- Hi, welcome back.

I'm sitting here playing with a couple of the cutest little characters that God has ever made.

These are a couple of little baby flying squirrels.

Tiny little rascals, they're about six weeks old.

Look at that.

Aren't they some of the most precious little things you've ever seen.

There, turn around here so we can see you.

We call them Slim and Trim.

There.

Say hello, guys.

As I say, these are little baby flying squirrels.

They might be the most numerous squirrel there is, but you don't see them very often because they're nocturnal, and they hide all the time.

Okay, guys.

You wanna sit in my pocket while we do this?

Here, you jump right in there.

That's what's so great about them, you can just put 'em in your pocket.

There, we'll let you sit right in there.

These are little baby pocket squirrels too.

Tell you what, let's start out and have them write 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 up here.

I have my standard old 18 by 24 inch pre-stretched double prime canvas, and I've just covered it with a very thin coat of liquid white.

So it's all wet and slick, and it's ready to go, and I thought today, we'd just do a fantastic little painting.

It's very easy, and think you'll enjoy it.

Let's start with a little Prussian blue on the old two inch brush, just a little bit.

Something like so.

And we'll go right up in here, and using our little crisscross strokes, we'll just do a quick little sky, just like so.

Now, the paint is continually mixing with the liquid white, and automatically, it'll get lighter and lighter in value as we work down toward the horizon.

And as you know, in a landscape, that's exactly what we're looking for.

There we are, something about like that.

Okay.

Now, we'll take a little bit more of the Prussian blue, and let's just put a little bit on the bottom.

We might end up with a little water down here.

I'm not really sure yet.

We'll make that decision in a little while.

Right now, we don't have to make any big decisions.

But just in case, we'll have something.

Hope you like those little flying squirrels.

I think they're sorta neat.

They are beautiful little creatures.

Okay.

And I borrowed those from the bird lady here in Muncie who's taking care of them and raising them.

Her name is Diana Shaffer, and she works with all kinds of animals, and when we come here to do the show, she loans them to me sometimes so I can share them with you.

So we'll have to send her a thank you card.

There we are.

Just beat the devil out of it.

I thought maybe today we'd do some, let's do some big mountains.

Great big old beautiful mountains.

I'm starting with midnight black.

And a little touch of Prussian blue in it, but mostly midnight black.

Cut off a little roll of paint.

Let's go right up in here, and we have to make our first major decision.

Maybe that old mountain lives right there.

We'll start out, put a little peak in there, it doesn't matter.

Just sort of make a decision in your world, put 'em in wherever you think they should live, then that's exactly where they should live.

Maybe something right along in there.

Tell you what, let's have some fun.

Let's take a little bit of the titanium white and just do something like that.

Just begin, maybe, I know, maybe there's a glacier up in here.

That easy, we'll begin laying that in.

Then we can put a few little highlights on the mountain, just like so.

There.

And big decisions, we'll make later.

We'll take a little white, put a little black with it, make a gray color, and with that gray color, gonna take, and with that, we'll add a few little highlights here and there on the old mountain.

Just a few little things, maybe there's one there.

We'll let it come right down to that glacier.

There we go.

Just put a highlight here and there.

This looks like some of the mountains that live in Alaska, where I used to live.

There.

Something about like that.

Back to our black, and we'll start right in here.

See?

And we'll sort of just make a little bowl shape in that mountain to hold that glacier in so it doesn't get away.

Sometimes them rascals, they'll get away from you.

There.

That easy.

I like big old mountains like this.

As I say, I lived in Alaska for a long time, and you see sights like this just about on a daily basis.

And I think, when God made Alaska, he was having one of his better days.

It is the most gorgeous country.

(grunts) I get excited just thinking about it.

There.

Somebody told me I should work for the Department of Tourism in Alaska, as much as I talk about it.

That's true, I just think it was beautiful.

There we are, back to my black.

And let's come right up in here and maybe, shoot, we'll get a little crazier, it doesn't matter.

It's our world, we can do it any way that we want to.

Little duder there, maybe a little something in here.

And off we go.

Okay, a little bit of our gray and white.

Put a few little highlights on here, I don't want a lot of highlights on this, just a few.

