- Welcome back. Glad
you could join me today. And today I thought we'd
do the little painting that's animated at the
beginning of each show. And you've been watching
that one every week, and it's a fantastic little painting. I think you'll enjoy doing it. Now we won't be able to
do an exact duplicate because we never duplicate
anything exactly, but I'll show you each
stroke and how it was done, and from there you can
get the idea yourself, and make fantastic paintings at home. And I'll have 'em graphically
run all the colors that we're gonna use across the screen, and they'll give you
the colors in the order that I have 'em on my palette, starting with Titanium
White, and going around. All right, now I've
already covered the canvas with a thin, even coat of Magic White, so it's wet, slick, ready to
go, and let's get started. We'll start out right here with a small amount of Indian Yellow. Indian Yellow's a very,
very transparent yellow. Lot of fun to work with. Let's go right up here, and we'll start using just the little criss-cross strokes. Just X's. This is the way the teacher used to grade my paper in school. Lot of X's. There we go. Now, that's mixing with the Magic White, and automatically it
gets lighter in value. There. Just a small yellow hue in the background. Very little of this will show. Okay, now let's go right back, without cleaning the brush, and I'm gonna get a very small amount
of Alizarin Crimson, and just beat it into the brush, this assures a nice even
distribution of color in the brush. So you don't end up with
great big streaks in the sky. And once again, little criss-cross. Little X patterns. Right on top of the yellow. It's very, very easy to apply more color, but it's a son-of-a-gun to take it off, so use very very little color. You can always add more if you want it. There. All the way across. And blend these together. Just keep making the little
criss-cross strokes so they blend together and
you can't tell where one color stops and the other one starts. That's what we're looking for. Now, the crimson... Acts as a barrier, because I'm gonna put blue in the top, and the crimson acts as a barrier between here to keep the yellow and the blue from mixing, because if those two mixed, you'd have a bright green sky, and we don't want that. So, I'm going right into a little bit of the Thalo Blue. Tiny, tiny amount. Blue is so strong. Go right up here, and we make the little
criss-cross strokes. Allowing the blue to blend
right into the Alizarin Crimson. And where they meet, it'll
turn sort of a lavender color. Purplish color. And this is a very soft painting. A lot of the paintings
we've done in the past have been very bright, and I want to show you that you can do very, very soft, quiet little paintings, so
they don't have to be bright. Some people object to bright colors, so... This piece of canvas is your world, and you can do anything you want to do. We just try to show you how, and give you ideas. There we go, now just
blend all this together. Still using little criss-cross strokes. And because we're using
a very thick paint, you can do all of this blending
without it turning to mud. Okay, now while I've
got my brush going here, I'm gonna take a little
more of the crimson. And just go back and forth, and add a little bit down here. Just here and there. Just back and forth, have fun. Let it go. Little more
crimson on the brush. There. And, right into a little
bit of the Thalo Blue. And very lightly, here and there, just, we'll pick up some of this and we start laying snow in here,
and it'll become shadows. So just lay it in. Now, we can clean our brush. The brushes are cleaned
with odorless paint thinner. Just got the cameraman over there, and he's gonna yell at me in a second. Okay, now we can... Just blend this out a little bit. As I say, this will end up being shadows under the snow, so we're really not too worried about it right now, it's just background color. Just background color. Okay, now let's have some
little trees that are far back here in the distance, and we'll make 'em a little different way than we've been makin' 'em. I'm gonna go right into a little bit of the Van Dyke Brown, very little color. Small, small amount of color. And tiniest amount of the Burnt Umber, and mix 'em on the brush, brush mix. But there's very little
paint on the brush. Just back and forth. And let's go right up in here, and maybe you gotta make almighty decisions, maybe there's a little
tree that lives right here. So, we just take the large brush, and we're just using the corner. And we're just tapping. See? See how that's doing? There. Little more color. Very, very little color on your brush. Maybe, maybe there's a big
tree, lives right here. And as I say, this will not
be an exact duplicate of the one that you see at
