The Best of the Joy of Painting with Bob Ross

[Music] Hi, I'm glad you could join me today.

I thought today we'd just do a beautiful, little painting that has a lot of beautiful colors in it and we'll just, we'll have a good time.

So let's start out and have them run all the colors across the screen that you need to do this painting.

And they'll come across in exactly the same order as I have them on my palette.

While they're doing that, let's go on up here.

I've already covered the canvas with a thin, even coat of the liquid white.

It's all wet and slick and it's ready to go too.

So let's do it.

I'm going to start out today with the smallest, little touch of the Indian Yellow and a little bit of Bright Red.

Just mix these on a brush.

A very, very small amount.

Okay, let's go right up in here.

And I think I'll put a little more of the red.

Oh yeah, shoot, let's, let's do a nice one today.

Just let this sort of bounce around a little bit, like so.

Okay.

And maybe it just goes right on wandering off over there.

We don't care, what the heck.

What the heck.

Now then, wash the brush.

And we wash it with odorless thinner.

[chuckles] And take out all your hostilities.

Just have a good time doing that.

Midnight Black, midnight black, just tap some into the brush and a little bit of Phthalo Blue.

The Midnight Black is very transparent.

So it's a nice color to work with.

Let's go right up in here.

There we are.

Just play a little bit of this right along in here, like so.

I don't want to cover up this bright color, just want to throw a little bit of the blue and the black here and there, like so.

I thought maybe today we'd make some, we'll make some almighty clouds.

Have some fun.

Maybe some big mountains.

I love to paint mountains.

I lived in Alaska for so many years and I feel like that's really home.

And I like to do mountains.

Alaska has some of the most beautiful mountains in the world.

Same old blue and black and let's go right down here.

Let's have, let's have a little bit of water, so we'll just do this.

Alright, and already there, we have a masterpiece for the Museum of Modern Art.

We're ready, we could stop right there.

Okay, I've got several brushes going here, so I'll take a clean two-inch brush and very gently, just blend some of these edges together.

A little bit, I'm not worried about doing a lot of blending today.

Just a little.

I'm going to take a small amount of the red and put right here.

I want a little warmer glow, a little more red.

A little touch more of the red.

There, just really scrub that into the canvas.

It's going to be a bright one today.

Okay, let's build a happy, little cloud.

And we'll use the one-inch brush now.

When you're doing this at home, you could use a one-inch brush or a fan brush or a two-inch brush, it doesn't matter.

Put a little bit of the Bright Red in there, we'll sparkle those clouds a little bit.

Okay, let's go up here.

Now then, decide where you want a happy, little cloud to live.

And just tiny, little circles.

Tiny, little circles.

And just begin working all that together.

Tiny, little circles.

Don't let them get too big.

And keep your brush moving.

You'll have, you'll have places where the paint's very thick, places where it's very thin, and places there's no paint.

Just let all those little things happen.

Now then, top corner of the large brush and just sort of mix it up, blend it up.

Blend it up.

Then fluff it, give it a little fluff.

That lifts it up.

And when you do this, if you pull up some little stringy things, don't worry about them.

Because when you blend it, they all go away.

See there?

And when you're painting clouds like this, work in layers.

Do the most distant layer first, and then come forward.

Always working forward.

A little more of the red into the white.

And maybe, yep, lookie here.

There's another happy, little cloud and he lives right there.

Whereever you think a cloud ought to live, that's where he should live.

Tell you what, maybe, there's one that lives right here.

And he just floats right down.

Clouds are very free.

They're one of the free-est things in nature.

They just float around and have a good time.

There we go.

Top corner of the large brush.

Tiniest little circles.

Then give it a little fluff.

There, just fluff it up.

I remember years ago, ladies used to tease their hair like this.

Same principle, you just sort of fluff it up, tease it.

Just tease it.

And then very gently blend the entire sky.

Isn't that a fantastic way to make some great big, billowing clouds?

Works very well.

Let's put some big mountains in this one.

I'm going to take some black, some blue and some Alizarin Crimson.

Some Alizarin Crimson.

And if you want to see what color you have, take a little white and put there.

Because that just looks black.

See, and there you can tell.

I want a little more crimson.

I want it a little more into the purplish hue.

That's better.

Okay, okay.

Pull it out flat.

Cut off a little roll of paint.

Okay, let's go up here.

Now, you have to make a big decision.

Where does your big mountain live?

I think he lives right there.

Now see when you put this lavender color over the yellow, you can get away with it because when you mix lavender and yellow, it makes a nice brown.

