- Hello, I'm Bob Ross.

And I'd like to welcome you to the 14th Joy of Painting series.

First of all, I'd like to thank you for inviting me back for another series of painting shows.

If this is your first time with us, then let me extend a personal invitation for you to get out your brushes and paint along.

Or I'll tell you what, or just drag up the old easy chair and spend a relaxing half hour enjoying some of nature's masterpieces.

We're painting with about a dozen oil colors, a few unorthodox brushes, and each show I'll try to show you how easy it is for you to paint and how much fun it can be.

So I'll tell you what, let's go on up here to the canvas and get started.

Now, I've already covered the canvas with a nice thin, even coat of liquid white.

The liquid white just makes the canvas wet and slick.

It allows us to actually blend color right on the canvas, and it really makes our painting much, much simpler than traditional methods.

So I'll let you what, let's start out and have them run all the colors across the screen that you need at home to paint along with me.

And they'll come across in the same order as I have them on the palette starting with the white and working around.

And while they're doing that, let's go on up here and let's get started.

And we'll do a, let's just do a happy little scene today.

I'll show you a very simple scene that you can do and you'll enjoy.

Let's start off today with an ol' 2-inch brush and go right into, right into a small amount of the phthalo blue.

Doesn't take a great deal, just a little, and just tap a little color into the bristles.

By tapping, that assures a nice even distribution of color all the way through the bristles.

There we go.

Let's go right on up here.

Now, let's start right up at the top, and we'll use little criss-cross strokes, just making little X's and go all the way across the top.

See there?

That easy.

That's all you have to do.

Now, the blue in your brush is continually, continually mixing with the liquid white that's already on the canvas, so that way it blends automatically as you work downward.

And at a landscape, it should always get lighter toward the horizon.

That helps create the illusion of depth and distance in your painting.

There we go.

Just little criss-cross strokes like so.

Okay, maybe about down like that.

Now, I thought today we'd put a happy little cloud in the sky.

If you're going to put clouds in the sky, then you might wanna make your sky a tiny bit darker so the clouds will stand out.

You need the dark in order for a light to show against it.

There.

Okay, now very gently I'll just go all the way across, and that just removes the brush strokes and brings everything together.

And that easy, we have a very nice little sky.

Tell you what, while we have that blue on the brush, I'm gonna go right back into my phthalo blue, and I'm gonna reach right next door here and grab the least little touch of the phthalo green.

Very small amount, doesn't take much.

It's very strong, very strong.

Okay, let's go back up here.

Now maybe, maybe we'll have a little water in this painting.

So I'll start from the outside and pull inward.

Pull it across like so.

Pull it across, there we go.

See, if you start here and go across, it leaves a big distinct line which is very hard to blend out, so come from the outside in, and that way you don't have that distinct line.

And this little area that's left in here, if everything works just right, it'll look just like a little sheen of light coming across your water when you're all finished.

Okay.

And you can take a little bit of this color, and bounce it back up here in the sky if you have some left on the brush.

It doesn't matter.

The big thing that we try to teach you here is to enjoy what you're doing and to have fun.

Painting should make you happy.

Should make you happy.

Okay, let's wash the brush.

That might be the most fun part of this whole technique.

We wash our brushes with odorless thinner, shake them off.

I have a box down here, and I just shake the brush into the box and, and beat the devil out of it.

Now with a nice clean, dry brush let's go right back over this and just blend it together.

The light spot will remain in your painting.

You don't have to worry about it; it'll stay there.

And you can blend the sky to whatever degree that you want it.

Okay.

Now then, that's just to knock off any excess paint that's on the brush.

It's easier than cleaning it.

We said we'd have a happy little cloud in this painting, so we'll use a fan brush today.

You can do this with, oh with a 1-inch brush or a 2-inch brush.

I just picked up the fan brush, so let's try that.

Load a lot of the titanium white into it.

It's a very firm paint, and use just the corner of the brush and just make little circles, just happy little circles.

little tiny circles.

See there?

Little tiny circles.

There.

We'll just let him float right on off the canvas.

You have to make big decisions.

This piece of canvas is your world, and you have to decide, you have to decide where things live in your world because you have unlimited power here.

You can do anything that you wanna do.

Anything that you wanna do.

There, you're only restricted here by your imagination.

Okay, wash off our fan brush.

Then I just dry the fan brush on a paper towel.

Now, back to our 2-inch brush, we'll take just the top corner, and we're gonna blend the base of the clouds out.

Tiny little circles using just the top corner of the brush.

Then grab it and fluff it, tease it, pull it up a little, and then very lightly, very lightly, three hairs and some air, just go across.

Isn't that easy?

You've built a beautiful little cloud.

Same thing over here, just the corner of the brush, Just to stir it up a little, lift it, lift it, and then blend it.

There you go.