Then maybe out here, have a few little highlights that live right up on top of this mountain.

Sort of bring that together.

Shoot, we're in business.

As I say, though, these are really fun mountains to do.

Try some of these.

So often we just do the mountains that have snow on 'em, but do mountains that have big glaciers in 'em.

There.

Little bit more of the titanium white, and we'll just let this just drip right around the base of those mountains.

That easy, no pressure.

No pressure at all.

Just sort of let it float right around there.

Maybe comes right on down in here somewhere.

And let's take our two inch brush, and I'm gonna begin tapping.

I wanna create the illusion of mist down at the base here.

The illusion of mist, little white on the brush.

We'll make some big misty areas that just float right there.

All right.

Something about like that.

Just bring 'em all together.

Little more of the titanium white, I'm just using titanium white right on the corner of the brush, and we'll make all those beautiful misty areas very lightly, very lightly.

Can blend it, bring it together.

Shoot, that's quite a little mountain we've got there today.

I like him.

Maybe a little mist right in here too.

It's a nice way of cleaning up the foots on this mountain.

'Kay, now then, I just wanna wash the brush.

As you know, we wash our brushes with just odorless paint thinner.

(chuckles) And beat the devil out of 'em.

Okay, my two little guys are still here, by the way.

I'm gonna take some black, some Prussian blue, be right back, get a little sap green.

Maybe my crimson or two, just touch.

Let's go up in here.

Let's have, in our world, maybe a little foothill that lives back here, and it's got trees and bushes growing on it, all those happy little things.

There.

Just to push all that back.

All right.

And you can do this with a two inch brush, or you could do it with a fan, it doesn't matter.

Two inch brush was handy, and it works wonderfully.

Now, let me grab the old knife, mix up some color here.

Let's have Prussian blue, black, get a little bit of that thalo green.

A little Alizarin crimson, and some brown, van Dyke type.

'Kay, let's wipe the knife off.

Try a fan brush, and we'll load it full of color, lot of paint on it, lot of paint.

Let's go up in here, and maybe back here in our world, there's a few little evergreen trees.

they're just poking their heads up.

There's one, and we'll give him a friend that lives right about there.

It doesn't matter.

You decide how many or how few trees live in your world.

About like that.

'Kay, maybe there's one there too.

Now sometimes, when you're painting over a lot of paint like this, it's sort of difficult to make it stick.

If you have that problem, add the least little touch of paint thinner to your brush.

Doesn't take much, just a little, and then it'll stick right on top of all that white, or whatever color you happen to have up there.

Always refer back to our golden rule, thin paint will stick to a thick paint, thin to thick.

Now, I'm gonna grab another old two inch brush here.

We'll go right into a little bit of that color, and then right into cadmium yellow.

I wanna make various shades of green, but I want 'em pretty dark, pretty dark.

'Kay, let's go right up in here.

We'll just use that same brush, and I'm just gonna tap an indication of a few highlights on some of the larger trees that live back here in our world.

There.

'Kay, maybe a little Indian yellow.

You decide, whatever you want.

But I want to keep 'em fairly dark, I don't want 'em to get too bright, too far away.

There we go, little bit more in there.

Isn't that neat?

And you can do this, you really and truly can do this.

I know, you're saying, "I could never paint, "never draw a straight line."

You can, this is one style of painting that is for every person.

I've never seen anyone who couldn't do this.

There.

There's even a lady in Boston who paints this method, and she's blind.

If she can do it, whew, anyone can do it, 'cause she's wonderful.

She is wonderful.

I'ma take just a small amount of titanium white on a clean, I've got another little two inch brush here, I wanna create a little bit of mist floating down here at the base of this.

This is just straight titanium white, just tapping it right in there, have a good time.

About like that, see?

But it'll help create that illusion that it's very misty.

Maybe even a cloud fell out of the sky, and it's living down here now.

Well, it could happen.

(laughs) Maybe.

All right.

Can't ever tell.

There we go take a little bit of this dark color.

What do they say?

You don't have to be crazy to do this, but it helps?

And let's go back up in here.

Maybe there're some little grassy areas that come right out of there.

Don't wanna cover up all the mist that we made.

