The Best of the Joy of Painting with Bob Ross

[Music] Hi, welcome back.

Certainly glad you could join us.

It's a fantastic day here and I hope it is where ever you are.

So I tell you what, let's start out today 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've got done up here.

Today, I have a black canvas as you plainly can see.

And we make the canvas black by covering it with a nice coat of black gesso.

Now the black gesso is applied with just a foam brush or something and it's allowed to dry completely.

On top of the black gesso, I've added a, a coat of alizarin crimson and phthalo blue mixed with liquid clear.

In other words, we've made a very thin lavender color and we've covered the entire canvas with it.

And it's all wet and slick and it's ready to go.

So let's go.

I thought today I'd just show you a fantastic little painting that's very easy to do that's a lot of fun.

And we'll just use a two inch brush a great deal and, let's just see what happens here.

Let's start out with the old two inch brush and I'm just going to tap the corner, just the corner, into just small, small amount of titanium white.

You don't need much.

Don't need much.

Now we already have this lavender color up here.

So watch what happens.

Now we'll just begin tapping.

Just tap, that's all you have to do.

Is just begin tapping.

Very, very easy.

It's picking up the color that's underneath, in other words that lavender color.

There.

And as you tap, you begin to form all kinds of little shapes turn the brush.

There.

All right.

This is one of the neatest, simplest ways of making a sky that's so fantastic.

The black canvases are just unreal.

They will do things that, whew, ooh, they make your heartbeat faster.

They are gorgeous.

And color stands out so much, so much brighter on there.

I'm going to add the least little touch of dark sienna to my brush.

So here and there, I'm going to put in a few little light brown spots in it.

Right in there, just wherever you want them.

Vary some colors back and forth here.

Something maybe about like so.

Maybe the least little touch of phthalo blue here and there.

All we're doing though, is just tapping with the top corner of the old two inch brush.

Just the top corner, that's all we need.

There, vary the colors.

Vary the colors so we have a lot of things happening.

And the more that you tap, the darker it'll become because it's picking up the color that's underneath.

And what's so much fun if you're ever doing a canvas like this in front of friends or relatives or doing any kind of demonstration for someone, don't tell them that you've put anything on the canvas.

Just let them see you start with a, with a coal black canvas and all of the sudden you begin tapping and all of these gorgeous colors will appear.

And you can do this with any transparent color, or semi-transparent color.

In other words, color that may not be totally transparent but it's transparent enough for what we're doing.

There.

And a good way to test it is take a little on your finger and put it right on the black canvas.

And if it still looks black then it's, it's transparent enough for what we're doing.

All right.

There, just keep tapping though.

There we go.

Something about like so.

All right.

And you can make it as bright as you want it or as dull as you want it.

Now I like paintings that are quite subdued, very dark.

They almost look like traditional paintings sometime when you do them that way.

But it's up to you.

Some people like paintings that are very bright and shiny.

They make you feel good.

So painting is a very individual thing.

There.

Now, I have several brushes going.

Let me get another one that's nice and clean and dry.

And very lightly, making tiny, tiny little "x" strokes.

I'm just going to begin blending this.

Very gently.

Barely touching the canvas.

Just, just, just caressing it a little bit.

Now you can blend this to any degree of softness that you want it to be.

Or you can leave it quite bright, quite sparkly there.

It's up to you.

Up to you.

All right.

Okay, now maybe in our world... Tell you what, let me go back to that brush.

I'm going to pick up a little touch of the phthalo blue again.

And add a little white to it.

So we have phthalo blue and white basically.

And I'm just still tapping the corner.

And I'm going to turn the brush sidewards.

And just maybe tap in the shape.

Maybe there's a little cloud lives right there.

Or a little cloud shape, something like that.

Really I just want a little bluish color in here, to sort of change the flavor of the sky.

Make it a little more interesting.

Put a little cool color right in the middle of these gorgeous warmer colors.

And back to our brush that's clean.

And once again, very lightly, just barely, barely touch the canvas.

And then we go over the entire sky area.

Something like that.

And that's a very nice little way of making a, a little sky that's just, it's just different and it's quite pretty.

Maybe we'll put a little brighter spot right down in here.

Now you can work on this for as long as you want and you can, you won't believe what you can do if you'll just try it.

You will not believe the effects that you can come up with.

You can make some of the most gorgeous things that you've ever seen.

Work in layers.

Just keep building and building and building.

And you can go back over and over and over until you get it exactly the way that you want it.

And everybody will see it differently so do it the way that you like it not necessarily the way that I do it.

Because you'll do it much better when you do it.

There.

Okay.

