[Music] Hello, I'm Bob Ross and I'd like to welcome you to the 12th Joy of Painting series.

First of all let me thank you for inviting me back into your homes for another series of painting shows.

If this is your first time with us let me extend a personal invitation for you to drag out your oil paints and brushes and paint along with us each week, or just pull up the old easy chair and spend a relaxing half hour with us as we place some nature's masterpieces on canvas.

We'll use a few big brushes, a dozen colors or so, and I'll show you how easy it is to create some of the most fantastic paintings you've ever seen.

I'll take you step by step through each phase of the painting, so you'll be able to create your own masterpieces at home.

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

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

And the liquid white just makes the canvas wet and it makes it slick and it allows us to actually blend color on the canvas.

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

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

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

Today let's start with the old two inch brush and we'll go into a little touch of dark sienna, I think I'll just do a warm little painting today that uses mostly browns.

Sort of a monochromatic type picture.

I think you'll like that.

Just a tiny bit of the brown.

A little dark sienna right on the brush, just a little bit.

Okay, let's go right up here.

Now we use a little, little crisscross strokes and let's just put in a happy little sky.

I want a very, very soft, very pretty little sky.

And this is a simple little painting.

If this is your first time painting along with us I think you'll like this one.

Think you'll like this one, because it works so easy and even if you've never painted before this one you can do.

There we go.

Just make little crisscross strokes, little Xs, back and forth.

Back and forth.

Now the color is continually mixing with the liquid white and it gets lighter and lighter and lighter as you blend it.

And in a landscape you want things to get lighter toward the horizon, darker as they get closer to you.

And that helps create the illusion of distance in your painting.

There we go.

See how easy that is?

Okay.

And you make it as dark as you want it.

As I say over and over again, this piece of canvas is your world and you can do anything here that you want to do, you have unlimited power.

Boy when I go home the only thing I can say is yes ma'am, but on this piece of canvas you can do anything that you want to do.

Alright, maybe we'll just bring it right on down here.

Wherever you want, wherever.

Okay, then I'll just use long horizontal strokes just to blend it out, like so.

Okay, that makes a super, super soft little sky.

Now then, right up here I'm going to have a little sun in this.

I'm going to go right into a small touch of cad yellow, this is cadmium yellow, and just a little tiny bit, just the same old dirty brush, just tap a little touch of that right on the brush.

Let's go right up here.

Now maybe right in here we'll just, still using those little crisscross strokes and working outward, blending outward, just put in a little touch of this yellow.

Just like so.

We'll put a little sun up in the sky and this will be the aura around the sun.

And very lightly blend it out.

Now then, now then we can put a sun in here.

Tell you what, for that let's use the almighty finger here.

And I'll just put a little paint on my finger and right here, figure out where you want the sun to be, all you have to do is just draw a little circle, like so.

See, isn't that easy?

Now then, very lightly, three hairs and some air, just blend right over that and it'll bring it all together.

And that easy, that easy you have a happy little sun.

I'll tell you what, let's put a little cloud up here.

And for that I'll use a little fan brush, just a number six fan brush.

But just tap a little of the dark sienna on there, same color.

Okay, let's go right up here.

Maybe, maybe, maybe right, there it is.

Right here lives a happy little cloud.

And I'm still using the same color that the sky was.

Just drop in a little cloud, just sort of let it float around and have fun.

Clouds are one of the freest things in nature, they just sort of bounce around and have fun all day.

Maybe there's one right here.

Be brave, we'll let this one come right on out, go right across there.

See there, just like so.

Maybe, maybe there's another one here.

Just however many you want.

Just make a big decision and drop him in.

But you see how easy they are.

You've been making tiny little circular strokes.

Okay.

Then we'll go back to our large brush and very gently I'm just going to blend that a little bit, fluff it.

And that easy, [chuckles] that easy, you've got a happy little cloud.

Right there, blend it.

I'm blending the base more than I am the top.

And then very lightly go over it.

See, and that easy you have a happy little cloud in your sky and you're all ready.

Now you can do this in any color that you want, I've just sort of picked browns today, because that's a very nice warm color.

Okay, I'll go back into a little touch of the dark sienna, same old color, and I'm just tapping the brush right into it.

Maybe, maybe way back here in the distance there's some little, little foothills live.

Just take the corner of the brush and very lightly touch the canvas and pull downward.

Just pull it straight down.

