(gentle rock music) - Hello, I'm Bob Ross. And I'd like to welcome you to the 26th Joy of Painting series. And if this is your first time with us, let me extend a personal invitation for you to drag out some
brushes and a few colors and paint along with us on each show, and I'll show you how to do some fantastic little paintings. And if you've been with us before, let me thank you for inviting me back for another series of painting shows. Tell you what, let's get right to it. Let's start out today and have 'em run all the colors across the screen that you need to paint along with us. While they're doing that, come on up here and let me show you what I've got done. I've got a standard old 18
by 24 inch canvas today. But you use any size
that's convenient for ya. And I've covered the entire canvas with just a thin, even
coat of the Liquid White. Now, the Liquid White
just makes the canvas wet and makes it slick. It allows us to actually blend color right here on the canvas, rather than workin' ourself
to death on the palette. So let's just take off and do a painting that's very, very simple. And if you've never painted before, this is one that you can do. Start off with a little
tiny two-inch brush today. And we'll go into a small
amount of Prussian blue. Now Prussian blue is a
very strong, strong color. So we don't need much. Just pull a little bit out
and tap the bristles like so. And that'll assure that we have a nice, even distribution of color all the way through the bristles. 'Kay, let's go right up here. Now then, as I say, the canvas
is covered with Liquid White so it's slick and wet. And we can start right up here at the top. And we just make little X's, little crisscross strokes. Somethin' like that. That simple. That easy. Now, it's very easy to go
back and make it darker. But it's a son of a gun to take it off. You can, but it's much easier just to start off with
a little bit of color, and then you can always
add more if you want it. So I suggest you start
with just a little bit of the Prussian blue, and then you can add as
much as you want later. Oh, we'll add a little more
and make it a little darker. Just like so. And I'm gonna leave some areas that are sort of open. By that, I mean they just
don't have much color on 'em. There. Maybe, maybe, about like so. If you've painted with us before, you know that, you know
that this piece of canvas is your world, and in your world, you can do anything
that your heart desires. On this piece of canvas, you have absolute and total freedom. That's what makes it so fantastic. Maybe I'll have a cloud in this one, so I'm gonna leave a
spot open right there. And we'll just sort of see what happens. There. And you can make this as dark as you want, or as light as you want. It really is up to you. We use no tracings and no patterns here. We just, we just sort of let our mind go and our imagination flow to whatever area you want it to be in. There, a few little spots here and there. Somethin' about like that. I tell you what, if you've
painted with me before, you know I'm an absolute nut for water. I love water. So while we got this ole brush full of some blue, let's
add just a little bit more to the bristles like that. Just same way we loaded it before. And let's go right up in here. And we just pull across. Start from the outside and pull inward. Like that. This'll be still water today, I think. So still water is normally flat. Little bit more color, and pull from the other side. I'm intentionally leaving a
little area open right in here. 'Cause if everything works just right, that'll look like, like,
like a little sheen of light that comes right across there. Makes your painting exciting. Now, very gently, we can just go across the entire canvas. Like that. And that takes out the
little brush strokes and sort of brings everything together. Okay. Now, the most fun part
of this whole technique is washing the brush. And we wash our brushes
with odorless paint thinner. And in this can here I have
a screen in the bottom of it to scrub the bristles against. That allows the solid materials to settle and keeps the paint
thinner relatively clean. Then we shake it off and just. (brush rattles) (chuckles) Just beat the devil out of it. That really is the fun part
of this whole technique. Now, just use the same ole brush. I think today, to show
you how easy this is, we'll only use. Let's just use a two-inch
brush and maybe a knife. (chuckles) That'll be a challenge. Go right into a little
bit of the white paint. About something like so, just
tap the bristles in there. Let's go back up in here. We said we was gonna have a big ole cloud that lives in our sky. So we just take that and sort of tap it. Just tap. All we're looking for now
is just a very basic shape for our little cloud, or big cloud. Let's have a big cloud. There. About like so. And, once again, you decide in your world where all the little
clouds and things live. It's totally and completely up to you. You can have 'em anywhere that you want. Maybe, let's go right here. Just drop somethin' in like that. There. Maybe a little more. There, all we're doing is putting in a basic shape at this point. Very basic. Then I'll get to wash the ole brush again. I just like to wash the brush
'cause it's a lot of fun. Same way. Shake off the excess. Then. (brush rattles) (chuckles) Just beat the devil out of it. There. And sometimes I'll take
the brush and go across a paper towel just to be
