The Best of the Joy of Painting with Bob Ross

- Hello, welcome back.

I'm certainly glad you could join us today.

It's a fantastic day here and I hope it is wherever you're at.

So, I tell you what, let's start out today and run all the colors across the screen that you need to paint along with us.

While they're doing that, come on up here, let me show you what we've got already.

We've got our standard old pre-stretched canvas and I use an 18 x 24 but you can use any size that's convenient for you.

We've covered the entire surface with a thin, even coat of liquid white and that makes the canvas wet and slick and it's all ready to go.

So, I hope you have your oil paints out and you're ready to spend a relaxing half hour.

Thought today we'd just do a fantastic little scene that's very pretty and very easy and we'll just have a good time together.

Let's start out with a little Alizarin crimson.

Pull a little out and tap it into the two inch brush.

Just a little.

Maybe we'll have a nice warm area in the sky of this little painting.

Let's go right up in here.

And just using our little crisscross strokes, just make little x's.

Let it blend with the liquid white.

Those colors will just soften and blend automatically.

You don't have to worry about it.

Use very little color here.

We don't want to set the sky on fire.

All I want to do is just create a little glow up here.

Something about like that.

Maybe we'll do some little mountains today.

I like mountains and that's the most single requested thing that people write in to say they'd like to see and do.

So, we'll do some.

We'll take a little of the phthalo blue.

Didn't even have to clean the brush 'cause crimson is so weak in comparison to the blue.

The blue just eats it up.

So we can start right up here, still making our little crisscross strokes.

And just lay in a happy little sky.

That simple.

There, just bring it about down to the crimson and we'll stop, clean the brush and blend it.

Otherwise, once again, this blue is so strong, it'll just consume your crimson.

It'll go away and leave you.

You'll be all alone here with just a blue sky.

Tell you what, while we have blue on the brush, let's put a little water in here.

You know me, I love water.

Take a little of the phthalo blue and reach over here and get a touch, just a touch, of the phthalo green.

It's very, very, very strong.

Whew, be careful with it.

And maybe we'll go in here and lay in an indication of a little water.

Just pull from the outside in, as we normally do.

I like to have a little glimmer of light coming across the water.

There, OK. And a little bit more of the blue, a little more phthalo green.

Come from the other side and just let these come together, like that.

Alright.

Now then, let's wash the old brush.

If you've painted with me before you know this is the fun part of this whole technique.

This is where we really get crazy.

Just odorless thinner, paint thinner.

Shake off the excess.

(rattling and thumping) (laughs) And just beat the devil out of it.

Alright, let's go right up here where the blue and the pink come together.

Now then, just wanna continue to use the little crisscross strokes and begin blending that together.

Something about like that.

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

There we are.

And down here, we just go all the way across.

That'll bring our water together.

But we still have this indication of light zinging right across there.

Just sliding across the water.

Alright.

Tell you what, let's take an old one inch brush.

I want to put some happy little clouds up here.

Happy little clouds.

And we'll just use a titanium white today, right on the old one inch brush.

And maybe we have a little cloud that lives right up here.

He just floats right in the sky and has a good time.

Now all we're doing is just sorta tapping and hitting the canvas so you get those nice, fluffy little edges.

Just little fluffy edges.

There.

But sorta round so it's got form and shape to it.

There we are.

And you can begin creating all kinds of little individual effects.

Something like that.

We do one layer at a time.

Just work on individual layers.

OK, that's our first layer.

(rattle) Take a good, clean, dry two inch brush and just barely blend it.

We want to leave these nice top edges but blend behind it a little bit.

Now, very lightly.

Just lift it a little.

And it creates a nice little floater up there in the sky.

Let me show you something.

I get carried away sometimes, I keep seeing things that we can do.

Let's take a little Alizarin crimson and phthalo blue and mix it together so we have a little lavender-like color.

Watch here.

A little bit on the fan brush.

Let's go right up here.

Maybe in our world, right back in here, let's just have a few little clouds that just sort of float around and have a good time.

We just call these floaters for lack of a better word.

Some of our friends who fly airplanes will probably tell me the correct name for these but I just call 'em little floaters.

They just hand around and have a good time.

Very gently, go across.

This will give us the indication that some little things are floating way back in the distance.

Now then, let's really get crazy.

Let's just put another big old cloud that lives right in here.

And this one comes right down over the top of the little floaters that we laid in.

And just sorta comes right out about like that.

In your world, you put clouds wherever you want 'em.

Wherever you want.

There, this is probably one of the freest techniques I've ever been exposed to.

It allows you to do anything that you want.

Anything.

And then once again, back to our two inch brush and we'll blend that a little.

Something about like that.

