- Hi, welcome back. Certainly glad you could join me today cause it's a fantastic day here, and I hope it is wherever you're at. So tell you what, let's do a fantastic little painting together. Let's start out have 'em
run all the colors across the screen that you need
to paint along with me. They'll come out right down there, okay? They come out in the same
order that I have 'em on the palette starting with
white and working around. But when you set your palette up, you do it any way that's
comfortable for you. Let me show you what
I've got done up here. Got the standard old pre-stretched canvas and I've put a little
contact paper cutout up here, this is just contact paper you buy at the hardware store or something. I've stuck that on and then I've painted the center here with black gesso. Just a nice thin coat of black gesso. I allowed that to dry completely. Once that's dry then we've added some transparent colors and I'll
tell you what colors I've added cause I've thought today
we'd do a little sunset. Right across here I put Indian Yellow. Indian Yellow is a transparent
yellow so it works very well. You may get a little greenish
hue when you put it on, but don't worry about it as
soon as we add some color it'll (snaps finger) pop right in there. Right across here and added a
little bit of Alizarin Crimson and then on the top and the entire bottom is Alizarin Crimson and Phthalo Blue, which makes a nice lavender color. And we just sort of
blended that a little bit. So it's all ready to go. And up here, well this is fun, I was drawing a couple of
pictures of our camera people. This is Richard. And over on the other side over here then we have Kathy. These are two of our camera people. They give me a hard time
so I thought I'd put their picture up there today. Hope you enjoy that, that was one of my early
loves was doing cartoons. Lot of times for my young
friends I'll sit and do cartoons and show 'em how to do it, maybe we'll do that on the
air one day if you'd like. Let's start out today with
the old two-inch brush. And we'll use a little Titanium White and just load some color into the brush, both sides it doesn't matter. About like so. There we are. And watch what I'm doing. Now then let's go right in here, we have to make a decision, where is our horizon gonna be at? And I think mine'll be about right here, you can at home when you do this, you can see where the yellow
and the lavender sort of meet we don't wanna get into the
lavender yet just the yellow. Decide where the lightest
area of the sunset's gonna be. You start in here and just start doing little criss-cross strokes. I get a lot of letters from
people all over the country who want a very simple and
easy little sunset to do that's effective. So I thought today we'd do
something that's nice and easy, anybody can do this. Now start with the lightest
area and blend outward. Always blending outward. There. Just keep going outward now, and as you blend upward, you're going to get into all
these other beautiful colors. Look at there. There. Just keep blending and
blending and blending. There we go. Automatically that goes from light to dark and you've done basically nothing. Let's wash the brush. And as you know we wash our brushes with odorless paint thinner. Make sure it's odorless. If it's not odorless you're going to be the most unpopular person in the house. And we never use turpentine. Turpentine, my gosh. One thimble-full will run
everybody in the neighborhood out. I wanna make this a little brighter so I'm going back in the Titanium White, load the brush exactly the same way. Let's go back up here. Once again find your light spot and have this lightest spot
a little bit off center in other words not dead in the center. Just look a little better
composition-wise that way, start in this light area
and being blending outward. But you need to clean the brush every time otherwise you'll bring this
dark color down in here and you lose this beautiful glow. And that's what we're looking for. There we go. Just like so and just work it out. You can do this as many times as you want to achieve desired lightness. You can do it three, four
times if you wanted to. But each time it's gonna
get brighter and brighter. Once again I suggest
that every time you do it you wash the brush you start
with a nice clean brush. Otherwise you're gonna
pull that dirty color right down in there. Going across just very lightly, we move the brush strokes. And instantly you can see that glow it goes from the brightest
all the way out to the dark. And that's one of the
simplest, most effective ways I've ever came up with
of making a very nice little sunset sky. And if we're gonna work in the sky, tell you what let me
grab a fan brush here. Let's make a little cloud
out here in the sky, they're always a lot of fun
and they're very effective. Of course we're never
interested in selling paintings but if you should want
to sell your paintings these little extras like clouds and all kinda of little things like that, that'll make your painting sell. Let's take a little Phtalo
blue, a little Alizarin Crimson, we just mix 'em together with a brush. Like so. A little bit to the reddish side. You can make a lavender color here that's to the blue side
or to the red side, but I wanna go slightly to the red side but not a great deal. You can mix this on the brush and just load both sides. With a little bit of paint. And then you have to make a
big decision in your world. Where does your cloud live? Maybe, maybe, maybe in our world, our cloud lives right about here. I'm gonna use just the
corner of the brush. And think about the shape. Maybe this is gonna be a big old cloud that just sort of floats around here. Has a good time. As I've mentioned before on other shows, clouds are extremely free. They just sort of float around. They just enjoy being there. And when you paint