Straight down.

And I'll put several layers in this one I think, so the first one you want to be very light, and then each layer after that will get darker and darker.

See there, straight down though, that's all there is to it.

Just sort of let it disappear.

Now same color, same color, only I'm going to make it a little bit darker, but it's the same exact color.

Maybe now there's a little footie hill that lives right here.

Here I'm going to add a little bit more pressure to the brush, so it's just a little bit darker.

And this one maybe comes right on down, wherever you want it.

Wherever.

Just wherever you think these little foothills live.

See how easy this is?

You really can do it, even if you've never painted before and never picked up a brush, you really can do this.

See, let me show you a little trick, little trick here.

Maybe you want to create the illusion that there's several layers here.

All you have to do is grab this, same color still, and you can come right on down, and it makes the indication like there's another little foothill in front.

But you can make layer after layer after layer that easy.

There we go.

Okay.

And maybe right under here I'm just going to take some straight, straight titanium white and I've picked up a clean brush.

I have several brushes going here, so I don't have to wash them each time that I use them.

And maybe right in here I'm just going to pull down and make it look like maybe just a little body of water way back in the distance here.

Straight down, straight down, and then go across.

It won't show too much now, but in a minute, in a minute you'll see why that's there.

I think it'll be pretty.

And I'll take a little touch of the brown on the knife and let's just go right up in here and we'll make the indication of a happy little ripple here and there, and maybe a little something right along in here.

Just scrub it in very hard.

That's all there is to it.

Okay.

Now then, back to the same [chuckles] old dark sienna, but this time I'm going to pick up a touch of the Van Dyke brown and mix it in with it.

And just mix these on the brush, don't worry about trying to mix them on the palette.

Just reach over here and take a little of that and put it in there, so we have dark sienna and Van Dyke brown.

Just tap it on the brush.

Okay, let's go right up in here.

Now maybe, maybe there lives a hill right here, a little hill.

Comes right down, just wanders right on down.

Boy, he sure does now.

See there?

And all you're doing is just tapping this in.

There we go.

Now this is where you begin to create the lay of the land.

Just sort of decide how your land's going to, how the angles are going to flow here, and begin tapping, following those basic angles, and all you're doing here is just applying some base color.

We'll come back and highlight this.

This is only base color, so don't worry about it.

You really cannot make a mistake here.

And as you know, [chuckles] we don't make mistakes, we have happy accidents.

We just have happy accidents.

And very quickly, very quickly you learn how to, how to work with anything that happens on the canvas and that's really when you begin experiencing the joy of painting.

Get in a little plug there.

So you can start down here maybe and work upward.

Whichever way, it doesn't matter.

This is where you take out all your frustrations and hostilities, you just beat this old canvas to death.

And I'm tapping quite firmly here.

Once again, all we're doing is putting in a base color, we could really care less.

There.

Okay.

But see already it's beginning to show the way the land flows here.

There.

Okay, just keep following those basic angles that you want, and let them go, let them go, let them go.

There.

Okay.

And that quick you pretty well get it filled in.

Okay.

Now maybe, tell you what, get my old fan brush again.

I'm going to go right into the Van Dyke brown, grab a little bit of the dark sienna, mostly Van Dyke brown, I'm looking for a little darker color now.

And maybe here and there there's a happy little tree that lives back here.

So we just take the corner of the brush and I'm just going to give it a little upward push.

And we'll just, this is one way of making just a happy little tree.

And all we're doing there is just putting in a little basic shape.

Just decide how you want your little tree or bush to look and just sort of push it in, that's all there is to it.

That's all there is to it.

Maybe, tell you what, maybe there's another one and he lives right here.

Same way.

Just sort of push him in.

There.

Decide where you want him, drop him in.

Like that.

Okay, maybe he's got a friend right here, don't want him to get lonely.

Everybody needs a friend.

Even a little tree.

So we'll just put him in a little tree, right there.

A little bush.

But see how easy that is?

Just, I'm pushing upward with the brush to create all those little, little grassy effects there.

Okay.

Now then, let's use our one little brush.

This is the little script liner brush and I'm just going to dip it right into some paint thinner and I want to thin this paint until it's like ink.

A lot of paint thinner, and then turn the brush.

Turn it brings it to a very sharp point.

This is a script liner brush, it has very long bristles.

Okay, let's go up here.

