- Welcome back. I'm glad to see you again. I thought today I'd show you. You know when you learn to paint it's not how to paint that's difficult but what to paint. And I'm gonna show you a super way today to make up little scenes in your mind and it teaches you fantastic things. So let's get started. I'm gonna have them graphically run all the colors across the screen that we'll use to do this painting, and they'll be in the same order that I have them on my palette starting with a white and going around. And let's take and I'm gonna start with a
little bit of thalo blue. Pull a little bit out. And I've already covered
the canvas with Magic white, so it's nice and wet and
slick and ready to go. Now, beat the paint into the bristles to assure nice, even
distribution of paint. And let's go right up here (swishing) and very quickly, very quickly just drop in a happy little sky. Use a little crisscross strokes. (swishing) And you allow the paint to
mix with the Magic white until it gets softer, more gentle in value as it
goes toward the horizon. (swishing) There we are. And that quick we've got a, I got a happy little sky. (swishing) And that's about all we need. We're gonna have very little
sky left in this painting. So all we need is just,
just a little indication that'll shine through
the trees here and there. Okay. Let's go right down here to the palette. When we load this big brush, pull it through the color. I'll start with some Van Dyke brown. And we'll go right into some, this is some burnt umber. Let's go right over here and
get some alizarin crimson. Oh, shoot. We'll put some
sap green in there too. So we've got sap green, alizarin crimson, Van Dyke brown, a little burnt umber. And it's brush-mixed. It's all mixed on the brush. Different layers in the brush. And let's just go right up in here and say "There." Just start pushing, pushing out. (dabbing) Make all these little shapes. Don't worry about them right now. Lot of times when I'm
teaching beginning students I'll take and turn my head and just hit the canvas. And from wherever it hits, from that we make a beautiful painting. And it teaches you how to compose. Okay. Back through some of the colors. I let a little bit of the
sky show through in places. (dabbing) Just here and there. (dabbing) Helps create depth in your painting when you're all finished. (dabbing) Okay. See? And already we've got
a background over here. Now we'll do the same thing
using the same colors. And it's basically a brown. Cause if you mix sap green
and alizarin crimson together, it makes a beautiful,
beautiful reddish brown. Okay. Maybe there's a little tree. There he is, lives right there. Aw, there's a big one. (dabbing) See? Just let these things flow. Flow right out of your imagination. (dabbing) This is your world so
don't worry about it. You can build anything
in here that you want. You have your artist license so just do anything. (dabbing) And we'll just begin
laying out all kinds of little dirt areas here
and grass, whatever. Whatever, it doesn't matter at this point. All we're doing is putting
color on the canvas. (dabbing) Okay. Now, I'm gonna go right into
a little bit of Prussian blue. Very strong, very dark. Same old dirty brush. And pull a little bit of that in here. Just here and there. I want a little, maybe. (swishing) Maybe, maybe, maybe we'll
have a little stream in this one. So I want a little bit of blue. (swishing) There we go. Just here and there. (swishing) Anything we don't like, we'll just cover it up. (swishing) Pull down. (swishing) And then very lightly go across it. See? Water's that easy to make. So, so simple when you
have a wet background. Okay. Maybe we'll drop in a little
bit more of this brown color. (dabbing) And we've done all of this
without cleaning the brush. (dabbing) See I look for paintings where I don't have to
clean the brush so much. I'm lazy, I don't like
to clean that brush. (dabbing) Alright. Now we can begin picking out some little individual things here and there. So we have to make almighty decisions. And we'll start way back
here in the background. And let's just take a little fan brush and I'm gonna put a little bit
of paint thinner on my brush. Go right into some brown. Now I've thinned the
paint just a little bit so it'll flow. And white. So I've got white on one
side and brown on the other. Brown and white, brown and white. Now, let's go up in here and just drop in some
