The Best of the Joy of Painting with Bob Ross

[Music] Welcome back, glad you could join me today.

You know, they say that time really goes by when you're having fun, and here we find ourself on our last show of this series.

So I thought today, you know, since I lived in Alaska so long, I'd do a special Alaskan painting.

So if you come on up here to the canvas, I'll tell you what we've already done.

Now, I've taken a black canvas, as you can see.

Now, we've painted this with just a flat, black acrylic paint, allowed that to dry.

And then, on top of that, I've put all different kinds of transparent colors.

I've put some, right in here, some Alizarin crimson, over in here some Phthalo green, Phthalo blue and green mixed all over the canvas.

So it's completely covered with a thick paint.

So it's all ready to go.

So let's have them graphically run all the colors across the screen that you need to paint this project with me.

And I think today, we'll do some Northern Lights.

So, come on up here and let's, let's get started.

I want to use the old fan brush today.

So, probably one of the best ways to do this is sort of take, and you can just, on this black canvas, you can draw in some basic shapes.

And if you've never seen the Northern lights, a lot of times, they're in what they call curtains or just layers.

Now if, in your part of the country, there's no such thing as Northern lights, you can do the same scene, leave the lights out, and maybe put a little moon in the sky, and it'll be just as effective, but once again, for my friends in Alaska, today, I want to do a Northern lights picture.

Start with the old fan brush, right into Titanium white.

Now we already have all those beautiful colors on the canvas, so all we need is white.

Let's go up here.

Now, decide where these curtains, or these lights are going to be, and just begin tapping, see.

All I'm doing is just tapping.

I'm tapping the color in and make your basic shapes, just very basic shapes.

And put a little more paint where you want it to be a little brighter.

We have one coming right across here, and I'm just tapping Titanium white on there.

Sometimes, there's little ridges and they bounce around, and there it comes, see, just right on around, right on around.

And maybe we will have three layers of lights in this painting, and you can have as many as you want or as few as you want.

It's up to you, up to you.

Now then, now then, this is where the fun starts.

Let's take a one-inch brush and I'm going to begin grabbing this and lifting it upward.

Just grab it and pop it, just pop it up.

Okay, there we go, now already you can see it begin picking up some of the different colors.

And here, like so, let's grab this one and lift it up.

Mm, well, Johnny Horton wrote a beautiful song about Northern lights.

The Northern lights were running wild in the land of the midnight sun.

And I lived there for over a dozen years, and that has to be, that has to be one of the prettiest countries in the world.

God was really having a good day when he made Alaska.

Now then, I'm going to take the two-inch brush and go all the way through this, and lift up, all the way through, follow the same angles all the way.

Look at that.

There you go, and you can pull these as high as you want them.

In some parts of the country, they don't see a lot of color in Northern lights.

They see maybe only whites or yellows, and you can do yours that way.

Where I lived, right outside of Fairbanks in a little town called North Pole, sometimes we would see lights in every color in the rainbow.

So that makes it a little more interesting.

So I figured if I did a bunch of colors, you would find your color in here somewhere.

Okay, you see that right in here, this is where the crimson was, and we have sort of a lavender feel in here and blue in here.

Over here, there's a little Phthalo green mixing with the Phthalo blue.

Makes some beautiful beautiful colors in the sky.

Let's wash the old brush.

Give it a shake, there.

[laughing] Just beat the devil out of it.

And no painting of Alaska would be complete without an almighty mountain.

Take a little bit of black, a little bit of Phthalo blue, and we'll even put a little Van Dyke brown in there, very dark.

Pull it out flat, cut across, get that little roll of paint right out on the edge of the knife.

Okay, let's go up here.

You have to make the big decision.

Where does your mountain live?

Maybe, right there.

It takes a very little paint because the canvas is already black.

There, now see, put little bumps and hills and valleys, whatever you want in your mountain.

Just drop it in there.

Like so, and scrape off all the excess paint.

You really, really can't scrape too hard.

Then we'll take a large brush, grab it and pull.

This just basically removes excess paint.

The more of this paint that you can get off, the easier the next layer is to stick.

So take off all of it you can get off.

This is also an excellent way, using brush strokes to begin laying out your highlights and shadows, see?

See how you can pull all kinds of effects?

There, maybe you want to have, see?

And you're not committed.

You can just keep changing this and playing with it.

Maybe you want a little shadow you can see, there.

It's that easy to find out how your highlights and shadows will look in there.

Pull it through or you can just keep going till you spend all day just playing there.