That mist is a good friend, wanna save it.

Wanna save it.

Just happy little grassy areas.

Maybe we'll have water.

If you want water, all you have to do, just pull down a reflection, and go across, and almost instantly, you have water.

Now then, shoot, we're getting crazy here.

Maybe there's a little bush that lives right there.

About like that.

Take the two inch brush that has the greens on it, the little highlight colors, and we can highlight that rascal a little bit.

That easy.

Okay, now.

I'm gonna dip the brush into the least little amount of pain thinner.

Once again, if it's a little bit thinner, then it'll just go right on top of there without any problem.

All right, just tap a little color into the bristles, and off we go.

I just wanna put the indication of some little grassy areas here.

Too far away to have much detail, but a little bit.

Little bit.

Just some happy little things that are living right there.

All right.

You decide where they are, how many they are, where they live.

Okay, maybe, about in there.

And once in a while, maybe we'll pick up a little darker color.

Now, you could lift this sometime just to create the illusion of little things that are growing back in there.

Little upstanding rascals.

'Cause they exist.

You have 'em in nature.

All right.

Take a little of the liquid white, pull it out as flat as I can get it, cut across.

Then we can come back in here, and we'll put in a little water line, just a little water line.

This is just a light area between a couple of darks to break it up.

Something like so.

There we are.

Now what happens if you make one that you don't care for?

It's hard to get rid of, let's make one intentionally.

There's one I don't like.

Now, if you do that, take your brush, grab it, and just pull straight down, see?

It just works right out, don't worry about it.

There.

You know, in some of the series a long time ago, we did a couple of shows that just showed how to correct mistakes.

Maybe we'll do some more of those.

I did that because I've got several letters recently asking what happens if you do a water line that you're not happy with.

How can I fix it?

Now you know.

It's one of the easiest things there are to fix.

'Cause we don't make mistakes, we absolutely don't.

We have a happy accident every so often.

But that's it, that is it.

Scratch in a few little sticks, and twigs, and arms, and legs on some of these trees.

Shoot, we're in business.

You guys still in there?

Yeah, I see.

Some blue and some black, little more of the thalo green, a little crimson.

Absolutely adore those little flying squirrels.

They have to be some of the cutest creatures God's ever made.

They are precious.

And we'll see if Diana'll let me take these home back to Florida with me, but I know she won't.

It's a good thought though.

We'll load a lot of the dark color into the brush.

Something like so.

Let's make a big evergreen.

Whee, ready?

How big?

Real big?

That big?

It goes right off the canvas.

Maybe there's a little bit of the trunk showing right there.

Got a little naked part.

You can do that, you can do that.

There he comes.

Big old heavy tree.

Strong tree.

And in here, we could care less.

We'll separate all this with highlights, we don't care.

The only thing you're worried about is the basic shape, basic design of the old tree.

You know me, I think everybody needs a friend, so we'll give him a little friend that lives right here.

There, that's his friend.

They get along well together.

What a view.

They can look out over here at these beautiful mountains with the snow and the glaciers.

(grunts) I wanna live there too.

I'ma take a big brush, that's too slow.

Load it full of color.

What the heck, maybe there's a big old tree that lives here, and he's got a friend there.

Just make a decision.

Just make a decision, as I say, over and over, each of us will see nature through different eyes, and you should paint what you see.

Put a big one there.

And whatever you feel, that's what you should paint, 'cause a hundred years from now, somebody'll look at your painting, and they'd say, "Boy, he was having a good day today.

"He really felt good."

All right, take a little white, little dark sienna, mix 'em together, maybe a little more.

You can put a little van Dyke in there too.

Oh, pretty color.

Little roll of paint.

And let's go up in here, let's put a little indication here and there, you don't have to put the whole thing in, of tree trunks.

Just indications.

Just a few little things, don't put too many, 'cause you're not gonna see the entire tree trunk.

I'ma make that a blue spruce.

In this series, I've made several blue spruce.

I'm gonna take some white, mixed with liquid white, a little touch of the thalo blue.

I like thalo blue, isn't that a beautiful color?

Whew.

(grunts) All right.

Let's go right up in here.

Now, with that thalo blue, let's just go right along in here, and put the indication in of a few highlights.