clouds, think about that. Think about the basic shape
that you want this cloud to be. Don't just throw on a bunch of color and hope that a cloud appears. This is very simple but you do have to put in a basic shape, there we go. Why don't we give him a little leg here. There. Just think about how you'd
like this cloud to be, if you were a cloud what
would you like to look like. Would you like to have a lot
of nice designs and shapes and beautiful little forms? That's what we're looking for. There. You can get carried away and cover up the whole canvas if you'd like. That's alright if you learn from it. Maybe in here, tell you
what, let's get crazy. Maybe there's some little
stringy clouds in here. And all you have to do is just fold the brush back and forth. Let it barely touch. You can make all kinds of little clouds, I've got a little more of the crimson here so it's a little bit more to the red side than even this cloud is. Only because it's a
little lower and I think there'd be a little more light hitting it. Want it to just shine a little more. Just barely grazing the canvas. Barely. There we go. Now then let's take a clean dry two-inch brush. We wanna very gently blend this. Now there's two reasons, one to sort of mix the color up. Most important though is to
take off the excess paint. Watch here, watch here. Just use the corner of the brush and just make tight little round circles. Tight little circles. Just like so and that'll lift any loose paint off the canvas. There. And you can just blend that. If you blend it enough it'll just eventually go right into the other color and sort of disappear and just become a big dark shape there. Don't do that. Don't do that. There we are. And we'll beat the brush
(brush slaps against easel) And all that does is just remove the paint off the brush. Very gently. Alright. (brush slapping against easel) Now you can fluff this cloud
a little if you'd like. Very gently. Two hairs and some air. (swift exhale) That light. This will lift it and make it look fluffy. And then very lightly, very lightly, just go across it and this removes all the brush marks and
blends it all together. But isn't that a fantastic way to make a big old cloud that's
up here in your sunset? Now these little thin ones
that we made down here, they're the easiest of all
because all you have to do here is just very lightly with a clean brush, be sure it's clean and dry. Go across and you can
pull that if you want to. So give it a little pull. And you can bring that together. That easy. There we are. Isn't that an effective little sky? To be made that easy. And you really can do this. Even if you've never painted before, this is a very simple one to do. Now then let's mix up a little, oh we'll take some Alizarin Crimson, let's use a little Prussian Blue, I wanna make a dark lavender color. More to the blue side this time. Shoot, you can throw a
little Van Dyke Brown there. Not a great deal, just a little. Just to dull it down a little. I use brown as a color
to dull other colors a lot of times when I'll do this, just so it's not too bright. Let me clean my knife. There we are. And we'll just use the
ol' two-inch brush again, sure is a lot of fun. So often we avoid this
brush because it's so large. But it'll do fantastic things. I'm just tapping. Just tapping like so. There we are, just give it a little push. That creates a little ridge of paint. There, see? That's what we're looking for. Now then back in here. You have to then be thinking about what lives back here. Just using the corner of the brush. And we're not committed
here all we're doing is begin laying some general ideas. Like so. Just where these colors come together. There. Kay now that gives us a
very basic little horizon. There we are. Now then. Now we can begin thinking about little individual trees and bushes that live in here. And maybe in our world, there is now. Maybe there's a big tree
that lives right here. See, it's that easy. Just using the corner of a two-inch brush you can put in a very basic little shape for a nice tree. And sometimes this is a little scary if you've never tried it so. Just practice. This two-inch brush is fantastic, but if you're a little more comfortable with a one-inch brush, shoot. Feel free to use it. The only thing we want you to do here is to be happy with what you've done. If you're happy with your results, then it's good let's go
to the other side here. We don't want it left out. Maybe we can have another little tree. He lives way on up here almost up in the cloud. There. There we go, maybe he's
got a friend over here. Everybody needs a friend. Ooh. Don't wanna cover up that
nice part of the cloud, that is beautiful. Maybe a little something there. Wherever you want it. There. See, and that easy. Already you begin to make out all kinds of little things that live in there. Now then. Let me find my little liner brush. Dip it in a little of the paint thinner. We'll go back into that same color, but the paint is very thin. Almost like ink. Almost like ink, turn your brush in there. This is a script liner brush, it has very long hair. So it comes to a very sharp point. There you can see it. Right there, very sharp point though. Now then we can go up in here. We can begin putting the indication of some little trunks in here. Little sticks and trunks and all the little things that
live inside your tree. The little squirrels have
to have a place to play. There. And if you've watched the series before you know I'm sort of a
fanatic for little creatures. I just have a special