basic little tree shapes way back here. Little trunk shapes. And you're still not overly concerned because anything that you don't like, you cover it up. It's your world. You change things the way you want them. And we're just looking for indications. It's just background. Just background. Okay. Maybe there's, there it is. Let some of these old tree trunks move and turn and have fun. There we go. That easy. And let's take a one-inch brush and put some paint thinner
on it to thin the paint. And let's start with
a little bit of yellow and sap green. (swishing) I want to add a little
bit of brown to that just to dull it down so it's not quite so bright. There we go. Load a lot paint into that brush. Probably the biggest single mistake made is not loading enough paint in the brush. Now let's go up in here
and begin picking out all these little individual
things that we want. Touch, push. Make all these beautiful little leaves. (dabbing) And if you practice this, you can make little leaves
that absolutely look like lace. (dabbing) There. And just go back and forth. We'll add a little yellow ochre now. Brighten that rascal up a little bit. Okay, maybe right there, right there. Again, picking out individuals. (dabbing) Add a little bit of permanent
red to the same color and see what happens. (dabbing) You can just add all the
colors that you want. Looks like this is gonna
be a nice fall scene. (dabbing) And you don't have to make those decisions until you start applying color. That's what's fun about this. You learn to compose as you paint. (swishing) Okay. And sometimes you have
trees that are green but they're beginning to, Jack Frost has touched
them if this is fall and they begin getting little
dabs of red and orange. (dabbing) There. They're not just one solid color. All kinds of beautiful
little things happen. (dabbing) There we go. Just drop them in wherever you want them. (dabbing) Okay, here we come, here they come. There. Just let them go wherever you want them. Some more green. And let's go up in this big old tree here. And let's give him some nice leaves and (dabbing) There. (dabbing) Okay, a little more right in there. (dabbing) There we go. And here I'm using the brush sideways and just pushing upward. Just push upward. (dabbing) And you want a highlight? You push hard. See? (dabbing) That's the reason you double
and triple load your brush. Put a lot of different
colors on your brush. Brush-mix your paint rather
than mixing it on the palette. Mix it on your brush. And all these things happen automatically. Okay, we gotta start making
some almighty decisions. Where's our land gonna be? So let's take the knife and
go right into the brown. This is just Van Dyke brown. (scraping) And begin deciding where
we want to have land. Maybe, maybe there's
some right back in there. Like that. Maybe there's some out in here. (scraping) Wherever, wherever. Just here and there. Let it go. (scraping) Okay. Now I'm gonna take a clean brush and pull just a tiny, tiny
little bit of that down and go across. Want that quite dark
back there in the shadow. (swishing) See? And anywhere you want water, you just pull it down and go across. And that easy. That easy. You can create water anywhere you want it. (swishing) Okay. Let's put a little bit of highlight. I'll take some Prussian blue,
a little white and brown and mix it together. (scraping, mixing) Brown, blue and white
makes a nice gray color. And we'll add a little bit
of that here and there. Just a touch. Allow the paint to break. Now I'm going to use
some burnt umber also. I like this burnt umber. It's almost like a burnt sienna color. (scraping) Only darker. And we'll put a little bit
of that here and there. I tell you what. Let's put a tiny bit of
permanent red in there. That'll sparkle it up. Very strong so use a
very, very small amount. (scraping) Make it look almost
like an old brick color. Just let some of these
bounce through and play. There we go. Okay. Let's take a little
bit of the Magic white, and we'll put a little
bit of brown with that. Cut across and put in some
water lines back here. (scraping) Just here and there. There we go. (scraping) Okay. I'm going back to the fan brush. I'm gonna put a little bit of
Magic white on my fan brush. Go into some yellow. Some green. And let's drop in some grass
back here in the background. And let it follow the lay of the land. Let it follow the lay of the land. So very, very important. (dabbing) And it's alright if it
touches some of this brown and picks it up. You just carry that right on back. Don't worry about it. (dabbing) The Magic white has made the
paint a little bit thinner so it sticks on top of this thicker paint. Okay. Now let's play a little bit more. Let's go on the other side. We'll take some Van Dyke brown and maybe there's a