And you don't care if you've got brown in your mountains.

If you used too much blue, you'd have green mountains and that'd be alright but, [chuckles] this looks a little better for what we're looking for today.

There we go.

And the only thing you're worried about is the nice, top edge.

You could really care less what's happening in here.

Now then, let's take the old, big brush and very gently pull this down.

We'll have a ridge of mountains today.

I like to do those.

So just sort of pull it right down like this.

And this is where you begin laying out your basic mountain shapes and your angles.

Just like that.

Just using brush strokes, like that.

There.

Alright, now when you paint, every day is a good day when you're painting.

Every day's a good day.

I had somebody tell me here a while back they said, "How can every day be a good day?

"Just, every day can't be a good day."

If you don't think every day's a good day, try missing a few, [chuckles] you'll see.

Alright, let's go up here and play.

Take some white, a little bit of a Alizard Crimson.

And the least little touch of the Phthalo Blue into it.

I want a lavender color, but more into the reddish hue than, than what we put on there to start with.

Cut off a tiny, tiny little bit.

See there, a little bitty roll.

Let's go right up here.

Now then, begin picking out your highlights.

And just let that barely touch the canvas.

Just barely, it's just, just grazing the canvas.

As I've said on some of the earlier shows in the series, when I was teaching my son to paint, I used to tell him just, just to pretend he was a whisper floating across the mountain.

Just graze the canvas, caress it.

Make love to the canvas.

Very gentle, very soft.

And then we can take, let's take some of the color that we made the mountain with and add a little white to that.

We want it darker than the highlight but lighter than what we have up here already.

And now let's just begin tapping some of these together.

Just begin working them together.

Pay very close attention to the angles.

The angles are the secret.

See?

There's not much paint.

The smallest, smallest amount of paint possible.

Just put all these little shadow areas in here.

There's virtually no paint.

Okay, I'm going to take some crimson and white and make a nice, warm, pinkish color.

And with that, let's go up here.

With that, we'll really put some shiny, little highlights on here.

Mm.

Isn't that pretty?

See how it stands out?

And you can put layer after layer after layer of highlights on here.

Just as many as you want in your world.

Just sort of let them all come together.

Put little bumps in it.

Think about all the little rocks that live up here.

Maybe that comes right down.

See, just let your imagination go.

There's one.

Mm.

Look at that, look at that.

But it's that easy to do.

Just think where the light would strike through here.

Just sort of let all these things blend together.

Layer after layer after layer.

Then you go back in here and put all kinds of little ... Lookie there, see how that just jumps right out?

And that easy.

And when you're doing this at home, this is when that little knife really comes in.

You can sneak into all those little places.

Take a little bit of the Phthalo Blue.

Tiniest little amount, a little white into it.

There, okay let's go back up here.

And just sort of touch.

Oh, look at that, look at that.

See, that really sparkles it up right up here on the edge, like so.

Okay, now then, clean, dry, two-inch brush.

And I want to tap this, just tap it.

We want to diffuse and soften.

And lift it upward, very gently.

See that pushes everything back.

Makes it so soft and quiet.

And you just keep going on and on and on.

Maybe, maybe there's another big old mountain that lives right here.

Oh, let me show you something.

Let me show you something that's fun.

Maybe, maybe you want a cloud that floats in here.

You can just take a little paint and if you keep that brush moving, see there?

Put a little cloud in, blend it, give it a little fluff, and that'll look like a nice, soft misty area where there's a little cloud floating down that mountain.

Okay, let's take maybe, mm, right there.

Just sort of let your imagination go crazy.

Put these where ever you want them.

Each mountain, as you work forward, should get darker in value.

This base color here should get darker and darker.

Really push it into the fabric, push hard.

Take the big brush, pull it out a little bit.

Just give it a little pull.

See when you put this one in there, it just set that little cloud we made right back in there.

That little cloud just hides back in there and has fun in between those.

Okay, now then, let's come right along here and just put the indication of a few little highlights.

Just zinging through there and playing.

Look at that.

See?

Follow the basic angles in your mountains, that's most important, most important.

Think where the light would strike.

Right there, maybe a little bit would go zing.

Okay.

Put in a few little shadow indications.

And just sort of work these shadows and highlights together.

Make all kinds of little things happen.

Here comes one, right there, right there.

Just back and forth between shadow and highlight color.

See how you can set things back in there?

And that creates a little, recessed area back in there.

Sneaky, huh?

I like these kind of little things that just happen.

There we go.

Now, once again, clean, dry brush.

