The Best of the Joy of Painting with Bob Ross

(peaceful instrumental music) - Hello, I'm Bob Ross and it gives me unbelievable pleasure to welcome you to the sixth painting series, isn't that fantastic?

If this is your first time with us, we'll use only about a dozen colors, some great big brushes, big 'ole putty knife and we'll do some fantastic paintings.

If you've been with us before, I hope you have your easel set up and you're all ready to go.

I'm gonna have them graphically run all the colors across the screen that you need to do the painting we're gonna do today.

Today we're gonna be working on a black canvas.

Now, the way we make these black canvases, we cover 'em with a flat black acrylic paint and allow 'em to dry completely.

Then we go back and we put very firm paint on top of that.

This canvas I've covered with Alizarin crimson right here in the center, Thalo blue around the crimson and then Prussian blue fills up the rest of the canvas.

And then blended all this together.

Now all these colors that we're using are very transparent, so the canvas still looks black.

Okay, let's have some fun.

I'm gonna do something a little bit different today.

We have the firm paint on the canvas.

I'm gonna take this little two and a half inch brush and go right into a little bit of Magic White which is a liquid thin paint.

We're gonna go right up in here and just gonna start making little criss-cross strokes.

Oh look what's happenin'.

See?

It begins picking up all the colors underneath, and automatically, automatically, all of these beautiful, beautiful things will happen.

There.

That's been picking up the crimson as we move up it'll begin moving right up into the blue.

And where the blue and the crimson come together it'll make sort of a lavender color.

As we move on up it'll hit the Prussian blue and it get darker and darker and darker.

I'm just gonna sort of work this back and forth.

Gonna blend these colors all together.

It's a fantastic, fantastic little way to make a beautiful, beautiful effective sky and it's very, very simple.

Now the lighter you want the sky to be, the more of the Magic White you put on the canvas and you can make it as light as you want it or leave it as dark as you want it.

This piece of canvas is your world, so you have to make these big decisions and decide what's in your world and where you want it, how you're gonna put it on.

There we go.

Just like so.

Now very lightly, I'll just brush across it, to take out the brush strokes.

And that easy, that easy.

We have a fantastic little sky, that's very, very effective, easy to do.

Okay, I'll wash my brush now.

We wash our brush with odorless paint thinner.

I really recommend you use odorless thinner or your spouse is gonna run you right out of the yard, you'll be working by yourself.

Shake off the excess.

And then just raise Cain, this is the way you take out all your hostilities and frustrations.

It's better than kicking the puppy dog around and all that.

Let us go right up in here and start having some fun.

I'm gonna mix up a color.

We'll use Van Dyke brown, Permanent red and a little bit of Prussian blue.

So it'll be a very, very dark brown.

Very dark brown.

Okay let's add a little more blue into that.

There, very, very dark brown.

It should look black when you mix this up.

There we go.

Okay, let me clean the knife.

And I'm just cleaning my knife on some paper towels.

Then we use a large brush and we'll tap right into this color, just sorta bang the brush right into it.

Just like that.

We're really not too concerned about how we load it, just get quite a bit of paint on the brush.

Maybe, maybe, there's a little, little something happening right here, little bit of land area, just comes right down, just let it happen.

It's beginning to pick up the Magic White and all these beautiful, beautiful little things will happen automatically.

Let the paint work, let the canvas work.

We really don't have to worry about it.

There we go.

Then maybe back in here there's some little trees that are far back in the distance, so I'll just continue to use this 'ole big brush and we'll use just a corner and we'll just sorta tap.

Now these are far away so we're not looking for a lot of detail right now, this is just some little indications.

I don't wanna kill all this beautiful light area where the land and the horizon come together.

Just let some of these little things, just play around and little trees and bushes they grow, they grow however it makes them happy.

Just like so.

There we go.

Maybe you're the one right there.

And remember, this piece of canvas is your creation and you can do anything on here that you wanna do.

Anything, anything.

And the only prerequisite is, it should make you happy.

If it makes you happy, then it's good.

Use a fan brush now, I'm going right into that same very dark brownish color.

And maybe, maybe right back in here, just give you a little bit of practice, maybe there's a happy little evergreen that lives here.

Now see, we just take the corner of the brush and just let it sorta play back and forth.

Look-a there, it's that simple to make a very, very pretty little evergreen.

And we don't want him to get lonely, so we'll give him a little friend.

