The Best of the Joy of Painting with Bob Ross

[Music] Hi, I'm glad you could join me today.

You ready to do another fantastic little painting?

Super.

Tell you what, let's start out today and get right on it.

Let's have them run all the colors across the screen that you need to paint along with me.

I have my canvas up here.

It's covered with Liquid White and it's all ready to go.

So, I tell you what.

I've got so many cards and letters from people saying, "I'm having trouble making the snow break on the mountain."

You know when we take the knife and we pull in down the side of the mountain and the snow breaks?

I've sort of designed a new way of putting highlights and shadows on a mountain and let's spend some time today working on that.

If you ever had any problems putting the snow on the mountains, this way is so nice you'll love it.

So let's get in here and do it.

Let's just drop in a happy little sky.

We'll start out with a little touch of the Phthalo Blue, I'll grab some black too.

Some Midnight Black, Phthalo Blue, just mix them on the brush here.

And let's just very quickly here just put in a happy little sky.

There we go.

Just drop in a little color.

Maybe, where ever you want it.

Maybe have some little clouds here.

That's blue and black or black and blue depending on which way you look at it.

That's the way I am when I'm at home.

Boy, I am always in trouble end up black and blue.

Okay, there we go.

Let me just put in a happy little thing like that.

Okay, and that'll give us a indication of a sky once we blend it out.

While we have this black and blue on the brush here, let's take and maybe we'll have a little water on the bottom of this one.

We'll see, whatever happens.

If we don't have water this will cover right up, no problem.

We'll just, we'll just cover all this.

I don't know exactly where your paint is going to be... if it's going to be.

That's part of the beauty of this style of painting.

You really don't have to make any big decisions right now.

There.

Something like so.

And, we'll just gently blend that together.

Blend this a little bit.

Okay.

Then I'll clean the old brush.

And we just scrub our brush in odorless thinner as usual.

As usual.

Shake off the excess.

[chuckles] And just beat the devil out of it.

Okay, now then, with a clean brush here I just want to blend this.

There.

I get letters from people also say, "It looks like it's so much fun beating that brush."

They just went out and got a brush and beat on it.

They don't paint, they just beat the brush and enjoy it.

And if that, if that makes you happy that's fine.

That's what everything's about, if it makes you happy.

Now then.

That just knocks off the excess paint.

It's not as much fun.

I'm going to go right into, right into Titanium White.

And we'll just use the same old brush.

Just load it full of color.

And let's just put some little floaters up here in the sky.

Just, just tapping with the corner of the brush.

Just want to really put something in there real quick and move into this mountain.

Today, I want to show you how to do a different kind of mountain.

Maybe we'll have one right over in here.

Wherever you want it.

And in this area, there's another happy little, little cloud.

He just floats along, that's fine.

There.

And you just determine where they live and drop them in.

Just drop them in.

I'm going to give him a little friend right under here.

There.

Okay.

Now then.

I have several brushes going here so let's just take a clean one and I'm just going to blend the base of this out a little bit so it just blends right into that color.

Just blend it.

There we go.

Soften the bottom.

Don't touch the top yet.

We'll get that in a second.

And then very lightly, following the basic angles here just sort of lift that and just let it go.

Very gentle, very light.

Just caress it.

There.

See there.

And a super way to make some very effective little easy clouds.

Happy little clouds.

There.

And that gives us a nice little sky.

And now we can get in here and play with our mountain.

Since we're going to do a big old mountain today.

Let's get started here.

We'll use some Midnight Black.

Take a big bunch of black and throw it out here.

And to that I'm going to add Alizarin Crimson.

Black and Alizarin Crimson.

Now then, you can put a little white over there and check it out, see what color it is because it's hard to tell.

I want a little more Crimson in that.

I want it a little more to the reddish side.

Okay, that's better.

Like that.

Okay, pull the paint up very flat, cut across, and get our little roll of paint, see?

It's right out on the edge of the knife, okay.

Now then, if we're going to have a big old mountain here let's just decide where this big old mountain lives.

And just begin dropping it in.

And we're start this one like we start most mountains.

Very firmly, pushing in our basic shape.

Maybe there's a big high peak on this one that lives up here in the sky.

That's where that big eagle sits.

Okay, a little bump there, maybe.

And another little bump wherever you want it.

Push very firmly.

You're really trying to push this right into the fabric.