Don't have to blend it a great deal.

Just enough to blend the base of it a little.

And very lightly.

Lift it, fluff it, blend it, bring it together.

Look at that, there's such a mass of clouds and there's so much depth in there.

It's that easy.

There, OK.

Fantastic, I think we're in business.

(rattle) Just knock the excess paint off that old brush.

And we're gonna have some mountains today we decided.

So, let's take some black, we'll use a little of the Prussian blue, some Van Dyke brown, Alizarin crimson, whatever.

Good dark color, with sort of a blue base to it.

Blue or lavender base.

Pull it out very flat, cut across, get our little roll of paint.

Let's come right up in here, maybe right there.

Just make a decision where you think the old mountains would live in your world.

Decide where the peaks are all the valleys.

It's what makes painting so much fun.

You get to control your world.

This is pure, raw power here.

When I go home all I can do is, the only power I have is over the garbage.

That's mine, it waits for me and I get to take it out.

But on this canvas, I can do anything.

I can move mountains, trees.

Can even move rivers here, and so can you.

I spent half my life in the military and I would play soldier all day.

Then at night I would come home and this painting was a world that was full of peace and it was calm and there was no bad things here.

OK, let's just take a two inch brush and pull that out.

And let it just blend at the base.

There, see how soft that base becomes?

Just like so.

Just keep pulling it.

This is also an excellent way to sort of lay out and shape your mountains because you can see these brush strokes in here and you're not committed.

Sort of a way of cheating a little.

Nah, it's not cheating but it's a way of making it easier for you.

There we are.

No such thing as cheating in painting, if it works and makes you happy, then it's good.

Then it's good.

The only rule in painting is that there are no rules.

It's an individual thing.

Individual.

Everybody sees nature through different eyes and painting is a way of putting your expression on canvas.

So enjoy it.

Let's take some titanium white.

Shoot, let's have some good fun today.

Pull it out flat, cut across and get our little roll of paint, as usual.

Now we can go up in here and let's begin laying in some little highlights.

Let that knife just bounce and wiggle and jiggle.

Just have fun.

Think where little things would live, where you want little peaks and valleys.

You need a little home for the mountain goats.

There's all kinds of little creatures that live up in here.

Just have a good time.

OK, see.

There, just let it flow.

No pressure here, absolutely no pressure.

In your mind, just think, nothing's touching the canvas but that little roll of paint.

The knife is not even touching.

If you let the knife touch then you, as Steve, my son says, "you 'moosh' the paint."

That means you flatten it out and squish it.

Steve and I have been known to make up words sometimes.

That's one that he's made up and uses but people understand what he's saying when he teaches.

And he travels all over the country teaching.

He teaches literally thousands of people the joy of painting.

So, if he gets to your area, go see him.

Hassle him a little bit.

He does a lot of demonstrations and you'll find him a joy to be with.

OK, a little of the phthalo blue and white, a little roll of paint on the knife and let's just lay in the indication, here and there, of some little shadow areas.

We don't want a whole bunch of color, just where you think there'd be a happy little shadow.

There.

Maybe, right here.

There he goes.

Let's bring this one distinctly through.

That will push that first one back.

Sneaky, huh?

There, there we go.

And just a little touch over in here.

Now, sometimes it's fun to come back after you've done this and let's just break that up.

Now you can see a shadow through there.

And little things like that will make your painting special.

But you need to put a shadow back here.

Every highlight needs its own shadow.

If you don't give it its own shadow it just won't play with you.

It'll go home, just go away.

There we are.

Now then, let's get a clean one, there we are.

(rattle) I've got so many brushes laying around here.

Just take an old two inch brush and gently tap, following the angles in the mountain, as usual.

Lift upward.

Over here, we'll follow this angle just to create the illusion of mist.

Right down here at the base.

Very soft and very gentle.

But that's a heck of a range of mountains to make in just a minute or two.

And you can do it.

You really can do it.

Just practice a little bit, be sure you have the right paint.

Because it has to be firm, it really does.

That's the one thing I hear over and over when people say their having trouble.

We always nearly trace it back to the fact that they're paint is thin and you really have to have a very firm paint to be able to paint wet on wet or layers on top of layers.

There we go, we'll just use that mountain color and add a little Van Dyke brown, put a little white in it, a little touch of the sap green, not much.

A little more of the white in there.

There, that's sort of a nice grayish brown color.

Quite pleasant.

OK, let me wipe the old knife.

Let's grab us a fan brush.

We'll just put a little of that color on the fan brush and in our world, maybe there lives, well there does now, just some happy little trees back in here.

These little trees would be a super place for my little squirrel...

If you painted with me before you know I have all kind of little creature pets.