And very gently, very gently, just tap and lift upward.

Always following the angles.

It's most important that you follow those angles.

Look at that.

And we have another layer of mountains.

And you can go on and on and on.

I'll show you another one here.

Let's take, we;ll take a little black and a little blue, a little more of the crimson.

We'll just use a fan brush, watch here, watch here.

Maybe there're a little bump that lives there.

You can do these with a fan brush, there it is.

Just fill that in.

Maybe it comes ... We don't care where it goes.

Right on out like that.

And a little bit of highlight, see there?

Just, just take the fan brush.

You can almost paint with anything if you just practice enough.

All you have to do is just practice.

See?

Put little shadow colors in there.

A little, oh, there's a happy little thing that just lives there.

Just let your imagination go crazy.

There's a nice little ...Mm.

Let that fan brush wiggle and play.

All the little things happen.

Okay, and we'll take our big brush and let's just tap this a little bit, just to soften it.

Lookie there, and that easy, you have a little rock.

Now we have three layers of rocks here, of mountains.

And that creates a lot of distance in the painting.

Each layer, or each plane that you put in, creates more and more distance in your painting.

And we'll take a little bit of the same, old mountain color and let's ... Maybe there's some happy, little things that live back here.

And just, see?

Now we're beginning to see some little distant trees.

Just sort of touch it and give it a little snap upward.

Just [Bob makes "blip" sound] Got to say those little funny sounds or it don't work.

There we go.

[Bob makes "bloop, bloop" sounds] All kinds of little things, like that.

And we'll just clean the brush off in there.

All we're looking for in here is a good, dark color.

We don't care.

Just a good, dark color.

It should reflect the colors that you've used in the painting already.

That's a good, dark color.

Alright, let me grab another fan brush here.

I tell you what, tell you what, I'm going to go right into some Liquid White, and then right into the Titanium White.

I'm looking for a paint that's a little bit thinner.

And, I know, let's really make it more interesting.

Maybe there's a stone lives right there.

See?

Stones need a little place to live too.

We'll put a couple, little stones there.

I'm going to take a little of the Dark Sienna, a little white.

Okay, cut off a little bit of paint.

Okay, let's go up here and let's just put a little tiny bit of highlight on them stones.

We want a little sun playing through here.

Highlight the same side of the stone that you did on the mountain.

Okay, now then, let's have some water.

And the water's coming back here.

It's coming back here, like so.

Maybe it comes right here and goes [Bob makes "poosh" sound].

Now, remember we put a little bit of liquid white in with the titanium white.

We want to thin that down so it's thinner than the paint that's already on the canvas.

If it's not thinner, then you're going to become a mud mixer.

And then you're going to be unhappy with me.

Okay, maybe, maybe when the water gets here, it hits this one and just goes [Bob makes "choop" sound] like that and splashes over this way.

Now, when it hits down here, there, see?

[Bob makes "pwsshh" sound] There are all kinds of happy, little splashes.

Just, look at that, look at that.

All those little things are happening right there.

Maybe there's a little stone that lives under the water there and causes it to go "bloop."

Alright, let's have some fun.

Tell you what, I'm going to take the old, two-inch brush and go right into ... Oh we'll take some Alizarin Crimson, a tiny bit of Phthalo Blue, and a little bit of black.

Just go right up here.

I think, yep, let's put a ... Just push and bend that.

There's a happy, little tree that lives right there.

We begin worrying about the lay of the land.

And it comes right down in front of this water.

There it is, just like so.

Okay.

Maybe we can just put a whole bunch of stuff right in here, what the heck?

There it is.

See you put your dark in so your light will show.

A little more blue, a little more crimson, a touch of black.

I know, right there.

Just sort of look at your painting and make big decisions where you think, where you think all of these little things should live?

Right down like that.

We don't know, we don't have to make these decisions yet.

We'll make these decisions as we come down in the painting.

Okay, let's put some stones in here.

Take a little Van Dyke Brown.

And we need a stone to hold this waterfall back.

Otherwise it just wouldn't stay there by itself.

Water is lazy, it looks for the easiest way to get to where it's going.

So when you're doing these little waterfalls, you've got to have little stones and stuff that explain why the water is higher back there.

You don't want it to just sort all of a sudden be there.

One of the basic rules of nature is water will not climb a rock just so it'll fall and be pretty for you.

[chuckles] It's lazy, it's like me, it looks for the easy way to do things.

Okay, let's take our old fan brush and go right into ... Let's see there is some black, blue, crimson.

