The Best of the Joy of Painting with Bob Ross

[Music] Hi, welcome back.

Certainly glad you could join us today.

I thought today maybe we'd just do a happy little desert scene.

Just something that is very calm and peaceful, and I, I think you'll enjoy it.

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 going up here.

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

I'm using 18x24 inch canvas, but you use any size that's convenient for you.

Today, I've taken a little contact paper and cut an oval out and stuck it on.

After I had the contact paper stuck on there, then I've just taken and covered the inside area here with a very thin coat of liquid white, so the canvas is all wet and slick and ready to go.

So, let's just do a fun painting today.

I thought today we'd start with the old two inch brush, what the heck?

Big old two inch brush.

We'll put a little, a little Prussian blue on there, and a little black.

We'll just mix them together right on the brush.

So, we have black and blue, or blue and black depending on your preference.

There.

That's the way I look when I get home late.

There we go.

Alright, let's just go right up in here.

And we'll just start like so.

Just using little x's .

I'm holding the brush flat and making little x's.

Let me get a little more color on the brush.

There.

Something about like so.

We don't know.

Maybe I'll have some long, stringy clouds in there, so we'll just leave some areas open.

Then we'll come back and we'll, we'll fill those up with beautiful little clouds.

Show you a very simple little way of making some clouds that are, are fun and they're effective, and you'll like them.

There we go.

And maybe a little back in here.

Wherever, wherever.

We don't care.

Something about like that.

Alright, and now we come to my favorite time of the whole painting already.

Let's wash the old brush, [chuckles] because if you've painted with me before, you know that may be the highlight of the painting.

Alright, we just scrub it right against the screen in the bottom of the can with odorless thinner in the can.

Shake off the excess.

[chuckles] And we just cover everybody in the studio.

And with a clean brush, just going to quickly go across that.

Just remove any excess paint.

Now then, I'm going to take a little touch of yellow ochre.

A little yellow ochre, and go right into the titanium white.

Just load some color in the bristles.

Okay, let's go back up here.

And today, I'm just going to tap in a happy little cloud.

Just take the brush and just tap.

Just tap.

Just think about some shapes that you'd like to have in your world and tap them in.

No big deal.

Easy.

Easy, and you can do this.

Anybody can do this.

There we go.

In our newsletter, we just featured a lady who was, who was in her 90's and just beginning to paint.

Isn't that fantastic?

There.

There's no age barriers in this.

Anybody can do it.

Alright.

We're just tapping in some happy little clouds.

That's all.

Maybe there's one that lives right about there.

Just basically wherever you think one should live, that's exactly, exactly the right place for it.

Okay.

And that's all we, that's all we need.

Now, we'll take and, now we'll take and clean the old brush again.

There.

Probably just, just want to clean the brush again.

I look for excuses.

There.

Shake it off.

[chuckles] And there we go.

Now then, very lightly.

Very lightly, just graze the canvas, because you can always add more pressure.

And begin blending this.

And automatically, automatically beautiful little clouds will just appear, and you can pull them.

Because there's liquid white on the canvas, it's wet.

You can pull these clouds around.

You can move clouds in your world.

That easy.

See there?

Never knew you had that much power, but on this piece of canvas you do.

When you go home, you may be like me.

You have no power at all.

[chuckles] But here, here you can do anything.

Anything.

Alright.

Okay, let's take the knife, take a little Prussian blue, a little Prussian blue, a little alizarin crimson, mix them together.

I'll make a lavender color, but I want it to the blue side.

When you make lavender out of these two colors you can make it to the red side or the blue side.

Sometimes you need to put a little white paint out there and check it out.

See if that's what you want or not.

That's pretty good.

Let's use that.

Shoot, I like that.

Okay, cut off our little roll of paint, lives right out on the edge of the knife, and let's right up in here.

And we have to make some major decisions already.

Where in the world our little mountains live.

Where, where do they live?

Here they are.

There, see?