There, darker, darker, darker down toward the bottom.

And this little tree says, "Give me some highlights too," so we will.

The little squirrels have to live up here in these trees.

Now, we'll just take a one inch brush, what the heck, dip it into the liquid white, a little bit of that dark color, pull it in one direction, one direction only.

One direction, load a lot of color.

Let's go up here.

And with that, we can come back in here, and we can begin putting highlights on all these little bushes and trees.

Do one little bush and tree at a time, though.

Don't get greedy.

I know, a little yellow ochre.

I know, sometimes it gets working good, and it's hard to stop with just one.

Take your time.

You don't have a mean old director at home that's on your case.

You can take your time.

There.

Maybe a little touch of the bright red right there on the end of that one to make it look like maybe some little red flowers, they're just living right out here.

'Kay, a little touch of the paint, I'm gonna grab some sap green, some nice sap green.

There's a little bush.

I like to paint bushes and trees.

Think I told you the story in one of the earlier shows, in a different series, that years ago I studied portraits, and after a long time, my portrait teacher took me aside one night, he said, "Bob, I gotta tell you the truth."

He said, "I want you to go paint bushes and trees, "'cause that's where your heart is.

"Leave portrait painting to someone else."

And I have, I've taken his advice, and I get along much better with bushes and trees.

There.

And playing with little squirrels.

I like all these little animals.

They're my friends.

My house looks like a zoo sometime, I have so many of 'em.

And then as soon as they get big enough to make it on their own, off they go.

But you wouldn't believe the menagerie of animals that lives around my house that we've turned loose over the years.

And they come back, and I'm a soft touch.

Always have food out there for 'em, and that's okay.

Long as I have food, they will.

Let's take some van Dyke, some dark sienna, mix 'em together, get a little roll of paint on the knife.

We gotta have a way to get up here.

Maybe there's a big trout lives out here in this river.

We might want to come catch him.

But I think everybody should, when they catch a fish, they should just put a band-aid on him, wish him well, and put him back in the water.

Come back and catch him again.

Getting hard to find big fish anymore, they've all been caught.

So any time I catch one, I just sorta put him back in the water and wish him well, tell him I'll see him another day.

Little brown and white, off we go, little roll of paint again.

Barely touch, just graze, like that.

There.

Come back with our little brush that we were making bushes with, maybe I'll put a little more liquid white on it.

All right, make it very thin.

Grab a little sap green, there.

All right.

Then we go up in here, and we can begin picking out little individual bushes and trees that live right here.

There they come.

The path goes behind that one right there.

We don't know where it goes now, just sorta sneaks away.

Sneaks away.

Maybe there's another one here, like that.

Wherever you want 'em.

Hi, guys.

(chuckles) Little squirrel just looked out of my pocket at me here.

There we go.

They are absolutely precious.

I'm gonna have to talk some more trash to Diana and see if I can take one home.

Doubt if they'd let me get on the airplane with it.

Do you want to go to Florida, huh?

No.

Okay.

That's a good thought anyway.

Okay, couple little ones here, just to sort of lay the path down into the painting.

That's all we're really doing at this point.

About like that.

All right.

And we can take the little script liner brush, put some paint thinner on it, and make the paint very thin.

Almost the consistency of ink, but not quite.

Turn the bristles in there to bring it to a nice, sharp point.

'Kay, let's go up in here, and here and there, and there and here, we can put in the indication of a few little sticks and twigs.

You decide where they live in your world.

However many you want, that's exactly the right number.

Exactly the right number.

Take our knife, just a clean knife, and you can scrape in as many sticks or twigs as you want.

Like that.

I think with that, we've about got a completed painting.

Let's take a little bright red, a little paint thinner.

I think we're ready for a signature on that one.

We'll just make the paint good and thin, and we'll come right up in here, and we'll sign that little rascal.

Really hope you've enjoyed this little painting.

Try these mountains.

They're fantastic, a lot of fun to do, and you can do 'em.

And after you finish, if you have time, take a photograph and send us.

All of us here at the station, we'd love to see your results.

Until then, we'd like to wish each and every one of you happy painting, and God bless, my friend.

(end theme music)