Maybe, maybe here and there there's a happy little tree that lives in here, so by having very thin paint here on your brush this will literally just flow.

See, and we can put in all these little delicate looking limbs and branches.

See how easy that is?

But you have to decide where they live and put them wherever you want them.

There's another one.

See there?

Boy, you can just make all kinds of happy little things that easy.

See there?

Some of them are behind, some are in front.

And these little things are what create, they create interest in your painting.

And of course, [chuckles] we're not interested in that happy buck, but if you're out selling paintings this what sells your paintings, all these little details.

People like that.

They think you've spent hours and hours and maybe even weeks working on this rascal.

And don't you tell them any different.

That's our secret.

There we go.

Okay, now maybe we want to put the indication of a little highlight here and there.

I'll use that same fan brush and put just a touch of the yellow ochre on it, just a touch.

Then go up here and we just pop in the indication of a few little highlights here and there on some of those bushes.

Just a few.

I don't want this to be too bright.

See?

Add a little bit up here.

Don't want this little bush to get upset because he doesn't have any highlights, so we'll give him some too.

And we can just begin putting in a few little things back in here.

There we go.

Okay.

Now maybe, maybe we want to have a little tree or two that's in front, distinctly in front here.

So after you have your highlight then you come back and put in another one.

And once again, in your world you put as many or as few of these as you want.

Just want to show you how, we're not trying to teach you how to copy when we bring you these shows, we're trying to teach you a technique and turn you loose on the world.

Because we each see nature through different eyes and the way that you see it, that's the way it should be painted, that's the way that's right.

Okay, maybe one over here, that's... there.

You can get carried away with these and just spend your whole time just, just painting happy little tree branches and stuff.

Okay.

That's enough of those for a while.

Shoot, let's have some fun here.

I'm going to go into a little of the cad yellow, a little yellow ochre, shoot, we'll grab some Indian yellow, just sort of mix them up on your brush, and I'm going to be right back, reach up here and get a touch of white, titanium white, just tap it.

Okay, maybe right up in here we can begin adding just a little touch of highlight on this.

And all I'm doing is just tapping downward.

Just tapping downward.

Now if you have trouble making your paint stick add a tiny bit of paint thinner or the liquid white, either one.

because we start with a very firm base color here, the paint that's on the canvas is very firm, it's very dry, so that way we can add layer after layer after layer of paint on top of it without becoming a mud mixer, but the only way you can do that is if each layer gets thinner in consistency.

If it's the same consistency then you're going to become a mud mixer, then you're going to be mad at me.

And I want this to work for you, because it's fun.

There, see?

And you can really begin creating the lay of the land now.

Tell you what let's do, tell you what let's do, this is a perfect place to have a happy little house.

Let's take the knife here, take some Van Dyke brown, pull it out very flat, take the knife and cut across.

So you see you have that little roll of paint right out there.

Okay, let's go up here.

Maybe there's a little house that... and it lives right there.

So we'll put part of the roof on, come over on this side, put the other part on.

See how easy that is?

Put the side, or the front, depends on which way you're looking at it, and come over here.

All I'm doing now is just blocking in color.

We're just blocking in color.

See how easy it is to block in a happy little house?

Now we'll take some dark sienna, a little bit of Van Dyke, reach over here and get some white, and we'll just mix that up until about like so, we don't want to over mix it.

Just leave it sort of marbled.

And then cut across and get that little roll of paint again, it's most important you load the knife correctly.

Now let's go up here and we'll just touch and just let this run right down the roof.

[Bob makes "Bloop, bloop, bloop, bloop, bloop" sounds] See there?

Got to make those little noises though or it don't work.

Okay, maybe a little bit there.

Over here, grab it, pull down.

You want this side to be a little darker than that one, because there's your light source.

So a little darker color here.

But just pull it down, let it barely, barely, barely, barely touch the fabric and it makes it look like old wood.

Okay, just barely touch it.

There we go.

Now you can take the knife here and cut it off.

You can do a, [chuckles] you can do a cabinectomy, see here?

You just cut it off at the any way that you want it to get your perspective right and everything.

And that easy you've got a cute little cabin.

Let me get the small knife here.

Maybe there's a couple little windows over here, just take the little knife, scrape in a couple happy little windows, take a little of the midnight black, put those in.

Shoot, maybe, maybe over here there's a window too.

However many windows you want.

Just up to you.

That's how easy it is to make your little cabin now.