the beginning of the show, but it'll give you an idea and show you how it was made. And I wish you could come into
the studio here and watch. It only takes a few minutes to paint that beautiful little painting,
but a lot of time is spent animating it, and they
do a fantastic job here. I hope you enjoy the
little animated paintings that are at the beginning of each show. I find 'em very interesting,
and I hope you do. Little bit darker color,
right here at the horizon. Little lighter up in the sky,
and darker at the horizon. That way it'll help create
the illusion of distance. And don't let your trees
get too symmetrical, too... Too even, let 'em just go. Let 'em go. Just looking for very
distant, basic shapes. Very soft, let a little of
that yellow show through, you don't want to kill all of that. All these little things
make it interesting. See how simple that is? I was a traditional
painter for many years, and I would've worked for days with my one-haired brush putting all that in. And you can achieve a
very gentle soft effect using a large brush. There. Still just using Van Dyke Brown, a little touch of Burnt Umber. There we go. Decide where your horizon's gonna be. Then just brush it out. Now then, I'm gonna take my liner brush and put a little bit of
thin oil on it and go right into my brown, turn the brush, bring it to a nice sharp point, turn it. Now, let's go right up in here, and we just want to put
some little indications here and there of some little trunks and limbs, don't want
'em to be too bright, too strong, these are just indications. Just here and there. Just let 'em go. One of the questions I
hear quite frequently, "Should I pull down or should I go up?" It's sort of an individual thing, it'll work either way. Let's take one right here, and we'll take this one and go up. Now, some people will find it easier to go to the small end,
some find it easier to start at the small end and go
toward the large end, so... Try 'em both, find out which
one works the best for you. And that's the one that you wanna use. There we go, maybe there's one that lives right here, and all of 'em aren't straight, some of 'em are crooked. Trees don't all grow straight. They grow however makes 'em happy. There. Okay. And that gives us an idea of just little tree branches
here and there, and trunks. Now... With a large brush, take a tiny, tiny little bit of the yellow. Back to the Indian Yellow. And just... Touch a little bit here and there, just to give a little
highlight indication. And go over the trunks. 'Cause you wouldn't see the entire trunk, you'd just see parts of it. Tiniest, tiniest little
bit of the Indian Yellow. Just a little bit of light
play through these trees, very soft, don't wanna lose that softness. Very, very soft and quiet. And this little painting
should make you happy. All paintings should make you happy. It's what painting's all about. Okay, now I'm gonna take a little more, and maybe I think, I think there was a little tree that lived right here. It's a little closer, so
it's a little bit stronger. By stronger I mean it's a little darker, you can see it a little better. There we go. And put some little
branches here and there. And this is winter, so the... Leaves have fallen off most of the trees. And wherever you want these to be. Drop 'em in. It's your world. And I've said it before, but if painting teaches you nothing else,
it teaches you to see. It teaches you to see some of the most fantastic things that are around us, and every day we walk by 'em and we never look at 'em, and painting will teach you to see these things. If it's good for nothing else, it really makes you appreciate nature and some of the fantastic, beautiful things that are all around us. I'm gonna take a little tiny bit of the Van Dyke Brown, and just barely touch. See, it makes it look like hundreds of little tiny limbs that we
don't have all day to paint. We just drop 'em in. Just to give indications. Now then, let's go... Let's go with the old fan brush, and I'm gonna start with Titanium White. Put some on the brush, and we have to make an almighty decision here. Where's our horizon line? Okay, maybe it comes
right down through here. And drops off... Right down in here. And very gently, very, very gently. Now, we take a little bit of Thalo Blue, and I brush mix a great deal. Mix things on the brush. We need some shadows here and there. I can even add a tiny
bit of brown to that, just to dull it back in here. Maybe this comes right on up. Goes right up... Right up through there,
wherever you want it to go. It's your world. Let these things just flow
right out of your imagination. Do you see how easy it is to make snow? But angles are very, very important, I can't stress that enough. You need to follow the angles. The lay of the land. I know I say that on
just about every show, but it is very, very important. Very important that you
