The Best of the Joy of Painting with Bob Ross

[Music] Hi, welcome back.

Certainly glad you could join us today.

And today, let's do a fantastic little painting together.

Tell you what, 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've got going up here.

I have my standard old pre-stretched canvas up here.

And I've taken a foam brush and a little bit of black gesso, and I've just painted the bottom of this canvas basically with the black gesso and allowed it to dry completely.

On top of that, I've added a little bit of Liquid Clear.

And, then I've put a mixture of midnight black, phthalo green and a little bit of Van Dyke brown just to dull it down a little bit.

And I've covered the entire black area with that.

Up on the top here, I've just put a little bit of the Liquid White as we normally do.

So, it's all ready, and I think we'll do a fantastic little painting.

Let's start out today with a small, small amount of the Indian yellow.

A little bit of the Indian yellow, we don't need much.

We'll just go up in here and just using little criss-cross strokes, just put in maybe a little area about like that.

And make it a little larger than you actually want it to be because as we work on this, the other colors will eat up the yellow.

It's a very-- It's quite weak when it's mixed with the Liquid White like this.

Make it a little tiny, tiny bit larger than you want it to be.

And without cleaning the brush, I'm going to add the least little touch, least little touch of the bright red.

Not much.

And, I'm going to have some blue in the sky, I think.

So, I put a little bit of red right around the edges, and it acts as a barrier.

It keeps the blue and the yellow from mixing together.

That's really the only thing that we're doing here.

You won't hardly see this when it's done.

It's just a barrier.

Because you know if we get that blue up against the yellow, we're going to have a bright, bright green sky.

And I'm not looking for that in this particular painting.

[chuckles] Sometimes we do, but not today.

Not today.

So this little bit of bright red, once again, acts as a barrier.

There we go.

And we just blend that together.

Something like that.

All right.

I thought maybe today we'd do a painting that-- Well, let's just have some fun and see what happens.

I think we'll have some nice trees like we have shapes here and just all kinds of beautiful little things happening.

Just let it go from there.

[laughs] There we go.

Now then, I'm going to take a small amount of the phthalo blue.

Very, very small amount.

Doesn't take much.

It's a strong color.

It's a beautiful blue, though.

Very bright, shiny blue.

And we'll just fill in the sky, right down to that little reddish color.

There.

And then stop.

Okay, something about like that.

Now, if you want to darken the edges, we'll add a little bit of Prussian blue right on the edges, and blend that in.

And that way, it gets darker and darker as it goes away from this light area.

It'll happen automatically for you by adding a little of that Prussian blue.

And we can clean our brush.

Just shake off the excess, [laughs] and beat the devil out of it.

In the bottom of the can that I scrubbed the brush there's a coated wire screen down there that you scrub the brush against.

That allows the solid material to settle to the bottom, and it keeps your paint thinner relatively clean.

If you don't have that wire screen in there, all you do each time, is just mix it all up, and pretty soon you have a nice mixture of mud in there.

Now then, with a clean brush, let's just gently, gently blend all this together.

So you can't tell where one color stops and the next color starts.

There.

Something about like that.

See that Prussian blue keeps that side up there very dark in comparison.

Okay.

Just knock off the excess paint there.

Then we come right over here, and blend this side a little bit.

There we go.

And now we have a nice, shiny area with a little bit of color that just flows right up through there.

Knock off that excess paint again.

And very lightly, one hair and some air, just go across and take out all the brush strokes, and bring it together.

Something like that.

All right.

Now then, today let's just really have some fun.

I'm going to show you a nice way to make a little, little, tiny mountain that's very simple.

Very, very simple.

Let's start.

Let's use some Prussian blue.

Prussian blue and alizarin crimson.

I want this to be to the blue side.

So, we're pretty close to equal proportions because the blue is much, much stronger than the crimson.

Many, many times stronger.

Now, we'll cut off a little roll of paint.

Like that.

We don't want much color.

Let's go, come right up in here.

We're going to put in a shape of a mountain here.

And I'm really, really trying to push that right into the fabric.

You can probably hear how hard we're scraping.

Just get mean with it.

Take out all your frustrations, all your hostilities right here.

Just really, really try to push it right through the fabric nearly.

It will stain the canvas, and it will be there forever.

Probably couldn't get it out if we wanted it out.

Now, with a clean and very dry brush, we want to grab this and begin pulling.

There.

I want to take out all of it that I can.

Just act like you're trying to pull it right off the canvas.

Get it all off there if possible.

Because I want a very, very soft little mountain that lives far, far away back here.

There.

I'm just knocking off excess paint that I'm picking up.

