The Best of the Joy of Painting with Bob Ross

- Welcome back.

I'm certainly glad you could join us today.

Today is the last show of the 31st series.

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've got done today.

Today I've taken my standard ol' canvas, and I use an 18 by 24 inch but you use whatever size is convenient, and I've taken a little black and gray just so, and a foam brush, just a disposable foam brush, and I just sort of painted in a little scene here.

To make these little effects, I just took a natural sponge and just dobbed a little bit.

That's all there is to it.

Let that dry completely and then we've covered the entire canvas with a very thin coat of liquid clear.

So, it's all wet and ready to go.

And I'll show you a nice way of making a, just a gorgeous little painting that's very simple.

Let's start out today, I'm gonna to start with a small amount of the Indian yellow, don;t need much, just a little on the two inch brush.

Indian yellow is very transparent so we can just paint right over everything, doesn't matter.

Just let it go like something, there like that, that's all.

Maybe little touch of yellow ochre right above it, just to change the flavor a little bit.

And then I'll go into a little bit of the bright red and you decide what colors you wanna use, how strong you want'em to be or how weak, it's up to you.

There, something about like that.

Maybe even a touch of alizarin crimson right at like there.

But just let it go and we're just making little criss-cross strokes, very easy.

Okay.

Once again all these colors we're using are transparent enough that you can still see the just so right through'em, it's no big deal.

You're not gonna hurt a thing, just paint right over anything that's in your way.

See and already we have a pretty nice looking little sky.

Okay, we'll take some phthalo blue, crimson, phthalo blue and crimson, I want to make a little lavendery color but I want this to be to the crimson side so I put many times more crimson in it than blue.

There, the blue is much much stronger than crimson.

Now, let's take a little bit of that color.

Shoot, we ain't even have to wash the brush yet, and we'll go right up in here and let's just fill in the rest of this sky, something about like that.

This is just a lavender color, very pretty.

And we're painting right over liquid clear, there we are.

Be sure your brush is dry and free of paint thinner when you're doing this.

Liquid clear and paint thinner have a violent reaction so you don't want to put'em together.

Be sure your brush is dry as you can possibly get it.

Okay, maybe just a touch more of that, I like that.

There.

Okay, that is a beautiful color.

I like lavender, I really like lavender, purple, whatever you wanna call it.

Blue and crimson, that's what it is.

Now then, time to wash the old brush, and that's the part that's most fun.

Scrub the old brush in odorless paint thinner and we'll take and shake off excess.

(laughs) Beat the devil out of it.

Okay, let's have some fun.

Let's take a little bit of titanium white.

I'm just gonna tap a little right onto one corner of the brush, that's all there is to it, just tap a little.

Let's go up in here.

I'm gonna start right at the edge of this mountain with that titanium white and begin working that.

Now, titanium white is very opaque, it's very opaque, but when you have it this thin it's thin enough to still let a little bit of that show through.

There, see we can pull it like there's the sun rays coming through, there we are.

Just gives them impression that there's a beautiful glow going on back here.

M'kay, wash the old brush off, get it good and dry.

Now then, let's have some fun down here.

That's about all I'm gonna do for the sky.

I want this to look like it's just bathed in light and it'll give that impression that easy.

Okay, now then, down in here gotta decide what we're gonna do and we got some of that lavender color, that's sort of pretty.

Let's just cover some of this, let's just cover it.

Put a little bit of that down there so we have a base color and we'll stop it right along in there.

We don't want that to get up into the sky.

Just put that on there so when we put highlights over all this it'll pick up some of that color.

I need to mix up a little more, I didn't make enough.

Phthalo blue and alizarin crimson, and that's all there is to it, just mix it up, doesn't have to be well mixed.

That's good enough.

Now, there's a couple of big ol' trees here, we can go ahead sort of block those in.

See the basic shape's already there, takes very little color, just enough to create some little arms on'em, and that's all you need.

Hey, we better not leave him out, he get upset.

There we go, something about like that.

All right.

Now we got all of that blocked in.

All of it's covered with a little bit of lavender and we're ready to go.

Have to start making big decisions now.

There.

M'kay, gonna grab another ol' two inch brush.

I have several of them going here.

Let's take a little sap green, a little of the yellow, a little yellow ochre, all those yellows mixed together with a little sap green.

There, we'll just make all kinds of beautiful colors, mix them on the brush though.

Tap, push, give it a little push.

'Kay let's go up in here, now back in here we want to start, now you can do this with a one inch brush if you would like, can do easy.

There, see I just wanna start puttin' the impression of all kinds of little duders that are happening around in there.

Just change the flavor a little bit every now and then.

Your dark's already there so you don't have to worry about it.

There's a little tree that live back in there, these a far away just little soft trees that live back in there.

Little red every now and then.

There, see gives it sort of an autumn feel.

All right, maybe over here lives another one.

Boy there's one that's really red.

It's bright red, that's okay.

In our world we can have any color we want 'cause we're the boss, we can do it all.

All right.

Now then, let's start figuring out what's happening down here.