liking for little squirrels and I guess since there's so many around where I live. And I've raised quite a few of them. And they're a lot of fun. A lot of fun. There. Sometimes when I get angry at 'em though I'll call 'em tree rats. There. Cause if you shaved his tail you wouldn't let him in the house. There we are. Let's go on the other side over here and put some little things in these trees. If you have trouble
making this paint flow, you just need to add a little
more paint thinner to it. Thin paint will slide right
over the top of this thick paint and the paint that we
use here is very dry, and very firm, very thick. And that's what allows you to do this one layer after another
on top of eachother without becoming a mud mixer. If you use a thin, oily paint, then you're in trouble. Then you're in trouble. Cause your paints will just mix together. And if you're gonna use a thin paint, then I recommend you
allow the paint to dry between each layer. One thing that's so fantastic about this, is the fact that you can
do it all while it's wet. Find a clean brush there. Alright let's take, let's take a little Sap Green, a little Yellow Ochre. So we have Cad Yellow. A little Yellow Ochre reach over here get a little of that Indian Yellow, all those beautiful colors. Let me get a little more of the Sap Green, that'll darken it a little more. Maybe even a little black. There. Kay now we just give it a little push. Once again we wanna create that little, see that little right there? That little ridge of paint. Push. There that's what makes this work. Just push. Okay let's go right up in here. Maybe this tree right in here. We wanna put some highlights. Here is our light source. So all you do is come
slightly above the dark and begin thinking about your basic form and shape in this tree. And just let all these
little things happen. There. See by mixing color on the brush, you have a lot of things
that are happening in the brush. There we are. Just layer after layer. And you can create some
of the most spectacular little trees like this you've ever seen. And it's very, very simple. Sometimes you add the least little touch of paint thinner. If you have trouble making it stick, just like with the liner brush, all you do is add a little bit of thinner and it'll stick. Add the least little touch
of bright red to this one. Ooh, nice. That's nice. Boy that little rascal's got character. He's sitting out here watching the sun sink right behind that hill. So he's got the best view of all. Now while we have that going here we can begin thinking about little things that live underneath here. Cause you always have all kinda of little happy bushes and trees and plants that grew in here. If you're a little more
comfortable with a one-inch brush, this will work just as
well with a one-inch brush. I just sort of like this. But try 'em both, see which one you feel the most comfortable with. And off you go. Let's go to the other side over here and put some nice things in there. There we are. Just once again using
the corner of the brush. This is our light source. So it'll be highlighted more
on the other side of the tree. There. Always think about where
your light's coming from. Okay maybe a little
touch of the bright red added to that. Ooh give it a nice orangey flavor. There we are. There we are. Kay then our little undergrowth, little things underneath here. You just put in all kind of little doers. There's one. But notice that we're
leaving some of these dark areas in here,
these little dark areas are very important. Sometime you get doing
this and it starts working so well and it feels good, mm. And you just get carried away. And you cover up all the dark. And if you do, then your
painting's gonna look very, very flat and you're
gonna be unhappy with it. There, I really want this to work for you. So be conscious of these dark areas, and don't lose 'em. Sometimes I believe they may be more important
than the light areas. For creating that illusion
of depth and distance in your painting. Okay and we'll get a
little touch of the black and add to my yellow make a nice, darker green. And let's think about maybe there's some nice, soft little grassy areas in here. Very gently. Let me get another brush here. I want a clean brush to do that. So it's a little darker. There. There that's better. Don't want this to get too bright on us. And darker, darker,
darker back over in here. You can actually just about fade away. Just fade away. Just like old soldiers do. I'm an old soldier, I spent
half my life in the military. They say old soldiers never die. They just fade away. There, so the same thing here, you just allow that to fade. Notice these angles,
this is how you create the lay of the land. Just by changing these angles, you can totally change the
way that the land flows, or what's happening in your painting, just by changing those angles. There we go. Darker, darker, darker maybe down in here. But look at the depth that's in here, and it's because of all of
these little different planes. Isn't that a super way
to make a little sunset? And even if you've never painted. This one is so simple, you can do. This black gesso is one
of the neatest things that I've ever developed. I hope you enjoy it. There. Kay. Like so. These little cartoon
characters I showed you up at the top up here. When I was young in school, I used to do these all the time when I was supposed to
be doing my lessons. I would sit and draw cartoons
and for many, many years I wanted to be a cartoonist. But it just never worked out. But this is the next best thing. But it's a super way for young people to get into it. Every day I get letters from
people all over the country and a lot of my young
friends send me letters and they draw cartoons for me. They're beautiful. You can't believe what's happening. And I feel so fortunate that this show has got so many young people interested in art. I know some of them are
going to be fantastic whether you do it for a