And these are going to be far away.

I'm not looking for a lot of detail in these.

In fact, I'm looking for almost no detail.

Because detail indicates closeness, and I don't want them to look close.

I want them to look far away.

Maybe something about like that.

How's that?

And the only thing you're worried about at this point is a nice top edge.

You could care less what's happening in here.

It makes no difference.

In fact, I'm scraping very firmly trying to get off all the excess paint.

There we go.

And we go back to old two inch brush and I just want to grab this, and just blend it out a little bit.

Just a little.

There.

Just blend it out, because that's basically all I'm going to do in these little distant mountains.

Once again, I don't want it to get ate up with too much detail.

I want to keep them very soft, very far away.

Just brush strokes, so we'll create the illusion of detail, but you've done nothing.

Shhh, that's our secret.

That's our secret.

Now then, let's take a little tiny bit of that white, and it had yellow ochre in it.

Maybe I'll add just a touch more yellow ochre.

So we got white and a little yellow ochre.

I want to create mist down here.

So I'm just going to take a little of that and rub it.

Just rub it.

See, just sort of let it play around in there.

That old knife will just do wonderful things if you just allow it to.

Don't be afraid of it.

Don't be afraid of it.

See there?

Now, you may not see a lot of it yet, but when we're finished, that'll come out to look like a nice, soft, misty area.

There.

Something like so.

See there?

And you have to decide how far up your mist lives and how bright it is.

How quiet it is.

It's up to you.

Up to you, because in your world you can create any illusion that you want.

Any illusion.

There.

Okay.

Now, that'll give us a little background mountain, one that's far away.

Not much going on in its world.

I'm going to take some more blue and crimson.

I just didn't mix up enough before.

Same, same color.

Same identical color.

There we go.

Now, cut off our little roll of paint, just like we had, and let's go back up here.

Come right up in here.

Let's start right in here, and maybe this comes up.

We're going to have a big, strong mountain that lives in the foreground.

We'll put a little more detail in that rascal, because he's closer to us.

Unlike the one that lives far away that we don't want detail in, this one we'll have a little more detail in.

Maybe like that.

Boy, that's a nice old mean looking mountain.

Shoot, I tell you what.

Maybe he had a good day.

Maybe he got even stronger.

I went way up to the top here.

Way up to the very top.

It's up to you.

See?

Just change your mind if you want to.

You can put your mountain anywhere you want, any shape you want.

In this technique, we don't do any drawing, any tracing, we just sort of, we learn to create as we paint.

That may be the beauty of this.

There we go.

We learn to create as we, as we paint the scene.

Maybe this goes, who knows?

Maybe it comes all the way across.

If you want it to come all the way across, there be some rolling hills back here maybe on this end, you can do that.

We just take the knife and rub that too.

There.

Wipe off the excess paint.

You can do entire paintings using nothing but the knife, and they're gorgeous.

Some of the early series, we've done one or two paintings using the entire knife.

It's a little harder to do in the time frame that we have, but you can do it.

You really can do it.

And it's gorgeous.

I do a lot of them when I'm at home using nothing but the knife.

See, if you want to put another layer, I get carried away doing this.

If you want to put another little layer in there, you just put a little more paint on.

Decide where that next layer lives, and we'll just rub it a little bit, too.

Like that.

I've had people tell me over and over again, "I bet you're house is full of paintings."

You know, it's funny.

Most artists, I think, are, are like me.

They, they sort of pick their own paintings apart.

[chuckles] Every time I walk by it, I see something that in my mind I think I could have done better, or it's, it's not exactly what I wanted.

So in my own home, I really, I hang other people's paintings.

I have paintings that people have sent me, I have paintings that some of our instructors have done.

I even have a couple of paintings my son Steve done, which are very, very special to me.

There.

And I have, I have a lot of paintings by very close friends and associates.

Annette Kowalski, my partner.

She does the most gorgeous flowers you've ever seen.