sure that it's really, really as dry as I can get it. Now very gently, very gently. One hair and some air. We just wanna, just wanna fluff this big ole group of
clouds that we have here. Just fluff 'em up. There, tease 'em a little bit. And then very lightly, just caress 'em. Go gently, gently across 'em. Somethin' like so. And that easy. We have fantastic clouds in our sky. There. See, nothin' to it. You can do this. You absolutely can do this. I get letters everyday from
people all over the country that have never tried painting before. And they've seen us on
TV and they've tried this and it works, and they're so excited. And they take the paintings
and they show 'em to friends, and they show 'em to their family, and they say, "Aw, you didn't do that." And some people tell me that
they've had family members actually look close and
try to find numbers, like they've done a paint-by-number. Okay, let's take some white. We get to movin' along here. A little bit of the Prussian blue. We'll put some black in there. I wanna make a gray color. Maybe a little bit of
alizarin crimson in there. Ooh, I like that. So we have a little crimson, little bit of Prussian blue, little black, and a little white. Makes sort of a grayish color, but it has a little bit
of the crimson in it. I just wipe the ole
knife on a paper towel. Now then, still usin'
the ole two-inch brush, we're gonna just pull it through
this color and wiggle it. Just wiggle it, that pulls it
to a nice sharp, sharp edge. All right, see here, you
can see how sharp it is. Very sharp. Maybe in our world, back in here, maybe we have some little trees that live far, far away. Just take the brush, touch,
give it a little push. See there? And you decide how many
little trees are here. We don't want a lot of detail in this. It's too far away. Too far away. Just want a few little things in here. When you're doing landscapes, things that are far away should not show ya a lot of detail. It's just like when you're
looking at things far away, you don't see every leaf,
every stick, every twig. You see indications. You see basic shape, basic color. And that's what we're looking for. Maybe there's a little
guy that lives right here in-between all these big ones. There, he's a special tree. All right. See there, somethin' about like that. Whatever, whatever. There's another one. And you decide, you decide how many trees are in your world, 'cause each of us will see nature through different eyes. And you should paint what you see. Painting is very, very individual. That's the reason I don't,
I don't like to use patterns or drawings on here first. 'Cause I think it restricts
creativity sometime. Just, just do it. And enjoy it. Very quickly, you learn
to compose as you paint. And that really may be
the joy of painting. Same ole brush. Maybe, right down in here, we'll begin filling in. Tell you what, let me grab another brush. I have several going here. I'm gonna create a little mist down here. There, see? As you're painting, if you don't have drawings and stuff here, you begin to see things. And this looks like a good place to have a little misty area. So just by tapping the base of it. Look at that, lift upward. That easy, that easy. Now then, we can come right along in here. Now see, it stands out now, because you have that little misty area. Can just put a little thing
right in there like that. Wherever, wherever. Watch here, watch here. One of the greatest
things in this technique is reflections. I wanna reflect those trees
right down into the water. So you just pull it
straight down like that. Then go across, and we
have instant reflections. That easy, just like that. There. All right. Take the knife. And take a little bit of the Liquid White, and put a little titanium white with it. i want this to be a little thinner. Little bit thinner than
just straight titanium. Gonna cut across. 'Kay, let's go up in here. Get a little roll of paint. And with the knife we've just taken, we'll just cut in a little waterline. Somethin', that, somethin' that lives right along in here. 'Bout like that. See how easy that is. Now waterlines in your painting should be basically straight. You can go anywhere you wanna go with 'em, but because the water's flat, they should be basically
straight at all times, or it just won't look right. It'll look, it'll look
like your water's gonna run right outta your painting. And it's bad when you have to tie a bucket on the side of your
painting to catch the water. It sort of offends people
when they look at your paint. There, all right. Now then, lemme wash the ole brush again. I really just like to wash these brushes. There. Shake off the excess. (brush rattles) (chuckles) And just cover
everything in the house. Time to get crazy now. Let's take Prussian blue, midnight black. I'm goin' put crimson in there, some sap green. We'll put some Van Dyke brown. Lookin' for dark color. And I'm gonna mix up a
pretty good pile of it. All right, okay, lemme
wipe the ole knife off. Okay. Now then, let's go back
to the ole two-inch brush. I'm gonna show you how to
make some gorgeous trees using a brush this big. It's important to load
the brush correctly. Wiggle it, wiggle it. That pulls the paint down
toward the end of the bristles, and then sharpen it, just
like you would a fine knife. (chuckles) There you go. 'Kay, let's go right up here. Now we gotta make a big
decision in our world. That's a big decision. There's a tree lives right there. Touch the canvas, and then just