Now then, just begin blending the entire thing right over it.

And just keep blending it until it gets as soft as you want it.

Now, if you have scraped off all the paint, you can blend this to any degree of softness that you desire.

Now, take just the least little touch of titanium white on the brush.

Just tapping the corner into a little titanium white, and begin tapping in nice, little, misty areas here.

Very soft, little, misty areas.

I want this mountain to just sort of float back here.

Very soft.

Knock off the excess paint again, and just gently, gently, gently go over it.

And you can keep doing this to get it as soft and as distant-looking as you desire.

So you make a decision.

You make a decision when you do yours.

Where your mountain is, how soft it is.

Or you can make it very distinct.

It's up to you.

I just want one that, it just sort of hangs around back here in the mist.

Nice, quiet, little mountain.

It's not a loud, loud mountain.

I'm going to add to that same color.

Add a little bit more of the crimson.

I want to go a little more to the reddish side of lavender this time.

Just so there's a little change in flavor.

Okay, I'm going to clean off the old knife.

We'll use that same old brush.

It's not too dirty.

Add just a little bit of this color to it.

And let's go up in here, and maybe we have some trees back here in the distance.

I'm going to start out by just tapping in a basic, very basic idea of where the trees live.

Just a very, very basic idea of where these trees live.

I'm not looking for detail.

All I'm doing is making fuzzy edges.

Just little fuzzy edges.

At the same time, it's picking up the Liquid White that's on the canvas, and it's creating a mist down here.

Can you see that misty area?

It will happen automatically.

Just sort of tap up and down.

And you're just pulling a little tiny bit of that color right down.

Maybe this goes-- Well, we'll just have it go all the way up here.

Because we can do anything in this world here that we want to do.

I just decided these trees live all the way off the canvas, all the way off the canvas.

There.

And just tap.

And the more you tap, the more the Liquid White you'll pull down in here.

And the more mist that you'll create.

So you have to make a decision.

How much mist do you want in your world?

And we use that same color, same color.

Take a fan brush.

Load a little color into the bristles.

Now then, we can go back, and here's where we begin putting the indication of a little detail in here.

But you leave some of those little things that you tapped in with a two inch brush so it looks like little trees that are farther back than these.

And it creates another whole plane, another whole layer in your painting.

There.

And that's what we're looking for.

These layers are what create the illusion of depth and distance in paintings.

And to me, that's very, very desirable.

I like paintings that have depth.

A lot of times, you see paintings that are very flat.

They have no depth.

And to me, once again that's just my opinion, they're very, they're very-- Hmm, I don't want to say real unpleasant but they bother me if they don't have a lot of depth in them.

Because our world, the way I see it, has a lot of depth and that's the way I like to see paintings.

But, once again, everybody has their own idea.

And that's the way it should be.

There we go.

And here and there, I'm going to touch a little of this sap green, a little bit of cad yellow on that same brush.

Not much, not much.

In fact, you might not-- Yeah, I guess you can see a little bit.

I don't want much.

I just want to here and there, and there and here put the indication that you can make out a little green back in here.

Not much yet.

As we get into the foreground, then we'll begin doing things.

Back here, we're just working with illusions.

Just illusions.

We can go back into that lavender color.

When you do yours, you do it the way you want to though.

I only want to show you how to make effects.

What you make is totally and completely up to you.

Completely.

Now, I'll just take a clean, dry two inch brush, and gently lift that.

Gently lift it.

Now then.

You want to get crazy already?

Tell you what let's do.

Tell you what let's do.

Let's have some fun.

I'm going to take the little fan brush, number three fan brush.

A little bit of Liquid White, and the least little touch of the titanium white.

I'm just using that Liquid White to thin the titanium white.

Gotta thin it down.

There we go.

Now then, let's go up here.

Maybe in our world there lives.

Right in here, we're going to touch and go [Bob makes "shoom" sound].

Way back in there is a tiny, little waterfall.

Don't make it too bright, too distinct.

It's too far away.

Just the indication.

Now, when you do yours, if it comes out too bright, just very gently work over it, and that'll soften it because it'll pick up the color that's underneath.

And it'll get darker and darker until finally, it just goes totally away.

All right.

Now, we can go back to our two inch brush.

And in our world, we're going to have a lot of mist down here that's created by that waterfall back in there.

And all I've done is just barely touched, with just the corner, the least, least little amount of the titanium white.

I can't say that enough, the least little amount.

Because against this black, it will show up so strong, it's unreal.

Be very careful, very careful.

You can always add more.

But sometimes it's a son of a gun to take it off.

