we're going to do. Most of this we're going to cover up, but it will give the impression of a little bit of water back here. Just a small amount, that's
all we're looking for. Now we can take our knife, little bit of white,
little van dyke brown, dark sienna, mixed together. Little more white in there. There, I want marbled. Maybe even put a little black in there too to gray it. Very good, I like that right there. Little roll of paint. Little roll of paint. You just sort of play
around with the color until you find what you're looking for. Just going to put the
indication here and there. Few little things that
live right out here. The waters edge. Just a little soil. Something about (mumbles). And we can take a little yellow ochre, a little touch of white. Just enough to tint that a little. (mumbles) (mumbles) Just enough to tint. There. A lighter color. Sometimes you can take a fan brush, put a little touch of light color, a little white on it and lift up. Just to blend that together. So that it all comes together, looks like a nice little
area right along there. See? Right at the water's edge. Sneaky huh? And it's a very simple. Very simple. There we are. Now take a knife and a
little touch of liquid white, I'm going to put a little,
little but of blue in it. Little bit of prussian blue in it. Just enough to tint it and cut across, Just like so. Then we can go up in here. Put the blue in there just
to dull that a little bit. I don't want it bright white. Don't want it too bright. In this particular painting, a real bright borderline to me, wouldn't look right, but if you want one, you put it in where ever you want it. At any shade, any value,
any color you want. Painting's very individual. Everybody should paint what they see and what they feel. Okay, you ready? Now we have to decide
where in our world here that our little covered bridge lives, put a few little sticks somewhere in that bush. It just looked like it needed one. Now, if our bridge is right here, let's decide, right in here, probably one of the easiest ways. Well, we'll see. There's not much paint on there, but I was trying to scrape off the paint so you could see. I'll use a little color. Let me put a little color on there. It's just sort of to
lay out the basic idea. See? It's all there is. Okay? Now try this, I know sometimes
these little building is sort of hard to do. Does that make sense? Just lay out the basic
shape of the building. Alright? Let's take a little of that brown we made. Okay. Now here's our bridge. Just like building a cabin. Only it's got a huge door in front of, using a little van dyke
brown here and there. I want a darker brown. There we go. There we go, there we go. Let's put some up here on the roof. There. And over in here. Look at that. That's all there is to it. Now. Let's make us up some highlight color. We'll use from brown and some white. Some yellow, maybe even a
little red here and there. There. Little dark sienna. That's getting better. A little bit more of the brown. Yes, yes. See it just gets feeling good and you know you got it right. I get our little roll of paint, always that little roll of paint. And let's begin picking out
little individual things in here. See, we can just, maybe
there's some little boards. There they are. Just little dooders like that. Little bit of our van dyke brown. There. Okay now at the top of this some of the old covered bridges had a little area that was open. So the air could get through I guess. That's all we got to do
to put that in there. Now. Up here in the front, I'm going to make that a little lighter. That's better, I like that better already. I can tell looking at it on the knife. I'll just do the same basic thing. See, just let that color mix
with what's on there already. Don't worry about the door, we'll go back and get it. We'll come back and put a
little door right on there. No big deal. There we are. Okay. Something about like that. Now I'm going to very gently, just enough to pull
the paint a little bit, move it just enough, like it. Just that much, it's
all we're looking for. A little bit of the van dyke brown and we go back in here
and darken up these areas. There you are. You can also wait til this paint dries and go back in there and put
all kinds of details in it. You can use glazes and
stuff when it dries. By a glaze, I mean you just take a little linseed oil and paint thinner, mix it with a color, transparent color and wash right over it. Putting a little touch of white in there, just to brighten it here and there. So it shows up. Okay. This old bridge looks like me, it's about to fall down. Alright, now. Decide where the entrance is. Use a little van dyke. See there, that's all there is to it. That's all there is too it. That easy. Alright. Something about like so. Now for the top, let's take a little white, I'm going to find a place to work here, I've about used up all my area. Take a little white, little
bit of midnight black, I want to make a gray color. Just black and white. Leave it marbled. Little roll of paint. And let's just go down here, and just here and there, let it graze. Just let it graze. Something over here, like so. Why that old bridge looks like
it's seen it's better day. Hadn't it? There we are. Now we can just come in here. You want to make it look like
you can see back in there. So just by changing
the angle of the paint, you can do that. See, now you can see, right back in that bridge. We'll take a little liquid white, maybe over in here we