with the corner of the brush begin working back and forth. Start in the center, work outward. Center, outward. See there? And these big ole trees, little more paint, they just
live right in your brush. You just have to sort of push 'em out. Just push 'em out. And down here, we don't really care. I'm gonna have several trees, so we're not too interested. We'll separate 'em with highlights. And maybe in our world, you're right, there's another little tree. And he lives right there. Right there. See, as I say, down in
here, it doesn't matter. You could put this on with a paint roller. We'll start a whole new
technique of painting here. Roller, roller painting. All right, just loading the brush again. And let's decide how many
trees live in our world. We'll have another one there. Just using the corner of the
brush when you first start, and as you work down the tree, you're pushing harder and harder just to bend those bristles down. Somethin' like so. There, shoot, I gotta have
one more little tree out here. Make sure the brush is to a
nice chiseled edge, very sharp. Maybe this one's got a little bend in him. I like trees that don't just look like future telephone poles. They got character. Some of 'em, they're like people. Some of 'em have a few flaws in 'em. Some of 'em are a little heavier. Some are a little skinnier. Somethin' like so. And some of 'em maybe have a
little tilt in their world, and that's okay, that's okay. And there, a little more color. And while we got this on the brush, let's come right into here. And let's put us in the indication of some reflections that'll be right under that big group of trees, that easy. That easy. And put a little land in there. See, this all still just
usin' a two-inch brush. Just put an indication here
of a little bit of land. We'll come back and highlight all of that. There, go across. That easy. And we have instant, instant reflections. That may be one of the neatest things that happens in this technique. All right, let's take a little white, a little dark sienna, mix 'em together, make a nice brown color. Cut off a little roll of paint. It should be right on
the edge of the knife. And we can go up in here. And let's put a, let's just put a happy little tree trunk here and there. There, somethin' about like that. Now you can change just a few trees into a lot of trees by
putting the indication of tree trunks here and there, 'cause we don't know how
many trees are behind that. So that's how you make a few
trees into a whole forest. You didn't know you had
that kind of power did you? But you do, you do. On this piece of canvas,
you can do anything that your mind can imagine. I like trees, let's make some more. Shoot, that was fun. Load the brush up the same way. This is your bravery test. Maybe one goes right off
the canvas on this side. Still just usin' the ole two-inch brush. And just work it back and forth like that. (whistles) Boy, that is a big tree. That's all right, it's our world, and if we want a big tree in it, we can have a big tree. We can have anything in here that we want. There. Because you can do anything
that you believe you can do. And I know you can do this. I know you can do it. There. Maybe, yep, we'll have another
one that lives right there. There. And then here, once again, we don't care. We'll separate all that
with just highlights. That's workin' so good,
we gotta do one more. We'll have one more. I like him. This is a, this is a good painting to give you some practice
using the ole two-inch brush and for making some fantastic evergreens. And what's fun is to do a demonstration, show your, show your
family or your friends how you can do this. And when you drag out a
brush that looks like, looks about like what they
painted the barn with last week, they won't believe you can do this. There, all right. Somethin' like that. I tell you what, maybe
there's, yep, you're right, it comes right down there. And in here we'll just fill it up. Just fill it up. Just put some color in. There, 'kay? Now then, we'll put a few tree trunks over here on this side, still using that same color, dark
sienna, little white. There. Now this ole big boy, it
goes right off the canvas. We'll assume he's a big tree. Strong tree, maybe,
maybe he's the Poppa tree lives out here. And here and there you can
see a few little things that just live in there. You can take the knife and just scrape in indications of little
limbs that are hanging. And evergreens always
have these little limbs that hang off of 'em. Now then, fun time. I'll use that same ole brush. Has that tree color on it. I'm goin' right into the cad yellow. And once in a while I'll
hit a little yellow ochre, a little Indian yellow,
just to change the flavor a little bit. Because there was blue
and black in that color, instantly we have green, we
have a gorgeous green color. Load it back up to a
chiseled edge once again. Same way, very sharp,
very sharp, see there? All right, both sides. Let's go up here. Now then, let's begin deciding which tree's in the foreground, which tree's in the background. Figure it out in your mind and do the tree that's
farthest away first. Do him first. There. And then, well, let's
see, maybe this tree. Okay, see you have to
make these decisions. There. A little yellow ochre I'm
gonna add right in there. Just to change the flavor a little. So this tree will have a
little different taste to him. There, see there. And as it works down, let it get darker and darker and darker, 'cause down in the bottom here, there're shadows, big shadows. And, also, trees are
normally brighter at the top because you have the