Okay, now then, let's use our old knife, and go into Titanium white and a little bit of blue, just a small amount of blue.

There, just enough to tint it good.

Pull it out very flat, as flat as you can get it.

Get tough with it, and come across.

Get that little roll of paint right out of the edge of the knife.

Let's go back up here.

Now then, let's have some snow just coming right down the side of this mountain, wherever you want it to go, no pressure, no pressure at all.

Just let it flow.

You want that paint to break, want all these little holes left in it.

There you go, see it?

And you can wiggle that knife and cause all kinds of little effects to happen.

Let it go.

Okay, right up here on the top, we want a little bit of snow right up here, there.

It comes right down, maybe it joins together.

You have to make big decisions here.

There we go.

Okay, now maybe, maybe there's some light striking right over here on that little ridge.

And let's begin with our shadows.

For the shadows, we'll take the blue, the white, mix it together.

Like so.

Alright, maybe we'll make that a little big lighter.

It's still a little dark for what I want.

That's much better.

Cut across it, our little roll of paint again, okay.

Now then, no pressure, no pressure, just let it barely caress the canvas.

Then just begin laying in all kinds of little things.

Anywhere you want, a little ridge, just drop it in.

This is your painting, your world.

And you can do anything that you want here.

A little bit right back here, see?

Now we can take this one and pull it distinctly through, and it pushes that one right back.

[chuckles] Did you know you had that kind of power?

That you push mountains around?

Boy, when I go home, the only thing I can push around is a chair but here, I can push around anything.

Mountains and trees and rivers.

There we go.

And we'll put a happy little peak right up there, right up there.

Now we're using a very firm paint here.

We want this paint to be as firm as possible.

Look at that.

Okay, now see this little point here, it needs to have its own private shadow.

And if it doesn't have its own shadow, then it won't stand out like an individual.

And you can just bounce it back and forth here and play.

Shoot, lookie there, maybe, maybe there's another one that's right there.

As many or as few as you want in your world.

This is your creation.

But each one of them, see here, now once again, right here, we need to have another shadow.

See, there we go, and all the time, this is mixing with that beautiful color that's underneath.

It allows all kinds of things to happen.

Now, let's take a clean, dry, two-inch brush and I'm going to gently gently tap, following the angles in the mountain.

Always follow your angles.

And tap more down here at the base than you do up here.

Up here, you just barely want to whisper it.

Down at the bottom, you want to tap it a little bit harder.

If you begin collecting some paint on your brush, just take, beat the devil out of it and that'll remove the excess paint right off your brush without going through a lot of that cleaning.

There we are, see how soft that's beginning to look.

Over here, you follow these angles.

Always pay attention to the angles in your mountain.

That's what you're looking for.

There, now then, very gently, lift upward.

This takes out all those little tap marks, softens, blends, creates the illusion of mist.

Just like so.

That easy, you have one fantastic mountain.

Big son of a gun.

There you go, mountain, there.

Okay, now we can play some more.

Let's find us a fan brush.

I think we'll just go right into this mixture we had before.

We made the mountain with it.

It was black, Phthalo blue, a little Van Dyke brown.

Just mix them on the brush.

Load that brush full of paint.

Look at all the paints in there.

Okay, let's go back up here.

Maybe there's some happy little trees live back here.

These are far away and all we're looking for is just little indications.

Little evergreens that are far, far back in the distance.

Far away.

There, there we go.

Okay.

Get a little more paint.

See, you're using the top part of that brush.

And just tap downward, that's all there is to it.

That's all there is to it.

Now, you don't want to kill all this misty area.

If you kill this mist, it's right up here, all that'll happen is these trees will run right into the mountain.

You want them to stay separated.

So don't kill your misty area.

Save them, they're precious, they're good friends.

Right here in this mountain area, they may be your best friends, so cherish them.

There we go, see that.

You get these too far apart, they're going to begin looking like fence posts.

[laughing] So if your, if your little evergreens that are far in the distance begin looking like fence posts, chances are, you just don't have enough.

Add a few more and see if it doesn't help take care of that little problem.

There we go.

And that easy, we got some happy little evergreens living way back there in the distance all the way across.

Now then, we can take another fan brush, and I have several of them going here.

So I don't have to, don't have to continually wash them.

We'll take a little blue and white.

This was just a little of the shadow color that was left over, let's go up here.

I want to just pop in some indication of some happy little tree trunks, just on the bottom.

Touch it, pull it straight up.

Just touch, pull straight up very lightly, very lightly.

Just enough to create a little, little light area down here at the base of these trees.

Just makes it a little prettier.