I'm gonna share with you today my latest little squirrel that's living with me.

He is the most precious little thing.

You have to force him to eat, see?

We call him Peapod, the pocket squirrel 'cause he would live in your pocket forever.

And one of my neighbors, a young man named Dennis, lives down the street from me found him and brought him to me.

And he lives with me now.

I think I have five squirrels right now and two crows.

And this little squirrel will be ready to turn loose here in just a few more weeks and he'll go back to nature and he'll have a good time.

And these things usually stay around the house when I turn them loose so I get to enjoy 'em sometimes for years and years.

Isn't he cute?

As I say, we call him Peapod, the pocket squirrel.

OK, now we have just an indication back here of some little trees living far back here in the distance.

Watch here, let's have some fun.

Take a little of that same mountain color.

Maybe right in here, there's just a little stone.

Maybe part of the mountain that lives right in here.

Just put that dark in, just like you did to make the big mountain.

This is a baby mountain.

If you take care of it and treat it well It will grow up and be a big mountain like its big brother right above it.

A little bit of the white.

I'm gonna add the least little touch of Van Dyke brown in the white, I want to dull it down some down here.

Just the least little touch.

Just let this sort of play.

Let that knife just bounce though.

We want this to look like rough places.

A little bit right in there.

That's what my dog said when he sat down on sandpaper, he said, "ruff."

Alright, there.

Same thing.

Just tap a little bit of mist right at the base of that.

I don't want much.

Maybe we'll have some big trees that live in the front of that and that'll help push it back.

I'm gonna dull that same... Take a little brown, phthalo blue and white and make a little shadow color.

But I want it duller than the one up high.

Just put the indication here and there of a little shadow that lives back in there.

Have to have a little shadow in there too.

Now, let's clean us off a little spot.

Even with a palette this big I run out of room sometimes.

That's what happens when you paint with big brushes and big knives.

Let's take some black, some Prussian blue and put some phthalo green in there.

Maybe a little brown and crimson and, what the heck, just a little bit of everything.

Good, dark color.

Let me wipe off the old knife.

I have several fan brushes going so I'll grab another one.

And on this one we're going to put this very dark color.

And let's put some little evergreens that live in our world, they live right there.

And this is the easiest way I've ever seen of making little trees that look like they're far far away.

'Cause you don't want too much detail.

If you get too much detail then you lose that illusion of distance.

When things are far away you don't see a lot of detail.

You see changes in color or shape but not a lot of detail.

Maybe we'll take a one inch brush and we'll just pop in a few bushes that live right here.

Same color.

A few little bushes that live right out here in front of this, like that.

You can just see that little stone that's peeking at you from behind those trees and stuff.

I'm gonna dip my one inch brush into liquid white.

Go into a little cad yellow, get a little sap green.

Maybe a little darker, here we go.

A little yellow ocher and eventually I'll use the Indian yellow here and pretty soon, little touches of red, bright red.

Now then, let's pick out our little trees and bushes that live back here.

There's one, just push sort of upward.

Just give it a little upward push.

This is one of many ways of making beautiful little bushes.

Sometimes we use a little round brush.

Ooh, there's one that's got more Indian yellow and yellow ocher in it.

So, it's got a little different flavor.

Little touch of the bright red right on the tip will make it look like there's flowers on these trees.

That's sort of nice.

OK now, let's have some fun.

Let's grab the very bottom of that and pull straight down.

Just straight down.

I want a dark color down here.

Very dark color.

There, OK.

Right on down.

Tell you what, let's take a fan brush.

I want to dip it into the liquid white and then go into titanium white and the least little touch of phthalo blue in it.

Very little of phthalo blue.

I dipped it in the liquid white to make the paint thinner 'cause a thin paint will slide right over the top of a very thick paint without mixing.

Or just mixing a little bit depending on the amount of pressure that you put.

Maybe there's a waterfall that lives right up in there.

And we'll just push in some happy little things.

And the water plays right along here.

See there?

Just let it play though and maybe there's another little thing there.

There's all kind of little stones and rocks under there that create little bumps.

Places the water falls and carries on.

Make up little stories and think about this just some floating right down here.

Choo.

Make those little noises, that really helps.

That really helps.

That sort of wanders right on out in there somewhere.

Something like that.

Let's take, oh there it is, I lost my brush.

When you get my age the mind sort of slips away sometimes.

You have to go looking for it.

(laughs) Let's take a little more of the dark color on this brush and I wanna push that little waterfall way back into there.

So, we'll put the indication here of some more little trees that live back in the background.

And all we're doing is just tapping downward.

Just tapping downward.

And don't let these become too symmetrical or just alike.