Just touch and begin tapping, just begin tapping, it's picking up that color that we've put on the canvas underneath there and the more you tap it, the more it'll pick it up and the color will just get darker and darker automatically.

So you have to make the big decision how dark you want it to be.

I'm just varying some of the colors when I go away, putting on a little bit of the yellows and the greens.

But think about the lay of the land, the way the land flows, I want the land to look like it's coming like that.

So that's what we'll do.

Now, if you have trouble making it stick add a little bit of paint thinner before you go through the paint to load your brush.

I mean repeat one word in there though, "little bit", takes very, very little.

Don't put much in there.

A little goes a long, long way.

'Kay, look at there, ain't that neat?

You can do this, you really and truly can do it.

Little practice, off you go.

Shoot, now, look at there, already have a lot of depth.

I'm gonna show you, I'm gonna show you.

I'm sorry I get excited sometimes.

I want to pull this tree down.

Now you sayin', "Bobby really cracked up now," but watch.

I know it's hard to see against all that dark but I've decided that tree should be in the foreground.

We had him in the background and we moved him 'cause in our world we can move trees, we can bend rivers, anything that we wanna do.

There, see?

All kinds of little duders.

I didn't paint over here very well so we'll just put a tree there and sort of fill that hole up.

Trees are wonderful for that.

There we go.

Hey, looks like a little meadow back here now.

Okay, just let your imagination take you to any land that you want to live in, any place that you wanna go.

All right.

Shoot, that's lookin' pretty good there.

Let's take our little script liner brush.

Take a little brown, let me put a little white over there too.

Now, we got a little brown and a little white.

I'm gonna make up a very thin, thin paint here, very thin.

M'kay, maybe I need to put a little black to gray it.

Ooh, that's perfect.

'Kay let's go up in here.

Now, in our world there's an old tree trunk in there.

Now, if your hand is a little nervous and you got a little shake this is a time to use it.

That way with just a plan ol' trunk in your tree.

Put something there that's got some interest to it.

And then we're gonna cover most of it up with leaves but some of it'll show .

This ol' tree says I want one too.

There, see you decide where they are.

There, maybe your tree don't even have any trunk in it.

Maybe you can't see it.

We know it has it but maybe you can't see it.

That's up to you too.

Anyway that you want it to be is just right.

There.

Maybe we'll give him one more little arm, one over here to hold up that ol' area.

All right.

Now then, let's begin to figure out where these little trees are.

Take a little of the yellow, little sap green, every once in awhile I'm gonna touch a little bit of red.

'Kay, let's go up in here.

Let' do this one.

Yeah.

start right up in here and just begin putting the impression of some little leaves on there that live right out in there.

Little more paint on the brush, there we are.

Don't be afraid to stop and load the brush frequently, just like we do here.

Sometimes you have to load it several times during one tree.

That's okay.

We're not in any hurry.

Well I'm in a hurry.

(laughs) 'Cause you know I gotta mean ol' director back here.

There we are.

I should talk about my mean ol' director a little bit.

She's really a very nice person and I pick on her 'cause she deserves it.

(laughs) This whole crew here where we film the show, some of the best people I've ever met, and I'd like to thank'em.

I don't do that often enough because without them there would be no Joy of Painting.

They are the best.

There we are.

See, got a little happy tree right there.

Let's go over here, change the flavor a little, put a little red in there, spruce it up some.

Let's go right up in here.

We'll put something on this little ol' tree, he don't wanna be left out, or I guess this is a big ol' tree.

But use just the corner of the brush, that's all you need.

Don't hit it full face on, just the corner.

And if you have a lot of paint and it's thinner than what's up there it'll come right off your brush and it'll work so well.

I think the greatest thing about this style of painting, it has allowed every person who wanted to put a dream on canvas to do just that.

You don't have to be blessed by Michaelangelo, don't have to go to school half your life, you can paint, and you could do a real nice job of it.

There, and I got another little ol' tree done.

Now, all we gotta do is start picking out the little things here and there.

I'm gonna add the least little touch of paint thinner, you might even wanna tap it on a paper towel, make sure you got all the excess out.

Can always go back and add a little more.

M'kay, a little more of the color and off we go.

Now, we'll start picking out individuals here.

There's a happy little bush, he lives right there, what a view he has.

That's where I wanna live, right there, that's the spot.

Think he has the best view in there, yeah.

I lived in Alaska for over 12 years and some of the most beautiful scenery in the world is there, absolutely.

As I mentioned earlier, this is the last show of the 31st series so it's always sort of a sad time when it comes to the last show.

But hopefully we'll have the opportunity to produce more and if you hadn't got the chance to see all of'em, 'cause it's over 400 shows now, do give you station a call.

Let'em know that you wanna see'em 'cause there available to'em.

There we are.

So I'm just putting layers, and layers, and layers of bushes and this is where all the mosquitoes live, like that.

There, this is a good place for my little squirrel to live, right here, my little pea-pot.

I got one more piece of film I wanna show you.

He's just such a cute little devil.

(laughs) Isn't he something else?

This is Peapod, the pocket squirrel.

There.

I really like these little creatures.