And that quick, you have a couple of happy little clouds that live in your sky.

Let's build us a little mountain today.

For that, I'll use some some prussian blue.

We'll take a little midnight black, some Van Dyke brown, a little alizarin crimson, what the heck.

What the heck?

The main thing we're looking for here is a good, dark color.

Pull it out as flat as you can get it.

Just really, really exert some force.

Go straight down with the knife.

There, cut across, and we get a tiny roll of paints right on the edge of the knife.

Now then, this is where you have to make a big decision.

Where does your mountain live?

Maybe in our world our mountain's gonna live, does now, right there.

With a firm pressure, firm pressure, push that paint right into the fabric.

There we go.

Just right into the fabric.

Act like you're trying to push a bull through.

You're not gonna hurt it.

It's strong.

Very strong.

Okay, now then, maybe there's another little bump there, and you decide.

Whatever you want.

Scrape off all the excess paint.

You can hear how hard I'm scraping.

There.

Really get in there and get tough with it.

There we go.

Now we'll take our 2-inch brush, and we wanna grab it and pull it.

I'm still applying a great deal of pressure here.

Grab it, pull firmly downward.

That helps create that illusion of mist at the base of your mountain.

There we go.

See there?

That's all there is to it.

Just give it a pull.

And by using the shadows and highlight shapes here that are created by the brush, you can lay out your entire mountain without ever being committed.

There we go.

See?

You can just lay them out and change them and move them.

That's a super way to cheat a little bit, and there's no such thing as cheating in painting.

If it works for you, and it makes you feel good, then it's just right.

There we are, let's wash the brush.

Shake it off and there we are.

We have the strangest-looking camera men in television.

All of them have these weird colored freckles.

Then we'll take just titanium white, pull it out flat, take a cut across, and once again, our small roll of paint.

It's so important to load that knife correctly.

Go right up here, touch, no pressure, no pressure.

There.

Just let the knife float.

Just let it float right down the side of the mountain.

But no pressure.

If you apply a lot of pressure, it's gonna look just like you're icing a cake.

You're not gonna have all this breaking in here, the holes left in it.

The other problem that people experience a great deal is they use a paint that's too thin.

If you use a thin paint, it's just gonna turn to mud, and then you're gonna be unhappy with me, and I really, I really want this to work for you.

Get a paint that's very dry and very firm.

That's most, most important.

There.

Now then, before we get too far along, get carried away here, let's put a little shadow in there.

and just take just a little bit of the, a little bit of blue, a little blue, a little white.

There.

Just mix it like so.

Pull it out.

Once again, our little roll of paint.

That's so important.

Now, go right up in here.

No pressure once again, no pressure.

Let that knife just flow.

See there?

And we put this shadow color at the opposite or opposing direction from the highlight.

And maybe right up in here.

There.

See there?

Isn't that fantastic that you can build a mountain that easy?

And you really can.

You really can.

Every day I get letters from people all over the country who never, never in their life suspected they could paint such beautiful paintings.

And just from watching the different shows that we've put on.

They're doing fantastic works.

Absolutely fantastic.

And the more you practice, the easier it becomes and the better you get.

If there's a secret to this style of painting, or any style of painting, it's practice, that's all.

There's no big mysteries here.

We show you how to do it.

All you need to do it just practice a little.

Okay, make sure your brush is good and dry, and I really want to help create that illusion of mist down here.

All we're doing is tapping, just tapping, following the angles and lifting upward.

See there?

Just tap just the base of it and give it a little, little upward lift.

Over here, follow these angles.

There.

Now sometimes you can take and have a little fun.

Maybe take a little blue on the brush, but watch here.

Look at the power you have.

You can bring that mountain right around.

See there?

You can make it go right around corners, and it helps create a little more interest in your mountain.

Of course, we're not interested in that happy bug, but if you're out selling paintings, this is, this is what what will sell your painting is these little extras makes your paintings special.

There we go.

See I've created another plain in that mountain and brought it forward, and you can do all kinds of little tricks like it.

Just practice a little bit.

In just a few days, you won't believe, you just absolutely won't believe what you can do.

Okay, let's go back to my ol' fan brush.

I'm gonna go right into this old dark color that I used to make the mountain.

Let me see, that with some black and some prussian blue and some Van Dyke brown.

There we go.

I'll tell you, let's add a little sap green to that, too.

What the heck?

There we are, okay.

Load the brush full of paint on both sides, full of paint.

And maybe back in here there's some little trees that live far away.

They're happy little trees that live in the distance.

There.

So take the brush and all you have to do is tap down.

See there?

Hope you can see that alright.

Now there, we just, you have to make some decisions here.

Where do they live?

Where do they live in your world?

This is one of the easiest, nicest, most effective ways that I've ever, ever seen to make the indication of a lot of little trees that live far away.