Everybody needs a friend.

Everyone needs a friend.

And if there's two big trees, invariably, sooner or later, there's gonna be a little tree.

So we'll give a little tree over here.

There.

Now then.

I'll take another brush, two and a half inch type, and I'm gonna go right into a little bit of the Cad yellow, a little Indian yellow and some Sap green.

I'm just mixing this right on the brush.

Let's go right up in here and let's put a little bit of highlight right here.

Just sorta follow the lay of the land.

There.

If you have trouble making your paint stick, add the least, least little amount of paint thinner or Magic White.

That'll thin the paint down.

Just barely tip the bristles into the paint thinner.

Our golden rule, a thin paint will stick to a thick paint, so we start with a thickest paint we can find.

And on top of that then we can add a layer, after layer, after layer, thin paint without becoming a mud mixer.

I'm sure if you've painted before, you know what I'm talking about, we have all, at one time or another, mixed a little mud.

I'll take, I'm gonna use just a little bit of the Thalo blue and white, just mix it right here on the palette.

Take a little bit and let's just put some little trunk indications here and there.

Just wherever you think they should be.

Maybe, maybe you say, don't want blue trunks.

If you don't want blue trunks in your world, change it.

I just think it's pretty here.

You know when you buy that first tube of paint, you get an artist license and it gives you unlimited power, says you can do anything on this canvas that you wanna do.

Use it, use it.

It'll do fantastic things for you, make you happy.

Let's put a little highlight on these trees, barely touching, just a corner of the brush.

So often we avoid this brush because it's big and it'll do unbelievable things.

Unbelievable things.

Now you can spend a fortune on sable brushes and all you need's a big 'ole house brush, shoot.

Little practice you can do anything with this brush that you can do with fancy expensive brushes.

Now then.

I'm gonna put a little highlight in my evergreens, so I'll use some yellow, Sap green.

Yellow and Sap green.

Just go back and forth with that brush.

You can see there's a lot of color happening inside the brush.

If you mix color on the brush, then you have a lot of things happening, if you mix it on the palette then you're gonna have one dead color.

Let's go up here.

Now, let's drop in just a little bit of highlight, right on these evergreens.

Just back and forth.

You know it's almost unbelievable to me, this is our sixth series.

Almost unbelievable.

You keep bringing me back through your cards and letters and your calls to your local stations.

And I want to thank you.

This is probably the greatest thing that's ever happened in my life, to be able to come here and to show you this and have you paint along with me.

We get hundreds and hundreds of letters and it works for people and it makes everything worthwhile.

Everything worthwhile.

Okay, maybe we'll have some water down here, I'm a water fanatic, I love water.

So we'll just go right into a little bit of Titanium white.

Let's go right up here.

Now we have color on the canvas, so when we put this white here, at first it's gonna look very bright.

Almost gonna blind you but as you begin working it and pulling it down, it's gonna mix with all the beautiful color that we have on the canvas already.

And fantastic things happen.

Fantastic things.

I love these black canvases.

You can't believe what's possible on 'em.

Maybe one day we'll have shows that are longer and I can show you some things that are, oh, they're unreal.

I try to avoid having shows where we would continue into the following week, because sometimes they're not broadcast in the same way we make 'em and you might miss it.

But maybe one day we could have hour long shows and we can show you some unbelievable things.

Now, just go across and it gives the illusion of water, that easy.

Did you ever think water'd be that easy to make?

Now these lines need to be straight.

If they're not straight your water's gonna run right outta your painting.

Right outta the painting.

And get your floor wet.

Now we can bring some little peninsulas down here, anywhere you want 'em to go.

Anywhere.

There just make as many of these little peninsulas as you want.

Come right across, instant reflections.

Let's put some little water lines here, I'll use a little bit of the Magic White, small amount of Thalo blue in it, very small amount.

And just sorta mix it up.

Now, watch how I load this knife.

Pull this paint out as flat as you can get it.

Really flat and then cut across it.

Okay let's do that one more time so you can see it.

Flat, cut across.

Now with that, you have a small little line of paint and you can go right up here and put in all of these little water lines.

Wherever you want 'em.

Just let 'em happen, here and there.

There.

All kinds of pretty little things happening.

And you can put as many of these in your world as you want to.

This is a super way to make some beautiful little swamp scenes, if you're looking for swamp scenes, you might wanna leave evergreens out but you can take what we're showing you here and you can adapt it to any part of the country.