living or for pleasure as I've said so many times, art is one of those things
that should make you happy, if it makes you happy, then it's good. Let's go over here I wanna put a little of that
Yellow Ochre over here it looks so nice on the other side. This side's getting jealous. There we go. That's a beautiful place
to have a little path or a happy little stream
coming right through there. And these things if you
come from each side, this will just sort of
happen automatically. Don't just try to copy
when you're doing these, look at your painting
and look at what happens because every painting in the world is gonna be different. There are no two paintings
that'll ever be alike. So look at your painting. And you pick out little things like this and follow 'em, go with 'em. Let the canvas work. My gosh well that's fun. That's when you really experience the joy. Let's take a little Dark Sienna, a little Van Dyke Brown, a little touch of white I don't want this real dark. We'll just use the fan brush. Let's go right up in here. If you want the little path, all you have to do is just take a fan brush and work it back and forth in here. Make it small in the back, and then as it gets closer to you, let it get darker, darker,
darker, darker, darker. I'm sort of doing this, I'm exaggerating now. But like so. So that way it'll look like the ground's been sort of worn down from all the little
creatures or people maybe. I don't know, maybe there's
a little pond over there everybody goes over and fishes in. But from animals or people walking here it sorta has a little roundish area. See if you decide you
wanna move the path here, just go right over whatever's there. You have tremendous power here, you can do anything
that you wanna do here. You can change this any
way that you want to. If you wanna show a little highlight, take a little white on your brush. And very lightly, very
lightly just let it graze. You can create the
illusion of a little light zinging through your path. That easy. But darker, darker, darker, darker down here toward the foreground. But a lot of distance can be created just by doing that. Let's have some more fun, shoot. Grab that fan brush again. I'll go right into some, oh let's take some black
and some Van Dyke Brown and mix it together I
want a dark, dark color. Very dark. Maybe in our world there lives right here. Right here this is your bravery test. Maybe there lives a big tree. Zoom, right there. Maybe he's got an arm on him. Tree needs an arm too. Zoom, like that. You know me, I think
everybody, even a tree, should have a friend. So let's put another one right there. Right there. Maybe we'll give him a
little arm that's crooked out, mm, that way. However you wanna. Take a little of that same color on the liner brush with paint thinner. Let's go up in here. Put the indication here in there. Of some little limbs, our
little tree needs some little fingers sticking
out of his arms here. There. I got a letter one time
for somebody that told me I had really lost it now. I was telling everybody
that trees had arms and legs and foots. But you know painters are expected to be a little weird so that's alright. If it helps ya in your painting to make up little stories even if they're a little silly and people laugh at ya, it's alright. Anything that works for ya is wonderful. Now I'm gonna take the least little touch of the bright red thinned out. And just go around right
down these edges here a little bit (swift exhale). Just a (swift exhale). That's beautiful. That sparkles just enough to let that stand out a little. Don't want a lot. Oh ain't that something. Just let it fade right back. Now then let's go back
to our two-inch brush that has the dark color on it. We'll go right into a little black. Little black maybe be right back, little Alizarin Crimson mixed together. There we are. Let's go right up here. We need a few little leaves on this. Just drop in a few, we
don't want a whole bunch. Just sort of silhouettes. Don't wanna get too many or we'll lose all of our beautiful
clouds and stuff back here. But even if you lose
'em when you do yours, at least you learned how to make 'em. So the time's not wasted,
I wanna add a little bright red that same color. We'll let that, mm. Black and color on there will dull it. So that it's very dull. There. But just enough to give ya a little hint of color, there. Mm. Mm-kay. So now we're good that makes
a nice little silhouette. I'm gonna go back to
our two-inch brush that we made grass with, put
a little color on it. We wanna clean up these
little foots down here. There I go again, giving
them feet and arms and hands and all that stuff. See there, that easy. Like so. You can just create all those illusions just by tapping with
a great big old brush. Tell you what. I think the moment of truth is here. Let's bring the camera up here. There goes our little cartoons, bye Richard. We'll just take this contact paper off. And this is when it's really fun. This is when you get to see if what you've done worked. Sometimes in some of these I like to take and extend the
painting outside the oval. Today I'm pretty satisfied
with the way it is. So I tell you what, take the old liner brush,
little paint thinner, some bright red, make the paint thin like water or ink. And let's sign this one. Sign it right down here. Another question I get all the time is how do I sign the painting, what do I use for a signature? Anything that makes you happy, use a first name, a last name, initials. I've even known people
who sign with a symbol. Each person is different. So you make up your own way of signing it, and it becomes your personal signature. From all of us here, I'd like to wish you happy painting, God bless and I look forward
to seeing you next time. (gentle acoustic guitar music)