They bring a lot of joy to my life, a lot of joy.

Where I live a lot of the young people come over just to see the animals, see what kind of creatures Bob's got that day.

You can't handle a lil' squirrel like that, and grow up, and not like'em.

I don't believe you can.

And I think we need to learn to respect nature and all of God's little creatures.

And one of the ways that I like to do it is to bring you little characters like him.

Yeah, 'cause isn't he cute.

Well, that's a close up and a half there, isn't it?

That little devil.

Sometimes I have eight or ten of'em at one time that I'm raising and them I turn'em loose.

And we have a few little wild birds and all kind of things like that, whatever needs to be raised and taken care of, we'll do it.

It's my way of saying thank you.

'Cause a little squirrel of whatever you happen to have he allows you to share a little bit of his world for a few days.

And that's very special, not many people get to do that.

Let's go up here in this little bush.

I've got all these done while you was lookin' at the squirrel.

There little ol' tree right here we decided, he's a hangin' around, havin' a good time.

There he goes.

It's hard to believe you can take a two inch brush and do all this, isn't it?

Take a little phthalo blue and put it in there to make a very bright green.

One of them little hurt your eyes, don't want a lot of it but a little bit here and there.

Makes a nice green if you're doing spring time.

Very nice green, put a little more paint thinner on my brush just to get the paint a little thinner but it needs to be just a mall amount.

Don't overdo.

I know, I get excited, but I want it to work for you.

It's most important to me that this work for you.

It's just a natural place for a path.

Van dyke brown, dark sienna, yeah.

Little roll of paint on the knife, and let's go up in here, and let's put us in some brown paint, and let's make a path.

That looks like a little meadow that lives back in there and we need a way to get back in there.

I like to take my shoes off, just let your foots run naked through there.

That feels good on the bottom of your feet.

Have you ever done that?

Most people haven't, one time or another, whether they'll admit it publicly or not, they've just taken their shoes off and ran through meadow and I like it.

Okay, let's take some white, a little van dyke brown, a little dark sienna, mix'em together.

And put a little touch of the bright red in there too, Maybe a little more, I like that.

Experiment, just do crazy things.

What's the worst thing that can happen?

On this canvas, nothing.

Little roll of paint Barely touching, just let it graze.

Just like you're laying snow on a mountain but isn't this neat?

Using the black and the gray just so?

Sure makes painting easier.

We introduced black just so and gray just so quite awhile back and it has almost become a standard in the art world now.

I think everybody is using it now.

There.

Let's take a little bit more of the, of this green color, notice it's very thin.

Now then, I'm gonna set that down into the painting so we'll begin to put bushes that come up over it, distinctly up over the path and that'll push that little rascal right down in there.

There we go, wherever.

Little bright red and we'll just drop in some little duders, there, something like so.

You know I've mentioned before and this is serious but if you have time take a picture of what you're doing, send it to us.

We would love to see what you're doing, what kind of success you're having.

Little letter from you tellin' us how you're enjoying the show, what you would like to see.

If you would like to see something that I can't paint, shoot, we'll find somebody that can.

If you want flowers I'll bring my partner Annette back.

Maybe you've seen one of her flowers she did once before, white rascal can paint some flowers.

Or if you wanna see something else just let me know.

We really try to find shows that you will like, try to produce shows you'll like.

Put a little stick right there, something about like so, just a little duder, it lives in there.

Shoot, we got a minute left here.

Let's get crazy.

You know me.

Let's have us, yes, that lives.

I don't wanna kill the little bush, I like'em.

A little tree, big tree I mean.

See how them rascals grow on you?

And we'll have a little tree here, he needs a little friend, give'em a little friend.

There we are.

Let's make this a birch tree.

He would really stand out, white paint would really stand out against that color, There we are.

Look at that, they're easy to make.

Little bit on junior here.

There, everybody needs a friend, even ol' tree.

Okay now, take our lighter brush, paint thinner, wanna thin it down.

Thin some brown down, very, very thin, lot of paint thinner.

Let's put a little arm or two, maybe this tree don't have any leaves.

Maybe he's already retired for the year.

We'll just put him a few little arms up here, there we go.

And maybe in yours you'd like to have leaves on your tree, you can do that.

There are no rules here that say what you can or can't paint, you paint whatever you want.

There we are.

And we'll put another one right in there.

And something for ol', we called him junior, so he needs a little arm on'em, 'bout like that.

There we are.

'Kay, and maybe one more little, (grunts) there, all kinds of little things.

Let's take a little bit of paint thinner, little light color, and we'll put a few little sticks and twigs that live here and there.

We don't know where they are.

Put'em mostly in the dark areas though.

There.

Shoot, I think with that we 'bout have a finished painting.

Think I'll sign this one.

The ol' clock on the wall tells me it's about time to bring the show and the series to a close.

I really enjoyed being with you for the past 13 shows and I hope to see you again very soon.

If you get a chance stop by Branson, Missouri, say hello to us.

Until next time, I'd like to wish each and every one of you happy painting, God bless, and we'll seen you soon.

(upbeat music)