See, you're playing light against dark, dark against light continually, continually.

That's what painting's all about.

Now then.

Now maybe, maybe, way back there in the distance, we can start playing with a little detail.

We'll take that same old black color.

Just put a lot of paint in the brush, just black, blue, a lot of paint.

Lookie there, that brush is really full, okay.

Let's go right up in here, and we'll just pop in a few little, few little bushes.

Don't want to kill all the little tree trunk area that you made there.

Just a few, see that little light area now, it's your separator, it's your divider.

There, just like so.

Now then, I'll go back to this fan brush that's got mainly white on it.

Okay, tell you what I'm going to do.

I'm going to add a least little touch of the liquid white to it to make it a little thinner.

Let's go back up here.

Now then, I want some, I want some bright things happening here.

So I'm going to take this and begin pushing upward to create just some happy little grassy areas back here.

Allow it to mix with that color that's underneath, all the blues, blacks, so it creates all kinds of little things, there we go.

Maybe it comes right along in there, wherever you want it.

Maybe there's one out there.

I'll have this one go up.

Just sort of make a decision, let it happen.

Now then, let's take a two-inch brush and I'm just going to tap it into a little of the Titanium white, just gently tap it, you see, okay?

Let's go up here.

Now, I want a happy little reflection to live right underneath here.

All you need is white because the color's already on the canvas.

Just pull it straight down, straight down, and start where you want it to be the brightest and then work outward in both directions.

And automatically, it'll get darker as it works away from that area.

Now with a clean brush, pull it down firmly.

Like so, just pull it straight down, and then go lightly across, look at that, look at that.

Okay, now then, I'm going to take a little bit of liquid white and a little bit of Titanium white and mix it together, pull it out flat.

Get a little roll of paint on the knife, a tiny little roll, there it is.

And let's go up here and just put the indication of a little snow that's laying right along the base of that.

I'm just barely touching the canvas.

Just barely touching it.

And allow it to mix with that color that's underneath.

Don't fight these.

Let them, just let them happen.

There we are, okay.

Now maybe, I'll tell you what, let's play a little, with the blue and the black on the fan brush, maybe right here lives an evergreen that's a little bigger.

He's a little touch closer.

I'm going to drop him in right there just like that.

And he lives right out there.

We'll give him a little friend.

We don't want him to be lonely.

He's just sitting right here watching the Northern lights or aurora borealis, whatever you want to call it, easier to say Northern lights.

Now I'm going to take a little touch of that blue and white mixture, load in on the fan brush, and come right along here and just put the indication of a few little highlights.

These trees are far away.

I don't want too many.

If you get too many, just take your dark paint, go right back over them, it'll eat it right up.

All right, all right, now then, let's have some fun.

Let's put in some bigger trees, same old color.

Just use the blue and the black, mix it well.

Okay, let's go right up here.

Maybe, yep, I see a big tree that lives right there.

Start with just the corner of the fan brush.

Work it back and forth, back and forth.

And as you work down the tree, add more and more pressure.

Down here, you're getting tough.

Oh, you're really taking out all your frustrations down here.

There we go.

Just really bang it in there.

And maybe there's another tree here.

See, start with the corner back and forth, back and forth.

See, I think everything's like people.

I've made so many fantastic friends with painting that I think everything's got to have friends, trees and bushes and everything needs friends.

Everybody needs a friend.

I'm going over to the other side over here.

Shoot, let's get crazy, I want one that goes way up and it goes all the way through this Northern light.

Now there's as many different ways to paint Northern lights as there are painters.

This is just one interpretation.

And this is what they look like to me where I live.

It really makes a beautiful painting.

And these black canvases, when you change the light source, the painting changes.

You put this under three different lights and you'd almost, you'd almost believe you had three different paintings, it changes that much.

It's almost unbelievable.

And at home, try these black canvases with any transparent color.

Now, I've got letters that have asked me how do I tell what color is transparent?

There's a very very simple test.

In fact, I'll tell you what, while the camera's right there, I'll show you.

Take a color like blue.

Bring the camera right in here, so we can see.

See, if you take this blue and rub it on here, that still looks black.

That color is transparent.

Now then, let's take a color, okay, let's use bright red.

That's a very opaque color.

Now.

When you put it there, whoo, see what happens?

That color is not transparent.

It will not do for what we're trying to do here.

That's a good test.

Of course, now we got a red spot on the canvas.

Hey, paint another tree.

Trees [chuckles] cover up a multitude of sins.

We'll have another one, yeah, we'll put him right here.

He's right there.