can see the indication of a few little rails and stuff that go back into the distance. The little road that goes through, it goes back in those woods there. We don't know where it goes. You could take a small knife, little bit of black. Put the indication of a few little stones and stuff out here that
this is sitting on. Just do a cabin-ectomy. Anything that you don't want, you turn into part of the
reflection that's underneath. See, smooth it right out. That easy. That's just the reflection. Alright. Let's have some fun. We'll grab this brush, it's quicker. Now then, we need some soil, some dirt for it to sit on. I think we had something about like this. About like that. We'll just put this in with
brown and a little black in it. It's that brown we made
with the alizarth crimson and the sap green and a
little midnight black. That's all we're using. There. In my other early, early series, we did a covered bridge that you could see all the way through and see the trees and stuff on the other side. That's a little more difficult, but it's a lot more fun to do. It is a challenge. There we go. All we're doing here is
just blocking in the color. As I mentioned earlier, there's not much of that water going to show. Most of it's going away. Most of it has gone away. There. Okay, had a little bush right there. There we are, just a little bush, lives right here by the water. That'd be a nice view you can see all the cars come through. There. We filmed a show in Muncie, Indiana, and in this area, there's a
lot of covered bridges left. Some of them are absolutely gorgeous. A little town called Matthews, they have a covered
bridge festival every year that I've painted at several times. Very nice town, wonderful people. Alright. Now, let's go back to our little brush. Had some of the colors on it. And we'll go into all
the yellows and the reds and here and there a little bit of green. Mix color on your brush though. That way it's not dead. There's a lot of things happening right here on your brush. Okay, let's go up in here. Now then decide where all
these little dooders live. And we just start laying them in here. Just thinking about the lay of the land. Alright. I want to take a little it of white, little brown, little black to make it gray. Let's start. Let's start bringing that out. Alright. Little more of the brown and white here. Didn't mix up enough. Have to sort of figure
out where the roads at that comes out of here. There we are, see that? It's that easy. Whole road's just coming towards you. Let it get bigger and bigger
as it comes towards you. That's all there is too it. Barely touching, it's like
putting snow on the mountain, no pressure, absolutely no pressure. Save the pressure for later. Alright. We go back to our little, I'm going to put a little
touch of liquid white. Just a little touch to thin the paint, make it a little brighter. Little green, all the yellows,
little red here and there. Nice color. Now then we can go in here and just begin tapping
in little grassy things. See there how easy that is? Nothing to it. But think about the lay of the land, how you want the land
to actually flow here. How you want it to flow. There we are. Alright. And off you go. Just make layers and layers and layers. Isn't that neat? You can do that. This little, little bush right here, he needs some good (mumbles) too. See? That's all you need. Just to make him stand
out as an individual. There. Maybe there's a little recessed area right in there. See that little bush now has his own home. You don't have to be crazy to do this, but it helps. With a little practice though, you'll begin to, you'll begin to see
things in your painting. You'll see fantastic things in your world. Look at them. Just look. Pay attention to nature. Nature is so fantastic. Start when you're out driving around, look at trees, look at bushes and stuff. Look at how they have
form and shape and color. That's when it gets wonderful. I get letters from
fantastic people everyday, all over the world. And they tell me that all of a sudden they're beginning to see nature. There. That they've looked at
if for many, many years but they didn't really see
it til they started painting and I guarantee you. If you paint, you will
find a whole new treasure. Maybe right in your yard. Brighten that a little bit. Let's take a little brown and white. Just tap in some nice
edges on the doorway here. You can get crazy and put windows in here. Some of these old covered
bridges have windows in them. It's just, it's up to you. You can do all kinds of things in yours. Really and surely up to you. I think we're about got this one to where you can see exactly how the
little opening was made. There. As I mention over and over on the shows, if you have time to take a
picture of what you're doing send it to us. We'd love to see it here at the station. Drop us a line. You can drop it to the address
on the end of the show. They'll send it to me. I'd love to see it. What you're doing and what
kind of success you're having. It really makes it all worthwhile. Put a few little sticks
and things in here. Basically I think we about
have a finished painting. Take a little paint
thinner, put a little red. Let's sign this rascal. We'll call it done. Hope you've enjoyed seeing how
the little opening was made and I hope you give it a try. And from all of us here, I'd like to wish you happy painting. God bless my friend. (easy rock music)