I have some of her paintings hanging around.

In fact, Annette's doing her first book on flowers now, which will be out soon.

I think you'll really enjoy that, because she can paint some flowers.

Whew.

I'm going to get her on the show here one day and get her to show you what she can do.

Because I'm not much of a flower painter.

But she paints them well enough for both of us.

There, I'm just taking off some of this excess paint.

I want this to remain very dark, though.

And we can take a big brush and wipe it.

That too will remove paint.

I'm going to put some highlights in there, so the more of this paint that you can remove, the easier it is to make the next layer stick.

But yet, I don't want to lose this dark value.

It's important to me.

It's very important.

Okay, let's mix us up a little highlight color.

And for that, let's use some dark sienna.

Oh, we'll put some bright red in there.

Some bright red.

Let's put a little, little white.

Shoot, maybe even a little crimson here and there.

I want some yellow ochre.

Boy, we got a mess going there, don't we?

You just sort of piddle around until you find the color that you like.

And I like that.

So, we cut off our little roll of paint, and we go back up here.

And now, we just begin picking out little things that will make our mountain look special.

And today, I'm just going to sort of touch it, and just sort of rub the knife on there a little bit.

Just rub it on.

Normally, I would pull it down, but today I'm just going to sort of rub the knife on there.

Just to create all kinds of little things.

There we go.

Something like so.

Add a little white to some of it so it'll be a little bit brighter, and then you can take and pick out the areas that you think would, that light would strike as it zings across there and has a good time.

There.

I don't want, I don't want this to get too bright, though.

Don't want it to get too bright.

Okay, now in fact I'm going to sort of fuzz the edges right out.

There.

Alright.

Okay.

Just something about like that.

There.

Maybe it comes all the way down.

I don't know where it goes yet.

We'll make that decision pretty soon.

But right now, we don't really much care.

We don't really much care.

Okay, mix up a little more color.

About to run out.

And maybe out in here.

There it comes.

[Bob makes "pssoo" sound] Just let that flow right down the side there.

And we'll just let it sort of, just sort of disappear off into the,to Never Never land.

Right there.

I want it right there.

Now then.

Mm.

Okay.

I'll take some of that dark color that we had, and I'm going to retain this nice, dark edge.

Maybe it comes over and down, and just disappears back there.

But that dark edge is our separator.

It's our good friend.

Don't lose it.

Don't lose it.

See there, that's what separates.

Pushes that back.

Pushes him back.

And you can put a little highlight or two here and there, Wherever you think they should live.

There.

Deserts are fantastic places.

There's a lot of, lot of fantastic wildlife in there.

For example, there's a lot of cougars and big cats, and recently I had an opportunity to spend a little time with a big old kitty-cat that I think is just absolutely gorgeous.

This kitty belongs to Carmen Shaw, and the cat was given to her, or she actually found it.

And I'll tell you that story in a minute.

And all of Carmen's friends have named this beautiful cat, "Carmen".

After her.

Now, this was a kitty that somebody had purchased as a pet, and the little kitty turned into a great, big cougar.

Grew up.

And they decided they didn't want it anymore.

So they put it in a little, little kennel, cage, and they took it out and they left it in the woods to die.

And when Carmen got this thing, it was just about dead.

She worked with it for a long time, and she saved it, and this is one of the most beautiful animals God's ever created.

Isn't he gorgeous?

I can't imagine anybody hurting something like that.

But I'm sort of strange.

I like all these critters anyway.

Alright.

But, I love that big old kitty.

I'm going to take a little sap green, a little yellow, maybe put a little yellow ochre, and a little brown there to dull it down some.

Ooh, like that.

And maybe in our world here, I'm going to just start laying a little color in.

We'll do this... We'll just do a little of this with a knife.

You could put it in with a brush or a knife.

I want to just put the indication of that there's some little things happening back here at the base of this mountain.

We don't want to know exactly what they are.

Some little green things that are growing right back in here.