So, add just the tiniest bit initially.

And then, you can always go back and add a little more if you want to.

Tiniest little bit.

There we are, very gently.

Very gently.

You can fluff it and blend it.

Just go over it.

But isn't that a nice, easy, and effective way of making little misty areas down here?

All those things just set in there.

I lived in Alaska for about a dozen years, and you see sights like this.

They're absolutely gorgeous.

Absolutely gorgeous.

I always believed that, that God was having a good day when he made Alaska.

Because some days, you know, things just go better than other days.

I think he was having a spectacular day when he made Alaska.

Everything was working well for him.

There.

Okay, shoot.

And that makes a very, very effective little background.

Very simply.

Now then, let's get into the foreground here and have some fun.

Let me move this lavender color we made over there somewhere.

Let's just take black, midnight black.

Midnight black.

Cut off a little roll of paint.

Let's go right up in here.

Come right down in here.

I want to make, I want to make.

Maybe there's a nice cliff going to be right in there somewhere.

Right in there.

And, I'm just sort of laying out in my mind where I think some of these-- There comes one right there.

See if it come like that maybe.

Something like that.

I don't know where it's going to go.

Just want to have a basic idea of what kind of things we'll have in here.

There.

And you know me, [chuckles] I love water.

And if you had these nice cliffs there, chances are you'd have a little waterfall.

So let's do that.

I'm going to dip the brush into a little bit of the Liquid Clear.

And then with that, we'll go into some white.

A little titanium white, least little touch of phthalo blue and the phthalo green.

Least little touch.

It takes very, very little.

I don't want a lot of bright color here.

In fact, I might add a little black just to dull it.

Ooh, that's what I'm looking for right there.

It has a blue and greenish hint to it but it's mostly gray.

All right, let's go up here.

Make a big decision.

Maybe our waterfall is right here, comes over and goes [Bob makes "pew" sound].

And if you make that stroke quickly, you will find that it works better than trying to go real slow into it.

Make it quickly.

Watch here, you can make one there.

Be right back.

Now, take a little touch of the black on the knife.

Maybe there's a stone lives right in there.

Maybe a little stone.

And we'll take a little white, a little black, a little of that lavender color.

Make sort of a grayish, grayish lavender highlight.

And we'll just drop a little highlight right there on that stone.

There.

All right.

Now then, a little more of that color, same color.

And the waterfall is on this side too, see?

[Bob makes "tchoo" sound] And now you have a little stone that lives up there in the middle of the waterfall.

And he gets to watch all this beautiful water just fall right over in there.

Something like that.

There.

All right.

And, we'll take a two inch brush, grab the bottom, and lift upward.

That'll blend it all together.

And I want it to be darker down here because in my mind there would not be as much light striking down here.

So, this will calm it down.

And the Liquid Clear that's under there will begin mixing with it, and it'll all come together.

Now then, now then, let's, let's take-- We decided where our cliffs were.

Now let's bring them right out here in front of our waterfall.

See.

But decide where your cliffs are, put your water in, and then put the waterfall in front of the cliff.

Make that old jagged rock.

Old jagged.

There.

Tell you what, while I'm doing this, every year, our little newsletter has an art contest where we get people to send in entries.

And I'd like to share with you this year's winners because I'm so proud of what these people have done.

It's absolutely fantastic.

But can you believe some of these paintings that are being done all over the United States?

And a lot of them are done strictly from just watching the show.

Just from watching the show here.

And there you see my young friend, Earl Glenn Russell [laughs].

That little rascal can paint.

You just can't believe.

And he's about ten years old now.

I had the opportunity to meet him when I was in Missouri.

He continually amazes me at some of his ideas.

Do you see that silhouette he made of his-- His mother's a photographer, and she took a picture of him.

And they cut out a silhouette, and he painted a picture in it.

And that's something you might want to try.

It makes a very unique and wonderful gift.

And Earl, thanks for that idea.

And for sharing it with people all over the country.

I'm going to take a little black, a little white, a little of the dark sienna, mix them together so they're marbled.

Cut off a tiny, little roll of paint.

And let's go up in here and begin thinking about a little color laying up here on top of this.

You have to make some big decisions though about your cliffs.

Where do they live?

Maybe they come like that.

We don't know.

Don't know that we even care.

There.

Just put those little rascals in there.

Something like so.

And, with almost no color, just grab it and sort of pull down.

There's just the least little touch of color on the knife.

Almost nothing.

You want to keep it dark under there.

Keep it dark.

See there how that cliff just jumps right out at you?

Something like that.

That's just black, a little white, a little dark sienna.