Even if you've never painted before, certainly this is a snap.

You can do this.

There.

And there we are.

Maybe, look there, look there.

There they come.

When you're painting in this technique, you just sorta, you let your imagination go.

Just let your mind wander.

Because you can create any illusion that you want.

Just let your mind think of things, and off you go.

There.

And I'm tapping quite firmly here.

Firmly tap.

You know, at the beginning of this show, I said something about drag up your ol' easy chair and relax with me.

I had a letter from a fantastic lady, and she told me each week when the show comes on in her area she drags up her ol' easy chair, and she's gonna sit and watch the show, and every week, without fail, she falls asleep.

And she says by the time she wakes up, I finished the painting and gone and left her in the chair by herself.

But you know whether you're awake and refreshed or you paint along with us, either way, I hope you enjoy this as much as I enjoy being here with you.

There, all I'm doing here is taking that color and pulling it straight down to create a little reflection.

Knock off the excess paint and go gently, gently across, and we have instant reflections.

Now, I've got several little fan brushes going here so I don't have to spend all my time washing them.

So I'm going to, we'll take a little yellow, reach up here, get a little sap green, load the brush full of color, a lot of color.

Go right back up here.

And maybe back in here there's some little grassy areas that live.

Just take, give it a little upward push.

Bend the bristles.

Push upward.

See there?

There.

And we can make just an indication of some little grassy things that live back here in the distance.

Wherever you want them.

There.

Just all kinds of little projections.

You can touch a little yellow ochre here and there.

A little Indian yellow, whatever.

Okay.

Now then, let's take our knife, a little touch of the liquid white.

I'm gonna put it on the canvas or on the palette.

There we go.

And cut across it like that.

Let's go right up here.

And with that, let's just cut in the indication of a little water line.

Just wherever.

But keep these lines basically straight or it'll look like you, look like your water's gonna run right off the side of the canvas.

We don't want that to happen.

See how you can create all kind of little, little places where the, this is where the big trout hides back in here.

There.

And when you're painting, make up little stories in your mind.

Think about, think about the big fish that lives here and maybe, maybe this is in the far north.

Maybe there's a little beaver that comes along here and has fun.

Just make up little stories, and, yes, people might think you're a little touched.

But painters are allowed, they're allowed to be different.

So enjoy that.

It really helps your painting if you, if in your own mind that's your world and you can relate to it.

There we go, I'm mixing up a big bunch of big bunch of dark here.

The same things, the blue, black, brown, a little crimson, you know, the same colors.

Let's just stay with the old fan brush today.

Once again, you could do this with any brush.

Load a lot of paint into it.

Let's go back up here.

Maybe in our world there lives a big evergreen tree.

Just start off by touching the canvas.

Now just a corner of the brush and just sorta let this work back and forth.

See there?

Once again, you can do this very nicely with a 1 or 2-inch brush, bringing it to a chisel edge it works just as well.

I just had a dirty fan brush, so thought I'd use it today.

There.

But it's up to you.

Totally, totally up to you.

There we go.

Fan brush maybe puts more detail into it.

There.

Now then, load the brush again with a lot of paint, and this should be very, very dark.

We're gonna put some highlights on there, so you need this to be dark so the highlights will show.

Let's give him a friend.

You know me.

If you've painted with me before, I think everything needs a friend, even the trees and the bushes and everything.

Friends are that important.

There we go.

Okay.

Right on down.

Hmm, I've painted probably oh, 20,000 or 30,000 paintings now, and I'm still fascinated.

It still, it gets you excited to see how it works, and you have to try it to understand.

There we go.

There we go.

See, just back and forth, back and forth.

Think about the little elms on this tree.

Leave some, leave some places in here for the for the birds to sit.

Birds have to have a place to sit.

Alright.

Okay.

In here we can do anything we want 'cause we're gonna separate all that with highlights.

Brush is too slow.

Let's get, let's get serious.

Let's take the ol' 2-inch brush and go right through that same color.

Pull the brush in one direction through the paint.

By pulling it in one direction, it'll round one corner.

And that rounded corner we want to the top.

Take with the rounded corner up, give it a little push, and watch here, see when you push, look at all those little leaves and grass indications and bush indications it makes just automatically.

There we go, now turn the brush to create shape.

There.

Think about each individual bush.

Give them names if you want to.

There's one named Martha, and there's Fred.

Whatever it takes.

But each one of these is an individual with his own personality.

Again, thinking about him, building his shape.

There.

And as I say, people may look at you like you're a little, little different but that's alright.

Us painters, as you know.

we're happier than most people, so it's okay.

It's okay.

Now then, I'm gonna go back to my fan brush and I'm gonna take some sap green, a lot of sap green, a little bit of the yellow.

Okay, let's go right up here.

