The Best of the Joy of Painting with Bob Ross

[Music] Hi, welcome back.

Certainly glad you could join us today because today I think we'll really do a fantastic painting.

So let's start out and have them run all the colors across the screen that you need to paint along with us.

While they're doing that, let me show you what I got up here.

I have my standard old pre-stretched, double-primed canvas.

But today I've covered the entire thing with black gesso as you can, as you can plainly see.

Then I've taken a little bit of Liquid Clear, very, very small amount.

I've covered the entire canvas with it.

And then we've taken a paper towel and wiped all of it off that we can get.

There's still enough left on here to do what we want to do.

You can feel it with your fingers, but it's not so much that you can't paint on it.

because it's, it's very easy to get too much.

So let's just do a, let's just do a happy little painting today.

I'm going to start off, maybe, with a little titanium white, and a little bit of phthalo blue.

We'll just mix them with a brush.

Just mix them with a brush.

And let's go right up in here.

And we can go right up in here, using little crisscross strokes.

And let's just put in a little sky.

I thought maybe today we'd do one of the little paintings that you see at the opening.

That the, that the little, little painter man just sort of pops in there [chuckles] with his, with his magic brush.

There.

That's a cute little, cute little animation.

Only takes a couple of minutes to watch it but it takes a lot of fantastic people a long time to make it.

There.

And that's a brainchild of one of our engineers here at the station named Jerry Morton.

It's really gorgeous.

There we go.

And that's about all we need for that.

Let me wash the old brush.

Now this won't be an exact duplicate of what you see at that little opening, but it'll be close enough to show you how it was made.

[brush rattles] [chuckles] There we go.

All right.

Let's start and put in some happy little clouds.

Today I'm going to use just the corner of the brush.

A little bit of titanium white, I'll be right back.

And a little bit, a very small amount, of yellow ochre.

Just a small amount.

Tap a little color right into the top corner of the brush here, just a little, okay?

Let's go up here.

Now we just have to start thinking about some very basic little cloud shapes.

Just basic little shapes.

And all I'm going to do today is tap.

In this series, I've tried to, tried to show some very, very simple ways of making gorgeous clouds and some other effects.

And this is one of them.

Just tapping.

There.

A little yellow ochre and a little bit of titanium white.

That's really all we need.

Okay.

But you need to, you need to put in a very basic shape.

Just don't tap at random and think a little cloud will appear.

You sort of have to have a basic idea of where you want the little cloud to live.

There, and maybe in-between those, I'm going to have several layers of clouds.

I'm going to put a little lavender color.

We'll make that with a little alizarin crimson and phthalo blue.

We just mix it, also, on the brush.

And we'll just sort of tap it in right here.

Then I'll blend them all together.

All right.

Okay, I have several of each brush so I don't have to spend all my time just washing brushes, though that is fun.

Now just the top corner, barely, barely touching the canvas.

We'll begin to blend, making little X's, little crisscrosses.

Barely touching.

Barely, barely touching.

Whisper light.

Just caress the canvas a little tiny, tiny bit.

There.

Okay, now we can just gently blend it all together.

Something like so.

Fluff it a little, wiggle it.

There.

Okay, that easy we have a happy little cloud.

Now then, I want several layers of clouds.

So we'll go back to our little brush that has a little bit of yellow ochre and a little bit of the white on it.

There we go, just tap it again, same way.

Same identical way.

Now then, we'll start up in here.

And let's just tap in another layer.

And in your world, you put as many or as few clouds as you want.

It's totally and completely up to you.

You are the master of this canvas and you can do anything here.

Anything that you want to do.

Of course, I'm a firm believer that you can do anything in life that you believe you can do.

Not just on this canvas, but anything.

As long as you believe.

There.

Okay.

Something like that.

Once again, we're just looking for some very basic little shapes and wherever.

But see the dark comes through and automatically makes your shadows.

You don't even have to worry about it.

Automatically, it'll happen.

This is truly the lazy man's way of painting.

[chuckles] There.

And I look for very easy ways to make things work and be effective.

Okay.

All right, now, once again, back to my clean, dry brush.

And I just want to gently, gently, gently blend tiny little strokes though.

I can't emphasize that enough.

Tiny little strokes.

You make big ones, it's going to, you're going to lose a lot of the illusion.

Tiny little strokes.

And at home, when you have a lot of time, you can really take your time and make these little bitty strokes and you'll be amazed, absolutely amazed at the effects that you can achieve.

And you clearly can, you really can.

There.

Okay, we'll fluff this one up a little.

Just blend it, bring it all together.

There.

Let's make all kinds of effects.

Okay.