This old canvas is tough, don't worry about hurting it.

You're not going to hurt it.

Go on and push it in.

And scrape off the excess.

And we'll take a large brush and we'll pull this just like we do normally.

Just like we normally do and blend it down.

There.

See, grab over here and pull it.

There.

But just let this move right on out.

Because Liquid White is on the canvas you can literally, literally move this paint.

If you were working on a dry canvas you'd be in agony city.

Okay, wash my old brush.

Give it a little shake.

Cover a couple of camera people [chuckles] and we're in business.

Now then, I think today for this I'll use a small knife.

You could use either knife, it doesn't matter.

I'll just use a small one today.

Pull that paint out as flat as you can get it, as usual.

Cut across and we have our little roll of paint right on the edge of the knife.

Now normally we take this touch and just pull, okay.

But today, watch, all I'm going to do is touch and just let if bounce See?

I just touchy, touchy, touchy, touchy, right on down.

So you don't have work, it breaks automatically and then you can sort of... you don't want it too even and smooth here so just touch to break it up.

Now, isn't that simple?

If you've ever had trouble making the snow break on the mountain, this is an easy one.

This one will work for you.

There we go.

And just sort of follow the angles like you normally do.

Just touching.

All you have to do is touch.

The canvas will take off what it wants and give you back what's left.

There.

But you still have to follow the basic angles.

Still have to follow those, no matter how you make this mountain.

Light's still going to strike in a given direction.

If light's coming from here, then it's just going to zing right across there.

Okay.

See, maybe there's a little projection out here.

Maybe another one over here.

Wherever you want it.

All you have to do is just touch the canvas.

Maybe it comes right on around.

Wherever, wherever.

Okay, maybe there's some light strikes this up here.

See?

All you're doing though is touching the canvas, isn't that neat?

Maybe this comes right on around, there's a little valley in there.

There.

And just let it go.

Let it go.

Just sort of let your imagination take you where you want to be.

Okay, now there's another one over here.

Shoot, maybe this one over here comes right on around like so and just sort of moves right on down.

See there?

You can just wrap it right around.

Isn't that fantastic?

I knew you'd like this.

Now if you'd prefer just to drag it to make the snow break then you can this mountain the same way as you've been making them.

I just really want to show you something a little bit different.

And in case you've had any problem.

You probably haven't but some people have.

This will, this will help you.

Now, I'll take some Phthalo Blue and White and we'll just sort of mix that together.

I'm looking for sort of a shadow color here.

Just Blue and White.

Same thing, cut across and we get our little roll of paint right on the edge of the knife.

And we can come back in here and now then we begin looking for the shadows, same way.

Just barely touching.

Allow the canvas to pull off what it wants.

Just follow the basic shapes.

Like that.

All of the principles and rules are the same as the way we've been making mountains if you've painted with me before.

This is just done by just tapping.

It's also, you know like in Arizona, New Mexico they have the mountains that have all the different colors in them.

This is a super way to make those.

Super, super way because you can create all those little colors just by touching the canvas.

Next time, maybe I'll do one of those.

I have a lot of friends in that area.

There we go.

See?

Just follow the basic angles.

And all you're doing really is just touching the canvas.

Because you have a thick paint on the canvas it'll literally grab that and pull it right off.

And you can do anything that you want to do there.

Okay, maybe all down in here There.

I've got to mix up a little more of the shadow color.

I didn't mix enough.

So, same thing, Phthalo Blue and White.

Just mix it together, cut across, our little roll of paint again.

Always that little roll of paint, so helpful if you'll load the knife correctly.

And then we can bring this in here and just begin tapping.

Like so.

Okay.

See and you can vary those angles so it looks like it's laying flatter or setting up higher, however you want it.

There.

You can just keep this going all day Cover up the whole canvas with it.

And that's alright.

That's a super way to learn.

And anytime you learn, your time and energy is not wasted.

It's not wasted.

There.

And as long as we live, hopefully we'll continue to learn.

There.

Okay.

See there?

Now then we can put some shadows under this little highlight.

And top a little more of the White and we can begin, let's just bring this right on down.

And you can sort of let all that come together.

There we go.

But once again, if you've had any problem making the snow break on the mountains the way we've been making, I hope you give this a try.

Because I, I really believe you'll have instant success with this even if you've never painted a mountain before.