stone lives right here. Maybe a little projection
right out over that. Comes down wherever you want it. See this is a super, super
way to practice paintings. And just sort of let them happen. Now I want this to be flat on top so bring your paint across like this. Otherwise it won't be flat on top. (scraping) And then these strokes come down. Want to keep it dark underneath here. If it gets light underneath, you'll lose...keep it dark under there. Dark, dark. (scraping) Let a little bit of that
highlight play here and there. Now this is the umber
and the permanent red, and then the gray, all mixed together. Just, so all kind of little things happen. (scraping) Little bit of water line. (scraping) And maybe, maybe, there it is. There it is, little bit right there. (scraping) Isn't that fun? (scraping) Okay. Now let's bring some
grass down on that side. So we'll take the fan brush and let's just once again
follow the lay of the land. Maybe it comes right down through here. (dabbing) And let it go. Let it go. (dabbing) There. If your paint gets to where
it doesn't want to stick, a little bit of paint
thinner or Magic white to it. Either one will thin it. If you don't want to dilute color, use paint thinner. There we are. (dabbing) We just do this in layers, finishing the layer
that's farthest away first and working forward. That way it give it depth. (dabbing) Okay. Let's put a few little
stones out here in the water. Use a fan brush. We'll go right into some Van Dyke brown and maybe, maybe, maybe, maybe there's a little stone
that lives right here. And stones live wherever make them happy. So wherever you want the stone to be. That's where it ought to be. There's a stone. This is just Van Dyke brown. And a lot of time in streams there are hundreds and
hundreds of little stones. Obviously we can't put all those in here. But I'll show you how to make a stone and then at home you
can put as many stones in yours as you want. And we need, even under stone, need to have a little reflection. So you just grab a little
of that, pull down. And go across. That easy. (swishing) And we need a little
highlight on our stone. So maybe we'll use, let me get a little, a little of the umber
color on the fan brush. And we'll just take and
lay in a little bit of, a little highlight here and
there on some of these stones. Then you have all kind of old mossy and things that grow on there. So you can put a little of the, a little greenish color here and there, cause you always have these little moss creatures that
grow on top of your stones and make them slick so you
slide off and fall in the water when you're up there trying to play. Okay. Now. I'm gonna take a little Magic white and a little firm white
and mix it together. Magic white and firm white. (scraping) And I'm gonna come right along here and maybe there's a little bit of movement in this little stream. This is an old slow stream. And you can do this with a knife, just to give the indication
of a few little ripples here and there. Or you can do it with your brush. (scraping) This gives you good practice with a knife. Good, good practice. Now these little lines need
to be basically straight. (scraping) Or your water won't lay
down in your stream. (scraping) You know, we can go anywhere we want. Let all these little
things just build up here. (scraping) Okay, maybe there's some over in here, and they come right
around this little stone. (scraping) See and it just gives the impression that the water's moving and you haven't really done a great deal. So very simple. (scraping) Now, I mixed a little
bit of the Magic white with this titanium white so it'd make the paint
a little bit thinner than what's on the canvas. (scraping) Let's go back maybe up in here and just. (scraping) Put a few little indications back in here. (scraping) We're gonna have running water then it ought to run all the way. (scraping) Okay. Now, let's take and bring
some of this dark color down into the water here. (swishing) Need a dark reflection right there. (scraping) Then put our little
ripples on top of that. (scraping) A little bit of the Van Dyke. Maybe there's some land
areas right in here. (scraping) Little highlight on them. And now we can drop in a
little bit of grass here. And I'm touching that fan brush and pushing and bending upward. Can you see that alright? Push and bend it, like that. Keep a lot of paint in the brush. Nothing wrong with reloading it. (dabbing) Just let it go. (dabbing) Okay. Now let's see. Over on this side, let's decide where we're going here. Maybe like so. Maybe it comes right, there we go. See? Just sort of let these things happen. don't worry about trying