And I'm going to grab a little bit of white so I can lighten that up a little.

Okay.

Let's go back up here.

A lot of pain on the brush and maybe there lives ... Yep, right here, a happy, little tree.

And this time I'm going to push upward.

Push upward with the fan brush.

Normally we push downward when we're making little evergreens.

We want these to have little branches though that go upward.

See that?

In some parts of the country, that looks more like the trees than in others.

So, sort of look around your house and see what kind of trees you have.

I know I'm going to get a letter from somebody that says, "Bob, all I got's a maple tree in my yard."

Well you can put a maple tree in yours.

There, just put these little rascals where ever you want them.

See these look like little Christmas trees to me.

Christmas is always a happy time.

There.

Okay.

Just push upward, bend it upward.

Make all these little trees.

Now some of them, that are a little closer, you might see little highlights.

So I'll take the same old, dirty brush, go into a little yellow and a little Sap Green.

I want this quite dark, because it's far away.

Load it full.

Now then, just put in a little indication of some green, still pushing upward.

Not a whole bunch, you don't want to kill all the dark.

There we go.

Just here and there.

Some of them, don't put anything on.

That will help save the illusion of distance.

Alright, let's put some highlights on those bushes.

We'll use the one-inch brush today.

Go into all the yellows.

That's Yellow Ochre, Cad Yellow, let's grab some Sap Green, just all of them.

A little bit of the Bright Red.

Okay, let's go right up here.

Maybe this big old tree back here, look at this, just thousands of little leaves, that easy.

Think about the shapes inside of the tree.

Don't, don't just hit at random.

Don't hit at random.

Okay, maybe there's a nice one, he lives right there.

You notice I'm still working in layers doing the thing that's farthest away first.

Over here, there's a nice little yellow bush and he lives right there.

And you can use the brush sideways to create little layers of little, soft grassy areas.

Let's take just a little bit of the brown and white we used for highlight and we put a little highlight on that rock.

A little out here.

Where ever you've got a little rock, drop in a little highlight on him.

Okay.

We'll grab some more Van Dyke Brown.

There's some big stones that live, just sort of let them wander.

Because anything that you don't want here, you just cover it up.

You can do anything in here.

Anything on this piece of canvas.

Big, old stones.

There.

Back to our highlight color.

And just begin putting some highlights on those stones.

Brown and white, there we go.

Like so, back to our one-inch brush.

Some of the yellows and the greens.

Putting in some little bushes in between.

As I said, anything that you don't want, you just cover it up.

Easy to do.

Just where ever you want them.

Let's go on the other side.

Same thing over here.

Make your little, individual bushes, one at a time.

Just like so.

And work in layers, always working in layers.

Now, back to our water, Liquid White, and the Titanium White.

Okay.

Now begin splashing some of that water up against these stones.

Let it swivel and swirl and have fun.

Just sort of think like water.

Just push it up, let the splashes hit and crash like so.

[Bob makes "bloop" sound] There went one, see?

Think about all the little, little areas underneath the water.

There we go.

You know, and I say repeatedly through these shows, just to mention again, if there's things that you want to see painted that we haven't painted, drop me a line.

I would love to hear from you.

And this is where most of our ideas come from for the paintings that we do.

It's from people all over the country.

And they write and tell me what they want to see.

A lot of them send pictures and that helps a great deal if I know, if I know what you want, then I can do that for you.

A little stone there.

A little highlight on it.

Okay, back to my one-inch brush.

We'll load it full of paint.

And maybe, yep, there's a happy, little bush.

He lives right there.

See, and this sort of closes this all in.

We can put little stones where ever you want them.

Okay, then we take a clean knife and just scrape in all kinds of little sticks and twigs.

Let's go over here and put some on this side, too.

We don't want it left out.

Just like that.

Now then, the old clock's telling me I've got to get going here.

But I want to have some fun before we go.

Let's go into a little bit of black.

A little bit of black.

Let's go right up here.

I think, in my painting, I want a big tree right there.

There's his trunk.

There's his trunk.

And we'll just push up.

Look at that, see, put some big old leave on it.

It helps set everything back.

I like big, old trees.

Just pushing up.

Go right into a tiny bit of yellow and we can highlight him.

As I say, I think, that'll give you a nice painting to work with.

We'll call that one finished.

And from all of us here, happy painting, God bless.

[announcer] To order a 256 page book of 60 Joy of Painting projects or Bob's detailed 3 hour workshop DVD Call 1-800-Bob-Ross or visit BobRoss.com [music] [music]