newest growth up there. There. If you have trouble makin' this stick, add the least little
touch of paint thinner, or a little touch of Liquid White even, just to thin the paint. 'Cause one our golden rules
that you need to remember is that a thin paint will
stick to a thick paint. We start with a paint that's much thicker than normal oil paints. That's very important. It's much, much thicker. It's very firm, very dry. And then by sort of thinning
each layer on top of that, we can literally paint layer after layer on top of it. But each layer needs to
get a little bit thinner. There, so if you don't
start with a thick paint, guess what's gonna happen. (chuckles) Gonna become a mud-mixer. And if you've painted, sooner or later you're
gonna mix a little mud. All of us have. So, really, pay close attention to the consistency of your paint. There. Darker, darker, darker. Down in here, just let it
fade right on into nothing. And this will happen automatically because your brush, as you're going down, is picking up that dark color, and, automatically, it gets darker. Now, let's load the brush different. This time, I'm gonna
tap it into the color. I'm gonna break it open, and tap it into the color, giving a little push. Let's pull a little yellow out there so you can see it better. Give a little push. That loads a little bit of
paint right on the edge. Let's go up in here. Now maybe we said there was
gonna be some land here. Look a-here, just touch,
and follow those angles. Think about, think about
the lay of the land. Or the way the land flows downward. It's most, most important. There. And, normally, in fact I can't
think of many exceptions, water always sits in a recessed area. So, usually, there's a reason. Usually the land's coming downward. Pay attention to those angles. Pay ya huge dividends, there. 'Kay, see there, you just make all these little layers of things like so. That easy. Put some on the other side, too. That worked out pretty good. Once again, dip the brush
into a little paint thinner or a little Liquid White. Liquid White will make your
color a little brighter. And sometimes that's very desirable. 'Kay, sometimes you don't wanna keep it very pure. It's up to you. You make the decision. There we go. That's the hardest thing about painting, is making these big decisions
that you have to make. 'Cause when you have this much power, you have to use it correctly. There. All right, the moment I go home, I don't have any control over
anything but the garbage, but here I can do anything, anything. Can move rivers here. There. But work in layers, see? Always start farthest away and work forward, forward, forward. And by tapping, it makes
these little grassy areas, and you can make 'em, you can make 'em where
they're soft as velvet, or you can make 'em very distinct. It's really up to you. Boy, it looks like a nice place just to get a good book and go up there and kick back and talk to the animals. Now, I'm gonna pull the
brush in a different way. See here, I'm pulling it in one direction. Straight down, pulling
it in one direction. And that'll cause it to
have a little curve in it. I wanna turn the brush so
that curves to the top. See it, let's go up here. Now with that same ole brush, I'm gonna go right in here, and I'm just gonna push in
a happy little bush or two. Don't let it slide, push it. Make your bristles bend a little bit. Look at that, see? A little bitty ole tree,
it lives right there. Or he can be a pretty good sized tree. Add a little Indian yellow to that, brighten him up. Maybe there's a little
friend lives right here. There, see? It's up to you, up to you,
wherever you want 'em. I gotta have one on the other side, too. That's workin' so nice, I can't quit. Where does he live? Right there, right there. See it? (chuckles) Isn't that neat? Did you ever think with
just an ole two-inch brush and a big ole knife, it almost looks like a putty knife, that you could paint a
gorgeous painting like this in a matter of minutes? You can. At first, it may take you a little longer. Don't, don't worry about
speed when you first start. Speed will happen automatically. Takes a little time to learn
how to load the brushes, but after you've done that, speed will begin coming automatically. See there, we'll put a little bush that lives right down here. There we go. Wherever you want 'em. You can have 'em anywhere. Now then, little waterline. We'll take that same ole color. This is just Liquid White. Liquid White. Pull it out flat, we're gonna cut across, just like we did in the background. And let's put us a little
waterline right under here. This little light area sort
of separates the two darks. And if you get one that's too bright, all you have to do is
just rub it a little bit. See there? Once again, though, you wanna keep 'em, you wanna keep these
lines basically straight. Somethin' like that. There. You can have a little
ripple here and there. Like that. Take a clean knife, and
we'll just pop in indication. A few little sticks. Little twigs that live out here. Wherever you want 'em. Some on the other side, too. Shoot, I think we got a
finished painting here. We'll take a little bit of crimson, little paint thinner. We'll sign that one. But I hope you try this one. This is a very easy little painting to do. As I say, even if you've never painted, this is one that you can do. (chuckles) Until next
time, from all of us here, I'd like to wish you happy painting, and God bless, my friend. (upbeat rock music)