Something about like so.

But already you've made several layers of cloud and done very little.

Basically all you've done is just tap a little bit.

Okay.

Now then, think the painting had a nice mountain in it.

It was mostly, mostly done in very warm, warm brown tones.

Now, sometimes, I like to make a brown.

And to do that, and I'll just go ahead and mix up a pile of it.

I'll use it throughout the painting.

We'll start with alizarin crimson and sap green, in about equal parts.

About equal parts.

You can shift this brown to the greenish side or to the reddish side.

Depends on your mood or what you're trying to accomplish.

So it's up to you.

Totally and completely up to you.

Today, I think I'm going to sort of have it to the reddish side a little bit.

A little bit to the reddish side.

Okay, and mix it quite well.

There we go.

Okay, let me clean off the old knife.

Just wipe the knife on a little paper towel.

We'll cut off our little roll of paint.

And let's come right up in here.

We want a big mountain that lives right here.

So if we come in here and just start, maybe there's a peak there.

Just let your imagination take you there.

Whatever you would like.

You just put, there's all kinds of little doers in there.

Wherever you want it.

Maybe over in here.

Okay, now we'll just, we'll just literally lay in some color here.

Put little thing back in the background.

There we go.

And we'll just, as Steve, my son, says, "We'll just moosh in a little color down there."

There we go.

And I'm just taking off all the excess.

The only reason I did this is because we have nothing but Clear under here, and I need a little color underneath.

Normally, we have a transparent color when we use black canvases, but today all we have is the Clear.

So now we have a little color under there, so when we put things in and blend them, it'll have a color to pick up.

There we go.

Large brush, we just blend that out a little.

There we go.

And you can make any kind of mountain that you want.

Today, I think I'll make one, just a big old raggedy mountain.

Has a lot of character.

And maybe, tell you what, let's have the light coming from the left side today.

I'm right-handed so I have a tendency, I have a tendency to normally have the light coming from the right side.

And my left-handed friends sometime write and say, "Why don't you do one coming from the left?"

So let's do that.

Let's shake off and beat the old brush.

All right.

Now then, I'm going to take, first I'm going to take, clean off a spot to work in.

Take some white, some of that brown color that we made with the alizarin crimson and sap green.

There we go.

Something about like that, but I want to leave this not mixed very well.

Maybe I'm going to put a least little touch of yellow ochre in there, too.

Ooh, I like that, that's better.

Okay, now cut off our little roll of paint.

And we can go up in here.

And, very lightly, very lightly touch, [Bob makes "tchoo" sound] let it run right down the mountain.

Just let it run right down.

Follow those angles.

Follow those angles.

See them?

There they come.

And up in here.

There, we let this old mountain just, just run right off your knife.

[Bob makes "tchoo" sound] There.

Wherever, doesn't matter.

You make your mountain any way that you want.

Any old way that you want it.

Something like that.

Shoot, there might be things out in here.

But apply no pressure, and that way this paint will break.

I know you hear that over and over and over.

But it's really what makes these mountains work so well, is the fact that they have all these holes in them.

All right, need a shadow color.

For that, I'm going to take white, a little phthalo blue.

I want to add a little crimson to that, make sort of a, sort of a lavendery color.

There.

Just, ooh, that's, oh, I like that.

See, I don't want to over-mix it.

I want to leave these variations in there.

Because when you pick it up on the knife, they're still there.

And let's go up in here.

Those little variations will make all kinds of little pretties up there in your shadows.

See, let them go.

See the variations, they're there.

They're right there.

They don't go away and leave you.

They remain there.

Okay, we need some shadows right in here.

[Bob makes "tchoo" sound] Mm, boy, this is one big old strong mountain here.

He lives here, he has a view and a half.

There, little doers in there.

Something like so.

All right.

Tell you what, maybe, yep, see, we can make a whole new angle right there, just by doing that.

Looks like there's another protrusion right here.

[Bob makes "tchoo" sound] All right.

But when you're making mountains, just play with them, make all kinds of little things.

Let your imagination go.

And just sort of let the knife and canvas work for you.

There.

All right.

Now then, let me take a clean, very dry two inch brush, and I want to mist the base of this just a little bit, just by tapping.

Just tap, follow the angles, most, most important that you follow those angles.

Most important.

There we go, lift upward.

Upward, upward, upward.

See how that creates that illusion, though, of mist down at the base?

Let me knock off any paint that I've picked up.

And we'll do the same over here in the shadow area.

There we go.

All right.

Once again, lift upward.

There we go.

Over in here.

Tap a little, lift up in this direction.

This part back here I'm going to leave basically like it is so it looks like it's far back in the distance, long way off.