Don't want them too bright, though.

Don't want them to be distracting.

Just some little things.

There.

Just have to wipe the knife off every once in a while.

But all I'm doing is just rubbing the knife.

Just rubbing it.

See there?

I say, you could take the old one inch or two inch brush and you could lay these in much faster.

But I like this effect.

It's very soft, very misty.

You just sort of don't, you don't know where edges start and stop here that way.

Just very pretty.

Very pretty.

But we all have individual taste, so you do it however makes you happy.

A little of that mountain color right here.

We'll just blend that down in here too.

What the heck?

Shoot, here and there we might even hit a little bit of that lavender that we used in the base of the mountain.

Just to sort of, so all the tones come together.

It's your world, so you decide.

Gotta make big decisions.

That's a responsibility that comes with painting.

There.

Well, speaking of big cats, yesterday I had the opportunity to go to one of the most fantastic zoos I've ever seen.

It's right outside of Muncie here where we film this show, and it's, it's called ME Zoo.

And ME stands for Max and Eileen, the people who started it.

And they have a lot of very exotic animals, beautiful animals.

But what makes this zoo so special, I think, is the fact that they, they devote their whole life to sharing this, this fantastic zoo with other people.

Especially handicapped children, the elderly, people who are very sick.

And it's all free to them.

Every bit of it's free.

These two fantastic people have literally spent everything they have to create this zoo, and they give it away.

And that's what makes it so special.

You can find a zoo anywhere in the country, but you can't find people like this.

And you know what makes it more special, more special than anything else?

Max has a terminal illness, and this is how he has chose to spend the rest of his life - is helping other people through his animals.

That's what makes it so special.

So, if you're ever, if you're ever around the Muncie or Indianapolis area, stop by and say hello.

Tell them I sent you.

There.

Okay, maybe in our world, let me clean off my knife.

Tell you what let's do.

Let's take the old filbert brush, what the heck?

I'll go into a little bit of the van dyke brown.

A little van dyke brown, pick up a little black put in there with it.

Shoot, dark sienna too, we don't care.

Whatever you get.

And maybe back here, maybe back here, maybe there's some old cactus.

If we're going to do a desert scene, we need to have an old cactus.

There he is.

This old filbert brush, it makes the right shape pretty easy.

Maybe he's got another arm right there.

Two or three of them right close together.

There's one.

How many cactus you have in your painting, that's up to you.

Let's give that one a little arm.

[Bob makes "tchoop" sound] Like that.

[chuckles] Another one right there.

That's, that'll give us few.

You can just take this old filbert, push upward.

We'll make the indication of some little bushes that live far back there.

See there?

Just push them in.

Just push them in.

Just sort of like you're putting foam on a, on an ocean if you've painted oceans with me.

I just take that same brush, go into a little of the yellows.

Indian yellow, cad yellow, yellow ochre, a little bit of, a little bit of blue with it, that'll make a gorgeous green, or a little sap green.

And then let's just put a few little highlights here and there.

Just a few.

Want them to stay sort of muted though.

I don't want them real bright.

There, isn't that neat?

These are far away, so we're not seeing a lot of detail now.

Just enough to make them stand out.

Leave some of them totally dark.

Don't, don't, don't cover them all up with highlights.

Sometimes it gets feeling good and you don't know when to stop.

I have that trouble all the time.

There.

I tell you what, we've got a little lavender left right here.

Let's just put some little doers like this right back there with the knife.

Some little rock formations, maybe that are far back in there.

Whatever.

Just sort of, you expect this if you paint little pictures from Arizona, New Mexico, and all those gorgeous areas.

There, something about like so.

That's good enough.

We'll take some of that nice... this was the color that I used to highlight the mountains.

And maybe right under here, right under here we can begin applying just a little bit of sand color.

[Bob makes "ssshoop" sound] Something like that.

There we go.

See there?

I'm going to take a little white, it's got a little yellow ochre in it, not much, just a little.