The most important thing is that you learn the technique.

Once you've learned the technique, oh, turn you loose on the world, you become a tiger.

Alright, now then.

Let's play, let's have a little bit of fun today.

I wanna use this 'ole big brush that we've got started, I'll go right into that dark brown color we made.

Maybe, maybe.

Right here, let's have a huge big tree that lives right there.

And all I'm doing is just touching the canvas and tapping, we're looking for some basic shapes.

You want some basic limbs hanging over here but that's about all we're worried about this time.

Quite a bit of paint on the brush and just tap.

Load your brush frequently.

Don't be afraid to load your brush.

There we go.

There.

As I was saying earlier we get a lot of cards and letters from people who are watching and painting along with us.

It really, it does wonderful things to know that you're enjoying this and learning to paint beautiful, beautiful paintings with me.

If you like these shows, give your PBS station a call.

Let 'em know.

That's the only way they know what you want.

And when they're out looking for help and they need someone to help them, give 'em a hand, because they bring you some of the most fantastic television, beautiful things.

Sometimes they too need a hand, a little hand, they need a friend.

Volunteer your time.

It pays you and your whole community fantastic dividends.

There.

Tell you what, that was so much fun let's have some over on this side.

There he is.

Just think about these things in your mind and drop 'em on canvas.

It's that same 'ole brown color.

It really doesn't matter, all we're looking for here is a dark color, that stands out against that light.

Could be just about any 'ole color.

Wherever you think there's a big beautiful limb hanging, drop it in.

Add a little Prussian blue into that, that'll darken it up and make it even stronger.

Beautiful big trees.

Easy to do and a lot of fun.

Maybe there's a nice happy bush that lives right there.

Comes right on down, look at that.

Look at that.

That easy, that easy, you have all of your trees and bushes laid out.

And that gives you an idea of where to go.

I'm gonna take a number two script liner brush, put some paint thinner on it.

I'm going right into Titanium white with paint thinner on it, just like so, make it very thin and bring it to a nice sharp point.

Turn that brush.

Let's go up to the canvas here.

Now maybe there's a, maybe there's a old tree trunk that lives right there, turn the brush, turn it and let it play, that makes all the little bumps and stuff on it.

Just let it, let it, there.

See, keeps your tree trunk from being monotonous and straight.

Tree trunks grow however it makes them happy.

We sorta paint in stages here, we paint the back of the tree and now I'm painting the middle of the tree.

Tree trunk lives in the middle of the tree.

Then we'll come back and we'll paint this side of the tree.

This side of the tree is the highlights, where the leaves, the bright colors.

Just sorta paint in stages, you gotta think like a tree.

There we go.

You know I spend a lot of time in the woods by myself just walking around and I hunt, I hunt with a camera.

I'm sort of an old softie, I couldn't shoot Bambi.

Except with a camera.

And I take pictures and I save them and then I put those together.

And you can pick out trees or you can pick out a cloud that you like, anything, and then put it together, make your own scene.

And we'll try to give you the knowledge here to do it, you go out and find your own subject matter.

Let us know how you do, drop us a line once in awhile.

It's fantastic to know that it's working, that you're enjoying it.

Let us know what you want to see painted.

On some of our other series we've brought in some guest artists, let you see what other people could do.

We'll do that again if you would like.

We need to know what you want.

So don't be bashful.

Drop me a line, let me know.

There.

See it's picking up that color underneath and it sorta has a little blueish tint to it, which is very, very pretty.

You have to make decisions where all these limbs are and you can put as many of them in your world as you want or as few, it's up to you.

Up to you.

Just let 'em go.

There.

We're gonna lose a lot of these when we put highlights on.

So you don't have to worry, if one doesn't come out just perfect, just remember that you're gonna put highlights over all of this.

So you can get away with a lot.

Tell you what let's put highlights in today and we'll use the 'ole one inch brush.

I've put a small amount of paint thinner into that brush, so let's paint, it's a little bit thinner, we'll use some Cad yellow and some Sap green and I'll gonna do today is just tap.

Just tap that brush right into the color.

Maybe here's a little Indian yellow, we'll just drop that in there, get over here and get some yellow ochre.

Let these colors mix on the brush.

Look at all the paint that's in that brush.

Good, let's go up here.

Now, think where your light's gonna strike.

Just all you're doing is just touching the canvas.