Now maybe in our world, maybe, maybe, maybe shoot, let's get crazy.

Let's take a... We'll use a little sap green, a little van dyke brown, some black, a little black and maybe just a little bit of the Prussian blue.

I'm looking for a nice dark greenish color here.

Something about like so.

We're still just going to tap the top corner in here.

Now then, maybe there's some happy little bushes that live back here.

Using just the top corner of the old two inch brush, all we're doing is tapping in some very basic little shapes.

Very basic, they're quite dark.

Way back there.

There.

Add a little bit more color.

Come right in here.

I want to add a little dark sienna to that too.

Oh yeah, that's nice.

That changes the flavor just enough that it stands out there.

Just enough.

It's very dark, I hope you can see it.

There.

Sometimes it's fun to begin playing in here.

So watch.

As I say, I have several, several brushing going so I don't have to spend [chuckles] all my time washing brush.

I'm going to take some white, least little touch of the yellow ochre.

And once again, I'm just going to tap that corner.

Just want to use that corner.

Okay.

And maybe a little light is zinging through here.

And it's just striking the tops of some little bushes that live right in here.

Just by using that corner, we can create that illusion.

Something like that.

Wherever you think they should live.

Now you could do this with either one of the round brushes or the one inch brush, whatever.

There's really no limit to it.

Just about any old brush would work.

It's basically the shapes you're most interested in.

A little bit more of the yellow ochre and white.

Whew, mm.

But it really stands out against that, against that other color there.

Now back to my brush that had the darker colors.

Shoot, I like to make big trees with these two inch brushes.

They're a lot of fun.

And so often we avoid it, the old two inch brush because it's so big.

But it'll do fantastic things if you just give it a chance.

Watch here.

Maybe there's a big tree that, okay, right here.

There it is.

Right up here.

Lives.

Does now, a big tree that sort a hangs over here and he watches everything.

The little squirrels live and play up in here and they have a good time.

All you're looking for here are basic shapes.

Very basic little shapes.

There.

Now the black is back there so you don't have to put a lot of color.

It takes very little color.

Same colors once again.

Tell you what, maybe there's another one over here.

Just sort a let your imagination go.

Because when, when you're looking deep into the forest or the woods like this trees just sort a grow however make them happy.

[chuckles] They have a good time.

They have a good time.

There.

Maybe we'll come right down in front like that.

All right, just vary colors back and forth.

I added the least little touch of yellow ochre to the same color.

Just enough, there, just enough to sort a flavor it and make it stand out a little bit.

This will be a very, very dark, subdued type painting.

Now then.

But look at all the different layers that you've created and just using basically nothing other than the old two inch brush.

Well, let's make a little brown.

For that I'm going to use some sap green and alizarin crimson, about equal parts.

So we'll just mix that up real good.

This is one of the few colors that we really mix well.

Normally, normally we don't over mix paint, but these we need them well mixed to make a nice brown.

I'm going to reach over and get a little bit of white and put in there right in the edge.

Okay, let me clean off my knife.

Just wipe the old knife with some paper towels.

And get a little roll of paint and come right up in here and very lightly just pushing that color right into the canvas.

Maybe there's just a little touch, a little hint, of land back in here that you can see.

Not much, just a little.

Let it go, see there.

Something maybe about like that.

I don't want a whole bunch.

Now then.

I'm going to use the one inch brush now because I'm going to do something a little smaller.

Take some of the same brown color I made, a little bit of black.

There, okay.

I'm going to tap using the top edge and just tap in indication of another layer of bushes.

Each layer, once again, will create more depth in your painting.

Now, look right here, see what happens?

You can see behind that.

And each one of these layers, once again, I know you get tired of hearing that, but it creates that illusion of depth and distance in your painting.

And I bet you've seen paintings that look very flat and they sort of disturb you.

There we go.

Something about like that.

Once again, that creates another layer in there.

And you can put several in there.

Shoot, if you wanted to, see you could be another little layer just by adding the indication of a little soil that you can see, a little dirt.

Right in there.

Right in there.

About like that.

We go back to our little one inch brush with the dark color on it.

And you can push that back and make it recessed.

Each one of those though, is another layer.

More depth.

Now, we can just tap the top corner of that brush right into a little bit of the yellow ochre and I'm going to touch the least little bit of bright red every once and a while.

There.

Okay and just tap on the indication.

Just a few little things.

Let's get a little sap green, a little bit of yellow ochre, mix them together and I'm just mixing these on the brush.

Oh, that's nice, nice color.

We still haven't cleaned the brush.

Same old dirty brush.

We're just adding color and allowing it to blend together.