Mostly white.

And just begin putting in some highlights right on that.

Barely grazing it.

Barely, barely grazing it.

See there?

Just to make it look like old sand and rocks and all those things that are out there.

Shoot, we don't know where it goes.

Don't know that we care.

wherever it wants to go is just right.

Just right.

Shoot, I like making them cactus.

[chuckles] Let's make another one.

Black, browns, both browns and blacks.

That's all I used in here.

And maybe we have a big old cactus in our world.

Yep, we do now.

And he lives right there.

Just using the old filbert.

The old filbert brush.

Give him an arm.

[Bob makes "Doop" sound] Maybe he's got a friend lives right there with him.

Who knows?

Maybe he's got two friends.

He's a popular little cactus.

Shoot, maybe he's got a party going on here.

Who knows?

As I say, make up little stories when you paint.

Shoot, that's what makes it fun.

I'm going to take a little of that green color and just come down here and just go over that so it has a little green flavor to it.

Just make a little cad yellow, a little sap green.

There we go.

Do something like so.

Now then.

We'll take, we'll take, we'll take some more of that, this is basically that lavender color I was using.

Maybe there's some little bushes and stuff that live right along in here.

Maybe there's a big bush that lives right there by the cactus.

That'd be a good place to live.

Under this old cactus, there'd be a multitude of wildlife that lives in it.

So, that'd be a good place to see some beautiful scenes, right there.

Right there.

Now then, take a little bit of our yellow ochre, cad yellow, a little sap green, and let's come back in here and just pop in a few little highlights.

And I'm still using a little filbert.

Today I'm just using a little filbert, but you use what brush works well for you.

Liking it today.

I'm going to get a little bit of that bright red in there too.

Heck, I've got to have a little sparkler here and there.

Deserts have some gorgeous color in them sometime.

It's like, it's like God had his paintbrush out and he just went crazy with color.

You ever seen the desert after there comes a rain, and everything lights up.

Just lights up.

That's got to be the most gorgeous, gorgeous thing.

There, let's take a little of that blue and white, put in here.

There, maybe there's a little, little bush that's about that color in there.

Mm, I like that.

I like that one.

I like that one.

Let's take a little bit of our soil colors, our dirt color, whatever you want to call it.

Put right under here, something like that.

Just need his dark so our light will show up on top of it.

Lookie there.

Now then, let's take a little... oh, we'll use some more yellow ochre and white, I like that one.

Put a little of that in there.

This painting has a lot of color in it.

I didn't know it was going to have that much color when I started it.

But now I like it.

I like that.

Alright.

Okay, let's go back into, we had some nice lavender color we was using here.

Pop in another little bush.

Maybe it lives right there.

Let's put one on the other side too.

Maybe there's one right in there.

I don't know.

If you think there should be one there, then there should be.

And we go back to our greens, a little sap green, yellow.

Yellow ochre.

Put a little of that here and there, like so.

Clean off the old brush.

I know what, I'm going to go back to that blue and white.

I like that blue and white.

It's a cool color amongst all these warm colors, so it sort of stands out.

There.

A little bit more of that.

There, see it?

It's just a, it's just a nice, refreshing, cool little area in your painting.

And we'll just take the old knife.

Let me clean it off.

It's dirty.

And just blend these areas in together here where they come together, something like so.

There.

Shoot, I think we're ready to take the contact paper off and see what we got.

It looks pretty cute.

So, let's grab a hold of it, give it a little pull, and look at that.

Isn't that a fantastic little scene?

And it's very simple to do.

You can do it.

Take a little bright red, a little paint thinner, right on the liner brush, and I think we'll sign this little painting.

We'll sign it right here, because we can sign it anywhere we want.

There we go.

Since I have a very short name it's no problem just to stick it right in there.

And with that, I think we have a finished painting.

I really hope you've enjoyed this one.

Give it a try.

I'd love to hear from you and know how you do with it.

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