The big thing is to pay strict attention to the angles.

Look at the angles in this mountain.

The rules are basically the same no matter how you make your mountain.

You have highlight on one side and shadow on the other.

Simple as that sounds, sometimes we get, we get a little bit confused.

And I'm going to tap just the base of this, I'm going to create a little mist, not much.

And then very lightly.

Oh, just the least little amount.

Least little amount here.

There we go.

Just sort of blend all of that together.

So it's very soft.

Now that's just a real quick little mountain.

Think what you can do at home when you have unlimited time.

Boy you can make a son of a gun of a mountain.

Now then, okay, let's do another one here.

We'll use that, we'll just take the same old color we had.

Our original mountain color, pull it out flat, cut a roll of paint off.

One more time, same old roll.

Okay, maybe there lives, [Bob makes "tssoo" sound] let's get crazy, maybe right up here, [Bob makes "mmmmm" sound]] Got to make a little noise or it don't work.

Maybe there's a bit old thing [Bob makes "shoooo" sound] comes right down like that, right in front of this one.

See?

Just drop it in.

Really push that color in.

There.

That's scary after you work so hard on your mountain then you throw that in there.

All we're doing here is blocking in color.

You could, you can do this with a paint roller.

[chuckles] Just start a whole new style of painting with paint rollers.

There we go.

Okay, now then on this one I'm going back to the small knife.

I'm going to go right back into my Phthalo Blue and White mixture.

We'll just continue to use that, what the heck.

Now let's just take our little roll of paint again and let's just begin on this one, this, just laying in the indication here, just tapping, just let it bounce right along.

Of just a few little shadow areas.

Just wherever you think light would play through here, just barely touching.

Just let it bounce and play.

No pressure at all.

You just, you just allow it to graze and touch the canvas.

There.

And you can do this is a multitude of different colors and make it look like rocks and stones that live in your area.

Because all over the country mountains and boulders and stuff, they look a little different.

But all we're doing is just touching the canvas, it's that easy.

I'm excited about this because it works so well.

I've tried it with people who have never painted not the first stroke and they've, they made it work.

And that's nice, I like to see the sparkle come in people's eye when they, when they've painted their first picture and it works for them and it's... oh, it does good things in here.

Just like if you've, if you've never taught other people to paint, if you know how, you don't understand how selfish it really is because the teacher gets more out of it probably than the pupil.

That's the reason for years and years I traveled and taught.

It was one of the most rewarding and satisfying things that I'd ever done.

I met so many super people.

Get off my soapbox and paint.

Here's some Black and some Blue, Brown, Crimson, a little Sap Green, mix all that up.

Now I'm going to pull a little bit of it out here and to that we'll add... let me just grab some white... and a little more Sap Green in there.

I'm looking for a dirty green color.

There, that's coming along.

There we are, that's a nice little Green color.

Okay, let me clean my knife off.

Now we'll use the fan brush and we just load it full of that color.

As I say, that's just sort of a dirty Green.

I don't know what color you call it.

Both sides of the brush.

And maybe back in here just lives all kinds of happy little evergreen trees.

And all we're doing is just touching and sort of coming downward.

Can you see that?

Sort of hard to see sometime.

There.

Now you can see it.

See, all you're doing is just touching and pulling down.

Like that.

And wherever you think they should live.

It's a nice, super, easy way to make the indication of a lot of little trees very quickly.

Very quickly.

And we just let them just come right on down.

We don't know where they go there.

Okay, now take a 2-inch brush.

I want to create a little mist at the base of these.

All you have to do is tap firmly.

See there?

Just tap it and then lightly lift upward.

[Bob makes "tchooka, tchooka, tchoo" sounds] And you have the indication of some little trees.

Now then, let me wash off my fan brush.

And as things get closer to you in the landscape, as you know, they get darker and darker.

So let's, that's the reason I pulled out a little bit of that color and kept the big pile.

I want to go back to this large pile of paint.

It's much darker, it's going to be closer to you.

And right in here, we'll put the indication of some happy little trees that are closer to us.

There we go.

See and because they're darker, boy, those son of a gun's [chuckles] stand out and that misty area in between here, see that mist?

That separates.

That misty area is so important.

That's your best friend right here.

Oh, take care of it.

Don't kill all of that misty area.

It's so, so, important.

And wherever you want these, I don't know, we're going to put some big trees in here I think today.