follow the lay of the land. Now we put a shadow in here, maybe we wanna have a little
projection right there. Put a shadow in, and we make that, that's Thalo Blue, Titanium White... And blend it all together,
wherever you want it to go. Now, very gently, right over the top. I'll add a little bit of white. So that it has a little contrast. And it's that easy. That easy. And you can make all
kind of beautiful little snow banks, and all these
little things just happen. It's just a game of angles. Just back and forth. Maybe I'll put the least little amount of crimson on my brush just to put a little pinkish hue into here. Which, when we add the blue, it's gonna go sort of lavender, be very, very pretty. Makes nice shadows. And if you're, if you're interested in selling paintings, of course, none of us are interested
in monetary gains, but if you're ever interested
in selling paintings, a lot of times color is as
important as your composition. People buy paintings for color. So, use colors that appeal to people. If you're interested in selling paintings. And when you buy your first tube of paint, you're issued an artist's license, and artist's licenses, you can do anything that you wanna do on this canvas, because it's your world. So, use that license. Have fun with it. It's what it's all about. Okay. Now maybe, maybe, maybe, maybe, we'll have a tiny little bit of water, and water's very easy to make when we're working on a wet canvas. I'm gonna take a tiny bit
of the Van Dyke Brown... And the least little amount of Thalo Blue, so I have Van Dyke Brown and Thalo Blue, and once again, I've just brush mixed it. But very little color. Very, very little color. And figure out where you want the water to be here, and you touch... And just pull down. Pull down. Let it go. Wherever you want it to be. Wherever. Right there. And you pull it straight down, no matter where it goes, it still needs to come straight down. Just like so. There. Now, very lightly, very
lightly, go across. And that easy. That easy. It gives the illusion of water. Now, maybe, right along the edges here, this is just straight Van Dyke Brown. I'm gonna lay in just a
little bit of dirt showing. Tiniest little bit of dirt. In some places maybe a little more shows. This is your dirt, so you
put it where you want it. Wherever. Then back to our Titanium White. And we can bring some of the snow right down over the top of it. And blend it all together. Just blend it together. There. Isn't that a super easy little way to make fantastic, fantastic snow? It's that easy. Now, I'm gonna take a little
bit of the Magic White, pull it out very, very
flat, and cut across it. And we'll put a little
water line right back here. And we're cutting into the canvas. Act just like you're trying to cut a hole. Right into the canvas. There. Now, if you get one that's got too much paint on it, all you have to do is take a clean knife and rub it, and it'll go away. Just blends right in. No problem. Just let it go. There. Okay, now we gotta start
making some almighty decisions. What's on the other side, here? Now, if I remember
correctly, on the other side we have something that
lives right about here, and comes down, there. Somethin' like so. And we'll just lay in some color. And I'll take a little
bit of the white, go back. And highlight it a little. Once again, once again,
follow the lay of the land. It's very, very important. You have to make these almighty decisions. Okay, now maybe onto this one. Back to our brown. And lay in a little bit of
brown so it's the bottom. And do this in stages, here, 'cause we're gonna have things that are overlapping. Barely, barely touching. There we go. Now, little of Magic White. And we'll put in a little
water line right there. Now, back to our Van Dyke Brown. And maybe right there, right there. A big old, big old stone showin'. There it is. And we want some snow comin' down here. And goin' right over the top. That easy. Now, this brown's a very firm paint, so you can go right over the top of it without destroying everything. If it was a thin paint,
you'd be a mud mixer now. So... You need a good, firm paint. It's the only way you're
gonna make all this stick. There. Okay. Now then, I think in the one
at the beginning of the show, there's some big evergreens
that live right here, so let's do a big evergreen. And I'm gonna take... Some Thalo Blue, we'll just use the brush. The Van Dyke Brown, and a
little bit of Sap Green. Just a little Sap Green,
'cause the green is a very dangerous color in this painting. If you get it in your snow,
you know what happens. You got green snow, so very little green. Mostly blue and brown. Very dark. Contrast. And let's go right there. Right there. Big tree lives right there. I use a corner of the brush... And just sort of go back and forth. There we go. And that's how easy a tree is to make. Just push him right out of your brush. See, now a little bit of Sap Green will give it a greenish hue without