Now this can turn into so much fun so quick that you cover up all your dark.

So be careful.

You don't wanna kill all your dark areas, they're very, very important.

Very important.

Just think about basic tree shapes.

Just let it go.

There.

And if you ever overdo, maybe you put more in here then you want, all you have to do is take your knife and scrape that off and you go back and put your dark right back in there and do it again.

There's no such thing as making a mistake.

We have happy accidents.

And you learn to use anything that can happen and that's when it really becomes fun because you don't have to spend all your time thinking about what you're doing, you just let it happen.

If it gets to where it doesn't want to stick, add a little more thinner.

See how easy it sticks now?

I put a little paint thinner on there and that just drops right on there.

Now normally under a large tree you have a shadow area, try to leave a dark area in here.

It helps push everything back.

I'm gonna add a small amount of Permanent red right in there and just tap it in.

That'll change the color a little bit.

And maybe right here there's a beautiful little bush that's got a little orangey hue.

Sorta orange.

There we go.

And you can make the bushes in your world any color that you want 'em.

Little more of the paint thinner.

You can also thin your paint with Magic White.

But Magic White will change your color a little.

Sometimes you want a color that's a little brighter and then you use Magic White.

If you don't want to change the value of the color, then you use paint thinner.

There we go.

Just drop all these happy little things right in there.

And do them in layers.

Just do them in layers.

I'm going back to my two and a half inch brush, pick up a little Titanium white.

We need some beautiful reflections right into this.

Just to set it out.

See it's picking up that Prussian blue and Thalo blue under there.

And all these things happen automatically.

Very lightly, very lightly, very lightly come across.

Let's put some dirt in there, I'll use some Van Dyke brown and Burnt umber just mixed together on the brush.

We'll just scrub in some happy little dirt areas here, there we go.

Just drop 'em in.

You need the dark so light will show.

I'll take, tell you what, let's use some yellow ochre, Titanium white, we'll put a small amount of Permanent red in there.

Then we'll go right up here.

And I'll just drop some happy little highlights in there.

Little more color on the brush.

Just let these fall right off your brush.

Makes it look like some highlight on some beautiful dirt areas there.

This is back into our Thalo blue and white, put us a little water line under there.

There we go.

See there.

A few little stick indications and all I'm doing is using the knife and just scraping, let the dark color show through.

Makes it look like some little sticks and twigs and stuff.

Let's go to the other side of the canvas here, now that you've seen how to do it.

Let's just drop in some happy little leaves right up in here.

Barely, barely touching the canvas.

Follow some basic patterns.

Don't just throw these in totally at random.

Think about it.

Think about it.

Let 'em overlap, little things happen.

Any way you can make this brush work.

This is the Cad yellow, Sap green, Indian yellow, yellow ochre, they're just all mixed together on the brush, here and there a little Permanent red, that sparks it up.

Let's all kinds of things happen.

You wouldn't believe the fantastic beautiful paintings you can do.

Just using a few simple brushes.

Tell you what, maybe, there it is.

There's a little bush that lives right there.

There's one.

There's one right there.

You just put as many bushes in your world as you want.

Oh, there's a beautiful one.

Sometimes people drop me lines, that say I didn't care for the red bush you put in there.

Just because I put a red bush in doesn't mean you have to.

You look at your painting and you think about your world and you make it the way you want it.

Just wanna show you how to put that bush in.

There.

You can have as many or as few as you want.

Leave these dark areas, don't kill these dark areas, if you do it's all gonna come together and be very, very flat.

Then you won't be happy and it's important to me that you're happy.

There we go.

Want everybody to be happy.

That's what it's all about.

Tell you what, I'm going back to my little liner brush and put some Magic White on it.

I'm gonna add a little paint thinner, I want this to be very thin, almost like water.

Maybe there's a happy little thing, make a decision and there he goes.

Wherever you want him to be.

Put a nice little stick right there.

And you can put as many limbs on as you want.

Maybe there's another one.

It just sorta breaks it up and adds a little more interest here and there.

Okay, I think we have a painting that's finished and ready for a signature.

I'll use a thin oil, linseed oil works fine, copal, whatever.

Get a little Permanent red and we'll sign this one, call it finished.

I sincerely hope you've enjoyed it and I want to thank you once again for joining us.

In this our sixth series and we look forward to seeing you next week.

Until then, happy painting, God bless.

(peaceful instrumental music)