Long, long way off.

We don't even know where it's at, don't know that we even care.

All right.

I think that gives us a pretty nice little mountain.

Tell you what, let me grab one of the little half-size oval brushes.

And I'm going to make.

Let me clean off another spot I can work here.

I'm going to make a, I'm going to take some Prussian blue and alizarin crimson.

Prussian blue and alizarin crimson.

I want to make a, a lavender color.

I used the Prussian blue because it's darker.

Gives it a little, a little different than the phthalo blue.

Stronger, darker.

A little different flavor.

Ooh, that's nice.

Now then.

Now then, let's take our little, little half-size round brush, and back here in the distance in our world... there lives some happy little trees.

All back in here.

See there.

There they come.

All I'm doing right now is putting on some dark color.

So later on, when we put some highlights in here, it'll show.

Maybe there's a nice little tree, yep, right there.

Right there.

There he is.

Just dark so our light will show.

That's really all we're doing.

All we're doing.

There.

Right on over, we don't know where that goes.

I'm going to put a tree, I think, right there.

Okay, now I have a couple of these little brushes.

So, once again, I don't have to spend all the time washing them, I'm going to take a, a little sap green, a little cad yellow, mix them together.

Right on the brush.

Let's go up in here.

Maybe this little bush right here.

Ooh, look at that, look how color stands out against that dark background.

Just stands out, mm.

Yeah, it's almost unreal.

It excites you when you see this happen.

The white canvases are gorgeous, but these black canvases, oh my gosh do they stand out.

It's almost unbelievable how fantastic they look.

There, put all kinds of little doers in there.

Like that.

We don't know where that goes.

There's another bush in front of it.

But we work in layers.

This layer back here, I'm going to leave dark.

This one, nice and bright and shiny.

And we'll work forward.

I want a little grassy area.

Take a little bit of that mountain color.

Just some of the old mountain color that was left there and go right into my yellow, sap green, a little yellow ochre, a little Indian yellow now and then.

And occasionally I'll touch a little bright red, just to add a little flavor to it.

Good, let's go up here.

I want a little grassy area right in here.

So I'm just going to take and tap.

Begin thinking about the lay of the land.

Lookie there, though, against that dark.

See, we don't even have to put anything down there.

There's enough Liquid Clear.

And even though you wiped it hard with a paper towel, there's still enough left that the paint mixes well.

And it's slick enough that it slides when you want it to slide.

There we go.

Maybe there's a little meadow back here.

I'm even going to add the least little touch of titanium white to the brush.

I want to put the, yeah, the indication of a little bright area right here.

Maybe, maybe the light's just zinging through there.

That's the place I'd want to take off my shoes and let my feet run naked through there.

There, okay.

Now, tell you what, let me wash my little oval brush.

A little round brush.

[brush rattles] Hmm, it's not as much fun to beat as the big one.

I don't get anybody off camera that's dodging and carrying on like this.

Now then, I'm going to go into a little bit of the cad yellow.

And then right into some bright red.

Let's have a firecracker up here.

Maybe even yellow ochre, too.

Something about like that.

I want this little tree here.

I want it to really stand out.

So that's mainly, well actually it's mainly yellow ochre and bright red.

A little more color.

Boy, this will be a little firecracker here.

Something about like that.

Just want a nice little red bush in this painting.

Maybe like that.

Take our little liner brush.

A little bit of light color.

And we'll put the indication of a few little sticks and twigs that live in this little tree.

Maybe there's even a few back in here somewhere.

I don't know, wherever you want them.

Wherever.

Now.

Let me find a, we'll use a fan brush.

I'm going to load it full of color.

I think I want.

Let's go right up here.

I want, I want, right there.

A nice evergreen tree.

Use the corner of the brush and just work back and forth and forth and back.

Then you work right down, like so.

I'm still using the same color that I used to, to make the background for those little trees back here.

There.

It's mostly a lavender-type color.

Just because it was handy.

You could make something in the dark greens.

It would work just as well.

It's up to you.

Up to you.

I just want a nice nice dark color here.

There.

Let's have him a little friend.

You know me, I think everybody should have a friend.

At least one.

At least one.

And, preferably, two or three.

Then we'll put some little bushes right in here.

Using a little round brush.

Maybe right down like that.

Who knows?

And let me wash this little brush.

As I say, that one's not near as much fun.

Nobody back here is dodging or anything.

I like it when everybody sort of runs and hides.

[chuckles] Anyway, it's a lot more fun.

Now, maybe right in here, we have some little bushes that live in here.

I'm just going to use the various yellows.

A little bright red now and then.

And with that, we'll pop in.