to plan them exactly. Let them happen. That's the beauty of not
having to worry about patterns and tracings and stuff. You're not committed. You can do anything that you want and you can change your
mind anytime you want. (scraping) There we go. Okay. And back into our yellows. I got yellow ochre, indian yellow, permanent red, cadmium yellow, sap green. They're all mixed together on the brush. A multitude of different
colors happening on the brush. Let the brush work. (dabbing) There we go. And just follow the lay of the land. You can do it. There. (dabbing) Okay. Now. (scraping) Maybe right in here, maybe this water just
bounces right off there. (scraping) There we go. All kinds of little things happening. (scraping) Alrighty. Tell you what. Let's make a few big old trees in here. We need some big strong trees that'll, and they're a lot of fun to make. We'll just use the fan brush today and maybe, maybe, maybe, maybe. There it is, there it is, there it is. Right there. Big old tree. And we'll give him an arm. Lot of paint on the brush. Straight Van Dyke brown. Straight old Van Dyke brown. Maybe there's another tree right here grows right next to him. And another one, there we are. So we got to give them arms. Trees got to have arms so you can reach up and gather up the sunlight. A place for the little squirrel to play. There. I talk about little squirrels all the time cause I used to have a pet squirrel. He sat up on my head. He was a wild squirrel, but he'd sit up on top of my head and eat. Every once and awhile I'd
give him a big old walnut and it was too big for him. He couldn't crack it. So he just carried it around
and wear his teeth out on it. So I'd finally get feeling sorry for him and I'd crack his walnut for him. Okay. Maybe, maybe, maybe. I see another one, right there. Another big old tree. And it sort of pushes everything back. There we go. And maybe there's a limb
that lives right there. And you can put as many trees
in your world as you want. Now then. I want to take a little bit of the (scraping) white with a little bit of gray in it just to dull it down a little. And just use the edge of the knife. And we'll play a little highlight on this. Just touching, that's all you're doing. You just touch the canvas. Just touch it. Let the canvas do the work. It will pull off what it wants and give you back what's left. If one comes our brighter than you want, if you keep touching it, it'll pick up the color underneath and it'll go away. So don't worry about it. There. (scraping) Now let's. (scraping) Let's put a few little
highlights over here. Maybe there's a little
light shining through there and it's, there we go. Just touching. And this is just to give you ideas. You'll create your imagination. Let your imagination go crazy. Let these things happen. (scraping) Maybe, maybe there's a little
light playing right there. Maybe up it here it changes and comes around this way. Maybe a little bit sliding
through the other side. You know light, light comes from all
different directions sometime and it bounces through
all these shadow areas. If it's too bright, just play with it. Tap it down. Okay, and I'm gonna take
a little bit of brown and I'm using the little
edge of the knife. Maybe there's an old, big old hollow spot right there. Big dead spot. Now we haven't made a
place for the squirrel, the little rabbit needs a place to climb up in there and
hide when the weather's bad. (scraping) Little bit of white around the edge to make it stand out. (scraping) See? Make it look like an
old recessed area in there. And that's where the little rabbit hides. Okay. Now we need to put some grass around the trees' foots and clean this all up. (dabbing) Just like that. (dabbing) Just a few little things here and there. And with our little liner brush we can take a little bit of brown and I've got a thin oil here, very thin. Make this like water. And here and there we'll drop
in a little stick or two. Maybe, maybe there's a little old thing that lives right there. Right there, there he is. And you decide where all
these little things live in your painting. Your little sticks and twigs. And I think we've about
got a finished painting. It's that easy. So I'll take a little
bit more of the thin oil, a little permanent red. We'll sign this one, call it finished. And I really hope you've enjoyed it. It's a lot of fun. It's a super, super way to practice to get yourself familiar with the medium. On behalf of all of us here, we'd like to wish you happy painting. God bless. See you next week. (light music)