Now then, I'm just gonna take, just use a corner of the brush and put in the indication here and there of some highlights, not too much.

I want these trees to remain quite dark, quite dark.

Don't wanna lose that contrast.

And the mountain shows that your light's coming from the right, so put more emphasis on the right side of this tree.

There we go.

Darker, darker, darker as it works down 'cause there's more shadows toward the bottom of the tree, plus the old elms are not as bright and shiny as the new ones.

There.

Just right into nothing.

And maybe, maybe we want the indication here and there of some sticks and twigs.

Now this is, all you have to do is just take the knife, scrape right through the paint and allow some of the canvas to show through.

Now most of this, most of these little twigs will be covered before we get finished, but the ones that show through here, people will think you worked for weeks with your little one-haired brush putting all that detail in there, and that's our secret.

We don't tell them any different.

Okay, maybe a couple over here, wherever you want them.

Just sorta, just sort of make a decision and drop them in.

Let's use the old one-inch brush today, and we'll put some highlights in here.

One of our golden rules, a thin paint will stick to a thick paint.

So, we start with the thickest paint imaginable when we put it on the canvas.

Now, when I start highlighting this, I want a thinner paint.

These yellows are made to a thinner consistency intentionally so they'll stick easy.

I even dipped the brush into a small amount of the liquid white to thin the paint even more.

Pull this in one direction.

Load a lot of paint.

Look at the end of this brush.

Look at all the paint that's in there.

Probably the most common mistake made is not putting enough paint into the bristles.

A lot of color, a lot of color.

It's heavy; you can feel it.

Okay, let's go right up here.

Now, you have to start making big decisions in here.

Pick out individual bushes and stuff and trees.

Okay?

Give a little push.

Gentle, it does not take a hard hit.

If you've loaded the brush correctly with a nice thin paint, then all you have to do is just touch, and it won't turn to mud on you.

See there?

One individual bush.

Alright.

You got it now.

You've got it now.

There we go.

Now begin picking them out one at a time, one at a time.

There they come.

There they are.

I want to pick up some Indian yellow and maybe right on the tip of the bristles a little touch of the bright red that we can put on a bush out here that has little red flowers on it.

See there?

That easy.

You can do anything out here, anything.

One bush at a time.

There we go, see?

We got the ones that are farthest away first.

Now we can come back and begin putting some that are closer to us.

Work in layers doing the most distant object first and working forward.

Always working forward.

There we go.

Layer after layer.

I tell you what.

Tell you what.

Look at that.

Let's have some fun.

Maybe in our world here there's a big ol' trout that lives out here.

You gotta have a way to go get him.

So let's build us a little path, and for that we'll take the knife, a little touch of Van Dyke brown, pull it out very flat, cut across, and our little roll of paint again, always that little roll of paint.

And go right up here.

You have to make a big decision now.

Where does your path live?

Maybe it comes right around, and all I'm doing is just applying some brown paint to put the general basic shape of the path in.

Allow it to get larger and larger and larger as it gets closer to you.

That'll make it look like there's distance there.

Let's take some dark sienna, little bit of white, mix that up, but don't over mix it.

Just sort of leave it a little marbly looking.

See there?

All different colors.

Our little roll of paint again.

Go back up here and barely touching, just let it graze, just let it barely graze.

See there?

That graze, ooh.

Ooh, that's nice.

Whew, gives you cold chills it worked so well.

There we are.

Look at that.

See?

You can do that.

There we are.

Let's take, now then we want to push that path down to the painting.

There.

All you gotta do is bring some of those bushes right over it.

Okay, now then, let's go to the other side of the path.

Maybe over here lives, there he is.

It's a happy little tree that lives right here, and he hangs out right over the path.

He just lives here and sorta hangs out.

See, now that path disappears back here in the bushes.

We don't know where it goes.

We don't know.

That's a private little place back there.

It's where the little rabbit hides.

He has fun.

Mr. and Mrs. Rabbit live there.

There.

That little bush that hangs over right there, right there.

And he's got a friend that lives here like that.

There we are.

There, okay.

Now then, we can take just a clean knife and just go around and scrape in the indication of some little trunks, some sticks, some twigs, and see there?

That helps show distance in your painting.

It shows different planes and creates that illusion of depth.

So these really help.

Now then, take our liner brush, put a little paint thinner on it.

Maybe a little bit of the Van Dyke brown.

But we want this color to be as thin as ink.

Let's go right up here.

Maybe there lives just a little stick here, and you could put a few of these in wherever you want them.

See there?

Just add a little excitement.

While I have that brush, I wanna add a little bit of red, and I think I'll sign this painting.

There we are.

Thin paint as thin as ink.

And with that, I think we'll call this painting finished.

And from all of us here, I really hope you've enjoyed it.

So happy painting, and God bless.

I'll see you next time.

(happy music)