Ooh, that's nice, little orangey.

See, little surprises just sort of happen.

Just sort of happen.

Work in layers, one at a time.

Don't get greedy, one at a time.

There we go.

All kinds of little doers.

There we are.

Tell you what we need.

Let's take some of that nice brown color that we had and come right in here.

[Bob makes "tchoo" sound] And I'm just putting some brown in there so, maybe there's some, maybe we can see some dirt here and there.

Some rocks and stones, some nice soil areas.

Whatever, whatever.

We'll take a little of that same brown and some titanium white and mix it together.

Don't over-mix.

I want to put a little touch here and there of the bright red, a little yellow ochre in it.

Now very lightly, just like you do in the mountain.

Just sort of let that float along, barely, barely touching.

Barely touching.

Ooh, lookie there.

Isn't that gorgeous?

It really stands out against that dark, dark color.

And we can come back and make it look like a lot of little stones and rocks and things that are happening in there.

Just all over the place.

Back to our little round brush.

A few little bushes and sticks and weeds, some little grassy areas and all them little things that live around there.

Like so.

There.

You know, I get a lot of letters, people asking about my easel.

If they can find an easel like the one that I use.

This is just made out of an old platform ladder.

But so many people have asked.

I think pretty soon we'll, we'll have, I've designed a new easel, which is fantastic.

And it'll be out soon.

But this one's just an old ladder.

You can make one at home.

You can make one at home, doesn't matter.

Now then.

Let's take a little blue and crimson.

Lavender color, in other words, and just put a little color right here.

Just a little color.

There we go.

A little bit of titanium white on the same brush.

I want to make this look like a happy little stream right here.

Pull straight down.

Straight down.

Something about like so.

And then go across.

And we have instant water with all the colors just reflected right into it.

There.

Need a little green and a little yellow.

And let's go up in here and just throw some highlights right on this big evergreen tree.

Something about like that.

There.

Okay, there goes another one.

All right.

Now, on the other side, let me find a big round brush.

Shoot, we had a big tree over here on the other side.

I'm going to add a little black to that color.

I want it to get strong.

A little black.

So I have lavender with a little bit of black color in it.

And let's just let this big old tree just grow right out of the brush.

Just let it grow right out of the brush.

There it comes, see?

There it comes.

Something about like that.

And that helps push that whole mountain back into the distance.

There, bet you never knew a tree could push a mountain, but it can.

It can.

I tell you what, we'll just let it come right on out here.

Something about like that.

There we go.

Come back, pick up a little brown.

And we'll turn him into a nice little bank just by putting some brown right there.

Back to all of our little colors like we used on the other side.

Just pop in a little color there.

Maybe it comes right down.

Okay, back to our little round brush with all the little colors on it.

The greens and the yellows.

Put in some happy little bushes right down here, hanging over, see?

See, they there.

They're there.

They live right there, right there.

The old two-inch brush.

Put in some little grassy areas all down here at his foots.

There.

See, it just runs right down the edge.

Right on off the canvas.

That easy.

Tell you what, while we have that brush, I'm going to take some of that brown color and mix it with yellow ochre.

Just, well I know, I know what I want to do.

[chuckles] Got ahead of myself.

I want to put a trunk in that old tree.

Let's go right here.

Take a little of that brown.

[Bob makes "tchoo" sound] Right on the fan brush.

There it is.

Take my knife, a little brown and white.

Come back.

Let me just add a little touch of highlight here and there.

There.

There, just a little highlight here and there.

There.

See there, that easy.

We have the indication of a nice little trunk.

Now we'll use that brown color we made, mixed with yellow ochre.

I'm going to put a little touch of Liquid White, just to thin it.

Let's come back here.

Whoo.

And drop in some nice little highlights all over this tree.

Some nice little leaves that are living up in here.

There they come.

There.

Just all kinds of little doers.

But isn't that opening cute?

That Jerry made?

All those, all those little things just popping right out of nowhere.

[chuckles] I enjoy doing those.

I really enjoy doing those.

They're a lot of fun.

There we go.

Okay.

See, there they come.

Just all kinds of little things on this tree.

We covered up most of our trunk.

But we know it's there, so that's all that matters.

We know it's there.

Dip the brush into a little bit of paint thinner.

And, right in here, yeah, I want to put a little, some little bushes right around his little foots there to hold him in.

And we'll about, we'll about have a finished painting.

Shoot, we could take our little liner brush, put in a little stick and a twig here and there, and we'd be all done.

Just a few of those.

Something like that.

And I think we'll call that a finished painting.

I really hope you've enjoyed this one.

It'll give you a challenge.

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