Just the top corner though.

Like that.

There.

Maybe, while we have that old brush working, maybe up in here, we'll put a few little highlights right in there.

Something about like that.

Load a little more color.

There.

See, there's no end to this.

You can make as many different things as you can imagine.

You're only limited on this piece of canvas by your imagination.

Of course, I believe that's the only limitations in life also is just your imagination.

Because anything that you can conceive in your mind and you believe, I think you can do it.

I'm going back to the big brush.

Shoot, [chuckles] that one's too slow.

Let's take a little bit of yellow ochre, get a little sap green, I'll be right back.

There.

Just sort a mix those together on the brush, And I'm going to tap the brush to load a little bit of paint right out on the end of the bristles.

Let's go back up in here now.

This old tree here.

I'm using the brush sidewards, just the corner.

Look at that, see.

You could just make all kinds of little highlights on those rascals.

There.

Wherever you want them.

Think about form and shape.

Don't just throw these on at random.

There, think about the old tree and how it looks.

What makes it stand out.

Spend some time out in your yard or just, just go out and make friends with a tree.

Shoot, isn't nothing wrong, if you're an artist, you're allowed to do weird and crazy things.

Sometime, just go out and spend some time talking to a tree.

Of course your neighbors are going to look at you a little strange but they'll say, "yeah, yeah, he's a painter, so, you know, a little weird, he's, it's expected."

[chuckle] Now you really don't have to go talk to a tree, but, what I'm saying is spend some time studying trees.

Just study them, make friends with them in that manner.

Okay, let's get crazy.

I'm going to take some black, Prussian blue, same old dark colors, all of them, dark sienna, van dyke, crimson, it doesn't matter as long as it's good and dark.

Maybe, maybe there's an old rickety tree that lives out here.

An old, some kind of old evergreen tree and he lives right here in front of this one.

I want this old tree to look like it's had, like me, he's had a rough old life.

There.

His arms just sort of hang out every which way.

Really want him to, want him to look old and tired.

There, he's really had it rough out here.

Maybe when he was little, maybe a big elk through here or something and stepped on them and sort a hurt him a little bit and he's never been right since.

There.

See just make up little stories, and you know, people, people look at you like you're a little strange but once again, if you're an artist, people sort a expect that so it's [chuckles] all right.

And we know, because artists have more fun than anybody.

A few little indications of some sticks in there.

We'll take a little, little sap green, a little yellow, a little, little bit on the two inch brush.

Okay and go back up in here.

And just very lightly tap in a few highlights on that old tree.

There.

Okay, a little more paint on the brush.

There we go.

See, it's unbelievable what you can do.

Basically we've used nothing on this but the one and two inch brush and the knife.

You can do some of the most gorgeous paintings if you'll just practice with very little equipment.

All right.

Shoot, in my mind, I think we oughta have another little tree that lives right in here.

We need to fill this corner up.

That's the reason I think there ought to be a tree here.

So wherever you want them.

When you do you're painting like this, this corner may have more in it or less in it, it doesn't matter.

It really doesn't matter.

It's up to you.

We'll just put some of that color right down in here.

I want the water to reflect these colors.

So even though you can't see that, there's a little of that color down in there.

There we go, maybe, a nice tree lives right here.

We are really layering a lot of trees.

There we are.

And back in here.

Okay.

And let's have some fun with the old liner brush.

I'm going to take paint thinner, paint thinner a little bit of white with some dark sienna in it to make a light brown color.

But I've mixed paint thinner with it so it's thin, almost like ink.

Very thin.

Let's go up in here.

Now here and there, and there and here, we'll just add a few little sticks and twigs and all kinds of little things, wherever you think they should be.

There's always little things that grow out from behind here.

There's one.

Just sort of decide where they are.

There.

The liner brush, though, if it, if you have any trouble making this paint stick, chances are you just need to add more paint thinner to it.

Don't be afraid to add quite a bit of paint thinner.

There we are.

Or you can even put the liquid clear in it.

I just use paint thinner because it's convenient, but whatever.

Okay, I'll go back to the old brush that's got the green on it.

And let's put a few highlights on this tree that we put right here in the foreground.

Just a few, using the corner of the brush.

It's all we're using.

There.

Darker, darker, down toward the base here because there's going to be some big shadow areas in here.

A little bit more of the yellow ochre, a little bright red here and there.

Maybe, yep, you're right.

There's another one right in there.

Just make up your mind where you think they should live and drop them in.

There we go.

And everybody's painting will be different.

And that really is the beauty of it.

That's the beauty of it.

If everybody's was the same, it would be very dull.