Maybe let's go all the way over here.

Maybe right in front of here there's some indications.

There.

Now then.

Take some more of our darker color and let's build, let's build some little evergreen trees.

Load the fan brush fully on both sides, a lot of paint.

Okay.

Now then, maybe there lives, boy, sure does... there now see, start with just touching the canvas to get a center line and just use corner of the brush, see, and just touch.

And just sort of work him back and forth, back and forth.

Lookie there and there he comes... just back and forth.

And as you work down and down the tree, push harder and harder.

Make those bristles bend and work for you.

There we go.

Isn't that a super way to make a happy little evergreen tree?

And you can do it.

Beautiful little tree, he's my friend.

I have to name him.

Let's put another one right here.

Oh, I'm covering up our mountains we worked so hard on.

So now I got interested in trees and I forgot my mountain.

But that's alright.

We learned how to make this mountain, and that's what's important.

Now we can go back and make as many or as few as we want.

Next time we go to make a mountain like this it'll be easy.

When I was in Thailand they use to say, "Can do easy."

And so can you.

There we go.

There.

See, I had opportunity to travel all over the world in the military so I got to see a lot of foreign countries and a lot of, lot of people from different cultures Good education.

Good way, good way to get out and see some of the country.

Okay, maybe right here.

And in your world, you decide how many trees live in it.

So, you can just put however many want in there.

Maybe we'll put a couple more and that'll be enough for today.

But in yours, maybe you want a solid line of trees all the way across there.

Whatever you want.

Let's have one nice one that lives right down here on the end.

See there how easy those trees are though?

Just push him right out of that brush Just let them, let them come right on out.

Now then, we can take the knife, a little, a little brown on it and just put the indication here and there of a, of a little tree trunk and I'll use the same old brush and go right into some yellow.

Because there's Green on there the Yellow is going to turn it dark Green.

And always want to... here and there, put the indications of some nice little highlights living on these trees.

Some little bright spots so they stand out better.

There.

Over here maybe, we don't want that tree left out.

Okay, now then, I'll go right into the same old dark color here.

And let's begin tapping in what eventually will be some little grassy areas.

Just tap them in.

There.

Just pick up some of that color off that tree and just let it work right on down.

Whatever, whatever.

Maybe it just goes right on back like that.

You just have to make a big decision and let it go.

Now, if we're going to have water, going to be a little bit of reflection right under here.

So all we have to do is just touch and pull straight down.

Wherever you want reflections to be.

Then go gently across.

Okay, I'll just use the same old dirty brush.

I'll go right into some Yellow, Yellow Ochre, Indian Yellow, just mix them on the brush.

Tap.

Now then begin thinking about the lay of the land back here.

And put in all kinds of little things.

See?

Just little grassy areas.

Just tap and the more you tap this, the softer and more peaceful it will become.

See, just layer after layer, after layer and let it sort of slope downwards.

If it's going to be water down here; Normally water goes to the lowest, the lowest area it won't, it won't come up here on he hill just to look pretty for you.

Water's like me it's lazy.

Looks for the easiest way to get to the ocean.

There we go.

The big thing I wanted to show you, though, in this painting was the mountain.

This is one of the nicest little ways of making a very effective mountain that I think you'll ever find.

Okay, tell you want.

Maybe over here on the other side, maybe there's just a couple of little projections out in the water.

That'll sort of close that in, help bring all this together.

Put a little dark in, so your light will show.

And then come right back.

See?

Put a few little grass things on that.

Take a little Van Dyke Brown and just lay in a happy little, little bit of land right there.

Like so, like so.

There.

But if you, if you learn how to do these mountains then you won't ever have any problem with mountains.

They'll be easy for you from now on.

As I say that's probably, that's probably just about my number one thing that I, I read in letters is that "I'm having trouble making the snow break on the mountains or the rocks" or whatever they're trying to, people are trying paint.

So this I hope will cure that problem.

I'm putting a little White on here just to make a little, see, you just make little sheens on there.

Isn't that neat?

Just some straight Titanium White.

Looks like little, little ripples on the water.

Just floating across like that.

Take a clean knife, scrape a few little sticks, twigs trunks, all those happy little things and you have a finished painting.

I hope you've enjoyed this one.

Practice this new mountain thing a little bit and let me know how you do.

From all of us here, happy painting and God bless.