But it should be a very nice gray color.

Very nice, grayish color.

Let's go back to our black.

Maybe we have a projection that comes out here.

Maybe it comes all the way over like that.

There.

These are some rough, old cliffs.

There we go.

Bring a little highlight down.

Like that.

Least little touch downward.

Not much, though.

Just a tiny, little bit.

Tiniest little bit.

There.

And, and, and, and, there.

See?

Just sort of let these things happen.

Just let them happen.

Make layer after layer wherever you want them.

There we go.

But see, you don't have to put anything under that black gesso.

It just makes all your little dark areas for you automatically.

Automatically.

There.

Wasn't there some fantastic paintings in that?

It's unbelievable what some of the letters I get, and some of the paintings that I see.

We should have an award for the most improved painter because I have a very, very special friend that-- He lives in Louisiana, a young fellow that's been painting.

And his painting has improved so much.

And his name is Mark.

And he has really come a long way.

And he's a very special friend.

We should mention that he also gave us a painting that was-- I've watched him since he first started painting, and his painting has improved so much.

It's nice to see that.

Let's take, let's take some black.

Let's go back in here and grab some of that phthalo green, a little crimson, some brown.

Just dark colors.

We'll put some Prussian blue in there too.

What the heck.

All right.

Back to my fan brush.

We need some nice evergreens up in here.

Maybe, maybe in our world-- Yep, we're going to have a big evergreen that lives right there.

And today, I'm going to push upward.

Pushing upward.

There.

And we'll just put in a basic shape here, and then we'll come back, and we'll put a few little highlights on him so he stands out a little better.

All we're looking for right now is a very basic, little shape.

Something like that.

We better have one on the other side too.

I don't want it left out.

Right there.

Push upward.

Start with the corner of the brush, and just push upward.

Like that.

Upward, upward, upward.

There we go.

Maybe, maybe.

Yeah, what the heck.

A little friend lives right there.

But push upward.

This makes very nice evergreens.

In some parts of the country, the evergreens seem to grow with limbs that sort of protrude upward.

In other parts of the country, they sort of go downward.

Just depends on where you're from, and what you're used to seeing.

And we try to show you different ways of doing them, and you pick the way you like.

A little bit of yellow added to that same color would make a beautiful green.

And then we can come back in here, and put in a few details.

I don't want this to be too bright.

Just enough so that it stands out good.

You can see that rascal in there.

There we go.

Darker, darker toward the base.

Let's do this one on the right over here.

We don't want him left out.

Something like that.

There.

Now then, let's go back to our old two inch brush.

Create a little misty area right down in there.

Takes very little white.

We'll just let that mist float all up around these big cliffs.

We don't know where it goes.

Somewhere like that.

A little more of the white.

Maybe the water comes-- There it is.

Right out, there it is.

We'll just have it come right down like that.

Take a little white, and just pull it straight down.

And then, very gently, just go across, and we have instant water.

Now then, now let's use that same old brush, and go into a little yellow, a little sap green, yellow ochre, Indian yellow.

Here and there I'll touch a little bit of the bright red.

Yep, that gives a little grassy thing that lives right there.

Just a little grassy thing.

There we go.

There.

See there?

All right.

Maybe, I'm going to get the small, little, small, round brush.

Maybe we have a happy, little tree.

Yep.

Since we have the dark in there, all we need is highlight basically.

See that little tree?

There he comes.

There he comes.

This little, round brush just does beautiful, little details like that.

A little more color.

Maybe there's another little bush, and he lives right in there.

Wherever you think a little bush should live, that's where he oughta be.

There's another one.

Take a little bit more of that titanium white.

Come right in here, and we'll put the least, little touch of color right in there.

Just pull straight down on the white, though.

And then go across.

There.

Let's take the old liner brush, a little bit of white.

I want to make a little tree that lives right here.

Just a little, happy tree.

Right there.

Right there.

Back to our little, round brush.

Let's put a few little highlights on him.

Don't want too many.

Just a few.

Just a few.

And maybe over here on this side, you can see a little, grassy area.

This is where we were standing when we saw this scene.

[chuckles] Right there.

A few little bushes.

We'll just use a fan brush, pop in a few little bushes over here on this side.

Push upward.

Just a couple of little things like that.

And a little touch of the Liquid White.

We'll put in a little shoreline, and then we about have a finished painting.

But isn't that a nice little painting?

And it's easy to do.

Give it a try, and let me know how it works for you.

I think you'll really enjoy it.

You could even put a few little rocks in the water and things like that to bring out the detail.

Until next time, from all of us here, happy painting and God bless, my friend.