There.

That's one of the reasons I, I really don't like to trace paintings onto a canvas before I start.

It puts boundaries on you.

Boundaries on your, on your creative ability.

Let's go on the other side.

Maybe over in here.

Use those same colors.

Maybe this little tree here.

We'll put some nice little things on it too.

There we are.

All right.

Work in layers.

Work in layers.

Do one layer at a time.

Trees are nothing but big clumps of bushes that got together and grew tall.

So, each limb, maybe you can look at it just as a bush and then put them together.

It'll make your tree have shape and form and be interesting.

There we go.

See how you can just vary those colors back a little bit here and there and there and here.

Just enough to change the flavor a little bit.

All right, back to my little script liner brush.

Maybe in our world, who knows, who knows right here, maybe there's just an old tree truck that sticking right out.

Put some wiggledy limbs on it.

Just some old wiggledy limbs on it wherever you think they should be.

That's fun part though, is adding these little details.

These are the things that make your painting special.

Of course, none of us are interested in the old happy buck, but if you are, and you're out selling your paintings these little things are what will make your painting sell while somebody else's painting just lays there.

We can put a few little things here and there on this side.

Don't want them all on just one side.

Maybe up in here.

Tell you what sometimes, it's fun, I'll take a little, take a little of that brown color we made with the crimson and the, and the sap green.

Maybe [Bob makes "ssswoo" sound] maybe there's a big tree, [Bob makes "tchoom" sound] lives right there.

Got to make those old noises.

And he's got a friend named Charlie.

Charlie lives right here.

There he is.

There, and this old tree's, maybe these are, maybe these trees died in the last storm or something.

Just, they're old stalks out here.

Put a few little limbs on it, but basically, there's not much going on here.

Just a few old limbs, gnarly things.

Something about like that.

Now then, let's take a little titanium white on the two inch brush and watch here.

Watch here.

Pull straight down.

Straight down.

Now we put that tree color on the water here so we'll get all these beautiful tones and hues automatically, just like that.

Straight down though.

And then very lightly, go across.

Just gives it a watery appearance, that easy.

That easy.

This black gesso is one of the neatest things that we've ever invented.

Absolutely is fantastic.

Now then, let's take a little bit of our brown we made, put some white with it.

Pull it out very flat, little roll of paint.

And let's go up in here and just begin laying in the indication of some little land masses that live back in here.

And I'm just pushing quite hard with a knife.

Just like so.

There we go.

See there.

Just wherever.

Wherever.

Okay.

Now then, maybe, find our old brush, oh there it is.

When you get my age, sometime the mind goes.

Maybe there's a little bush that lives right out here.

We'll put a little island out here.

So we need some dark here.

Maybe it comes all the way over.

Maybe it's a peninsula, we don't know.

Just sort of, you decide.

All right, need a little color on it.

Use a little that yellow ochre.

Whew, mm, there we go.

See, let all them little rascals just hang off there and play.

There's just so many little things going on in there.

Bet you never believed you could do all that with a great big old two inch brush, but you can.

You really can.

Now then, underneath that, the indication maybe of a little reflection.

Come across.

And, take a little bit of that same color we used for the land and just sort of work it around here.

See there.

There we go.

Something about like that.

Just enough to give the indication of little things that are happening.

Back to our little liner brush and some light color.

And here and there and there and here we can put the indication of some little sticks and twigs that live out here.

Like that.

Wherever you want them.

A few little things on the other side over here.

There we go.

Okay, don't want this one left out.

Some things that are growing out here right on the edge.

Okay, let's go back to our little one inch brush.

I'm going to put a little liquid white on him because, as you know, one of our golden rules is a thin paint will stick to a thick paint.

And we have several layers now of paint up here.

So right along the edge here, we'll just put a few little bushes that live there.

Something about like that.

Just mostly stand out.

And sometimes if fun to... Tell you what let's do, got a second let here, we'll just do something like this.

Now then, a little bit of the van dyke brown, a little dark sienna mixed together.

Maybe there's what remains of an old tree laying right here.

Put in the basic shape.

A little light color highlight him.

You can just use the old knife, put in a limb here and there on it.

A little touch of the liquid white and you can come right around his edge here.

Just make him look like he's sitting right down in the water.

Hope you try this one.

You'll be amazed at what you can do using the black gesso.

It's one of the neatest things you've ever seen.

From all of us, I'd like to wish you happy painting and God bless my friend.

[announcer] To order Bob Ross' 256 page book with 60 painting projects or his Four Seasons 12 disc DVD set, call 1-800-Bob-Ross or visit BobRoss.com [music] [music]