it bein' a bright green. And you'll see it, especially when I hit the white down here. There we go. See? That gives it a greenish hue,
but it's not a bright green. Now... You know... Trees get lonely too, so let's give him a little friend that lives right there. Now that you know how
to make trees, shoot, you get carried away
sometime and can't stop. We'll just put a couple of trees in here, it's just to show you how
to make a little tree. Happy little tree. Okay, now we can take here, and I'll use a little
bit of the Indian Yellow. Indian Yellow, and the
tiniest little touch of... Thalo Blue. And some brown into it,
we wanna dull it down. There. Don't want this too bright. Some brown, there. So we've got Van Dyke Brown, a little touch of Thalo
Blue, and Indian Yellow. And we can come back here
and highlight this tree. Just a little bit here and there. Don't want to get too bright. Don't want to lose this
beautiful darkness. It'll lose the contrast. Don't want to lose our contrast. And this little fella here needs some highlights on him, too. So just let 'em drop right off your brush. There. Okay. Now let's use the one-inch brush, and I'm gonna go right
into the Burnt Umber. And... Just drop some happy
little bushes right here. Just like so. And we'll use another brush, and to that, I'm gonna use white. This is Titanium White, and the least little touch of Thalo Blue. And a little bit of Magic
White to thin the paint. There. Thin paint will
stick to a thick paint. Okay, pull that brush in one direction, a lot of paint on the brush. Touch and push, bend it up, and make some beautiful little frosty leaves on top of these. You don't wanna kill all that dark. Maybe they come right down through there. Okay. Now, then. Let's put another little bank right there. And it doesn't matter if you pick up a little bit of that brown. There we go. And we'll take a little bit of the blue, for shadow, and lay it in there. Super. Now, while I've got that color goin', maybe over here there's
another one, right there. I want to have a tiny, tiny
little bit of brown right in there, just to make it look
like there's another stone. And we'll just bring it
right over, like that. There. And drop that in. And let's put some happy
little trees in this. I'm gonna go right into
some Van Dyke Brown, pull it out very flat,
get a little bit of paint, and maybe, maybe, I think there was a... I think there was a nice birch
tree that lived right there. And he had a friend that
lived right there beside him. Just like so. Just with the knife... Touch. There we go, give him... Somebody here, on his friend. And on the other side there
was a large birch tree. So we'll drop him in right about here. There he goes, and we'll just let him go right on off the top of the canvas. And wanna make him a little fatter, little bigger, 'cause he's closer to us. That'll help give the painting depth. Make it look very deep. Just like so. And give him little foots. Gotta have somethin' to stand on. Now, I'll clean the knife, and I'll take a little bit of the Titanium White. Touch, and pull. Make it look like birch bark. Just like so. All the way up. Little bit more of the white. And we'll touch and pull. There we are. And, with our liner brush... Right into some brown, this is a thin oil. And very quickly here, we'll just drop in some basic little tree shapes. Little branch shapes, I mean. Just drop 'em in, wherever you want 'em. It's your world, your tree. There we go. And I hope you've enjoyed this painting half as much as we have. It's a lot of fun. Teach you a great deal about
how to use the equipment. And I think you'll like it, and as I say, it's a good painting to make a happy buck, if you're interested. There. And put as many limbs
or as few as you want. Some of 'em hang down,
they're old and tired like me. Don't laugh, you'll get there one day. Okay, now with our big brush... I'm gonna go right into
some Van Dyke Brown, little bit of Burnt Umber. Tiniest little bit. And just touch the edges, just, once again, to give the indication of a lot of little tiny branches that you can set and paint in, or you can just put in little
indications, let 'em go. And this is basically,
basically how we made the little painting at
the beginning of the show. Okay, and we'll... Put in... Just a little weed here and there. Little bit of the light
color, highlight it. And... Now I'm using just a little Burnt Umber, and that's all you have to do, put in some little weeds and sticks. Sorta helps set everything out. And with that, I think we'll
call this painting finished, and, from all of us here
we'd like to wish you happy painting, God
bless, see you next week. (pleasant music)