Have different shapes here.

Otherwise they'll begin looking like they just came out of a copy machine.

Trees are different.

They're not all straight, they're not all crooked.

They're like people, they're individuals.

That's what makes 'em so fantastic.

Can you imagine how boring the world would be if everybody was just alike?

It's fun to have different people with different beliefs, different looks.

That's what makes it interesting.

And it's the same when your doing paintings.

Enjoy the differences.

Tell you what, while we got the little brush going... Yeah, stand back and take a look.

In our world there's gonna be, there is now, a big bush that lives right here.

We're just pushing upward with this one inch brush just to make all those little trees and stuff that live in there.

There we are.

Just drop those in.

At the same time I'm gonna reverse the brush and tap downward and that'll end up, if all goes well, that'll end up being our little reflections in the water.

Just like that.

Alright.

Now we can take a two inch brush and we grab those reflections and pull 'em straight down.

Straight down.

Don't let 'em go at an angle like that.

It just won't look right.

It'll bother your eye when you look at it.

Same thing on the other side and go across.

And that easy, we have instant reflections.

Now, we can go back.

Take a little of the black, a little midnight black and go into yellow.

That makes a beautiful, beautiful green color.

There, pull that brush in one direction loading it full of color.

Look at all the paint.

Good, let's go up here.

Now then, let's go back in here and begin picking out individual bushes and trees that hide back here.

Reload the brush continually and just change the flavor a little by adding a little yellow ocher, a little more green or whatever it takes.

Just so there's a little variation in color.

There.

Sometimes it's fun to put a little red on the tip.

As I mentioned earlier, make those bushes look like they have little red flowers hanging out there.

On the other side we can do the same thing while we have this old brush going.

Add the least little touch of paint thinner to the paint.

Make it a little thinner.

Thin paint, once again, will stick to thicker paint.

But if the thickest paint is on the brush when you do this it'll just pull the paint off the canvas onto your brush.

If you do this and you begin getting a lot of color off the canvas check to be sure the paint on your brush is thinner than the paint on the canvas.

That's really all it amounts to.

It's just a difference in thickness of paint.

There we go.

And right there lives another one.

Work in layers, always completing the most distant one first then coming forward, forward, forward.

(chuckles) Let's take some Van Dyke brown get crazy.

Maybe in our world there's a nice little stone lives right in here.

This is gonna be the bank.

There's gotta be a place to hold all this nice greenery up so it doesn't fall over in the water and make a big splash.

Might be a little beaver lives here it would scare him to death.

We don't want to do that.

Hope you enjoy seeing my little creatures.

I am so crazy about some of these little rascals.

I have one that we call Squirrelly Girly Brown and she's a mess.

Boy, that little squirrel's somethin' else.

She's just about ready to turn loose, she's full-grown now.

She's been with me for eight or nine months.

She is something else.

And she hides nuts all over my house.

The other day I went fishing with a friend and I went to put on my fishing shoes and there was a pecan in the toe.

You ever put your shoe on and somebody's put something in the end of it?

Certainly gets your attention.

Let's take a little white, little bit of the dark sienna and let's go up here and just touch and bounce.

And we're just going to put the indication of some nice little things that are happening right along in here.

But leave a dark area underneath and I'll show you why in a minute.

Let's do the other side while we got this going.

Leave a dark area underneath 'cause we want this to be deep.

Have height to it.

OK, wipe the knife and we'll grab just the base of that and pull a little tiny bit of that color down using the small edge of the knife.

Or sometimes I just use a small knife depending on how you feel at that moment.

But it'll create the illusion that this is thick.

It's not just coming out there.

And you sorta change the angles now and then.

Something like so.

Take a little touch of the liquid white, lay it out here and we'll get a fan brush.

Put a little of that on it.

That's just liquid white on the fan brush.

Just go in here and put the indication of just some little things right in here.

Not much.

A little bit on the other side.

There we are.

Tell you what, we got just a second left here.

Put in a happy little tree.

This drives my director crazy when we do this but we'll do it anyway.

She's mean, she'll be out here to get me in a second.

Just drop in a happy little tree.

Give him a little friend right there.

Come back with a little of that same dark color we used and we just pop in, maybe this is a big evergreen.

Pop in the indication of a few little limbs and stuff that hang right out like that.

And this little tree needs some too.

There we go.

Very simple way of making some very effective little trees.

Pick up a little yellow, it'll turn green and we can highlight that a little.

And the old clock on the wall tells me that it's about time to leave you for today.

I really hope you've enjoyed this one.

It's a lot of fun.

It'll teach you how to use all the equipment.

And I think you'll be amazed at what you can do.

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

(light jazzy music)