There he is.

This is still the blue and the midnight black.

Just blue and black.

Okay, I'm going to get a one-inch brush.

We'll use it for a little bit.

Take that same color, the blue and the black.

Shoot, we'll grab a little bit of this lighter color and put it in there.

Pull that brush in one direction.

Load it full of paint.

It's a very dark blue.

Okay, let's go right up here.

Now maybe we're going to have some happy little snow covered bushes.

So all we're doing is just beginning to lay in some of the very basic shapes here.

Not looking for detail yet, only very basic shapes.

Very basic.

Okay, let's go right over in here.

Maybe there's a happy bush, yep, that's right there.

Comes right on out.

Boy, just wherever you want them, wherever you want them.

You can have as many or as few.

Just, just let your imagination take you.

If you've never been to Alaska, you ought to go see it, it's almost unreal.

I was born and raised in Florida and [chuckles] I was almost 20 years old before I ever saw snow.

And my favorite uncle, Uncle Sam, he sent me up there in January, thought that would be funny.

[laughing] It was funny.

I got off the plane, the first thing I did was stepped on the ice and fell on my bottom because I didn't know how to walk on ice.

Now I'm taking some liquid white and going right into Titanium white.

Pull it in one direction.

We'll put a little tiny bit of blue in that, one direction.

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

It's really full, okay, let's go up here.

Now then, you begin picking out where all these little bushes live, and just barely touch, give it a little push.

And create all these little, snow-covered bushes.

In Alaska, they have ice fog.

And ice fog occurs normally when it's about 30 below or colder.

And it covers everything, everything with frost.

It is so beautiful.

Trees look like they're in full foliage.

It's so beautiful, and then the light plays through it and these, all these little, ice-covered frosty things, they act like prisms, and they break up the light and you see all colors in the trees in the dead of winter.

You can see, just oh, you have to go see it.

I can't, can't explain it all to you.

So pretty, but there's a nice bush.

Just grows right out of that brush.

And we'll put another one right there.

There they go, just drop them in.

Just happy little bushes, happy little bushes.

There.

Well, with the completion of this painting, this will end the eighth "Joy of Painting" series.

It's hard for me to believe that we have over a hundred shows now, over a hundred shows.

Mm.

Take a little blue here, put a little highlight on these trees.

I really hope you've got to see all the shows, but if there's any of them that you've missed, and you'd like to see them, give your station a call, let them know.

Let them know what you want to see.

And when they need some help, give them a hand.

There we are, let's go over to this tree.

Don't want him to be left out.

There, just here and there, don't kill all the dark contrast.

That's what makes it pretty.

And you know me, I got to have a little cabin in here.

So maybe, with all this paint I have on here, I'm going to scrape out just the basic shape to get rid of that loose paint.

It's also a good way to lay out your initial cabin shape.

Start with a little bit of Van Dyke brown and I'll mix some dark sienna right in that.

Just mix them together, pull it across.

We need a little front on that cabin.

Got a bit right along here.

You know, and as we're winding down this series, I'd like to take just a minute and thank the people here at the television station.

We have one of the finest crews in the country.

And they make some of these beautiful television shows.

And you never see them and they never get a thank you, but if it wasn't for them, there wouldn't be any show.

A little bit of brown and white here, just to put some highlight on him.

Give him a little door.

[Bob makes "bloop" sound] Now then, I'll tell you what, let's put some snow up here on his roof, [Bob makes "bloop" sound] just like so.

And that gives us a quick little cabin.

We can just bring some snow right down like that.

See how easy that is?

Let's put some snow over here on the other side of the roof.

We don't want [chuckles] that one to be left out.

Put that wherever you want it.

Okay, maybe some's coming there, just like that.

See, and pay attention to your angles when you're laying the snow.

Angles are very important, very important.

There we go.

See, just put all kinds of little snow things there.

Okay, let's go back in here.

Pick up some of the liquid white.

Go right into my Titanium white.

Load the brush full and let's pop a few more little bushes right in.

Work in layers, completing the most distant part of your painting first, and working forward, just like so.

A few little bushy things over in here, and we're on the verge of having a completed painting.

Then take the knife and scratch through.

Let some of these little sticks and twigs show.

And this one's about done.

Once again, I'd like to thank you for being with me during this eighth "Joy of Painting" series.

We have the ninth series under production already.

So we'll see you again.

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

[announcer] To order a 256 page book of 60 Joy of Painting projects or Bob's detailed 3 hour workshop DVD Call 1-800-Bob-Ross or visit BobRoss.com [music] [music]