See?

At home when you have a lot of time you can put little curtains in the window and just [chuckles] all kinds of things.

Alright, now.

Take the old two inch brush here and I'll just tap in a little bit of the grassy stuff around his foots.

See?

Bring it all together.

And your little cabin's just sitting right out there.

A little touch of white.

I just want to highlight this just a little bit, so it stand out and you can see it better.

Just a little touch of highlight right down there, make that edge stand out and just looks, looks a little cuter.

Just really stands out for you.

Tell you what, let's take the old fan brush here, I'm going to dip it right into some liquid white, and we'll go into the different yellows, all the yellows, all the yellows, grab a little touch of dark sienna, throw it in there.

Just load the brush full.

A little white.

Okay.

But we've got cad yellow, Indian yellow, yellow ochre, all on the same brush, and a lot of paint.

Okay, let's go up in here.

Now then we can begin just coming along in here and putting in some happy little grassy things and follow the lay of the land.

Just let it go.

See, just work in layers, you can do it like this, or you can do it with a two inch brush, one inch brush, try them all, see which one works the best for you.

Like so.

Just layer after layer after layer though.

There.

See how easy that is?

It looks like a little field.

Tell you what, tell you what let's do, I'm going to take, go right into some Van Dyke brown here, maybe right up in through here maybe there's just a happy little path, comes right out, comes right out.

See, there it comes, there it comes.

Van Dyke brown on the fan brush.

Let that path come right on out here.

See how easy that is?

And it just disappears somewhere on back in here, we don't know where it goes.

Wherever you want it to go.

Pick up a touch of the white, and just very lightly graze here and there.

Just graze it, just graze it darker, dark back of our ... See?

Went right on out around the corner.

Put a little paint thinner on this big brush and I'll go back into all my yellows here, grab a little of the white.

Okay, now then, see you can do it with a fan brush, or this brush, whichever one.

Try them both, try tapping with this.

Sometimes you'll find that works better, sometimes you'll find that for some people the old fan brush works better.

So whichever way.

Whichever way.

But you can just put layer after layer after layer.

Start at the part that's farthest away and work forward.

There.

See there, just keep going.

Okay, and then over in here.

Bring this right on down.

I've showed you several different ways you can make these little grassy things.

Try them all.

And once again, sometimes the fan brush will work better for some people, some people will like the two inch brush better, the one inch brush works very well, give them all a try.

Get the effect that you want.

There we go.

Okay.

Now then let me take, my hair got a little bit right in here, so we'll just take our fan brush and clean up the edges.

See, that easy.

Tell you what we need here, let's build us a, let's build us a tree.

And we'll start with Van Dyke brown, pull it out flat, cut across, and we get that little roll of paint.

Maybe our tree is going to live right, ooh, right over our other tree.

That's okay.

That's okay.

Maybe he lives right here.

See there.

Build him a trunk.

Maybe he's got an arm that lives right out through here.

Wherever you want it.

Trees grow however.

Put the other side on, just like so.

See how easy it is to make a tree?

Only God could create a tree, but you can paint one.

Okay, a little bit of white and brown and let's put a little highlight on this tree.

I'm just touching, just touching, just touching, like so.

A little bit on this arm.

There we go.

Now then, let's go back to our script liner brush.

We'll take paint thinner, thin our paint out, I'm going to put a little black and a little brown together, make them dark.

But you need a lot of paint thinner on your brush to make this paint just like ink, it's almost a water consistency.

Alright, now then let's make some big decisions here.

Maybe there's a, there it is, a big arm that comes out over here.

Maybe this one goes up and, see there?

However you want them.

However you want them.

Just, there's another one.

See, maybe here, ooh, there's another big old arm.

Comes right out.

Now if your paint will not flow like this add more thinner too it.

If it doesn't flow it's just because it's not thin enough, so just add some more thinner.

Just add some more.

See how easy that is?

And if your paint's the right consistency it'll just flow right off your brush.

And this liner brush has very long bristles, so it holds a lot of paint.

And you can just pop them little rascals right on there, like that.

There.

Okay, there's one.

And you can really take your time and put just hundreds of all these little limbs on here.

It'll make your, it'll make your painting very interesting, very nice.

Just wherever you think they should live that's exactly where they should live.

Okay, tell you what, [chuckles] let's, let's put a little, maybe there's a little fence post sitting right here.

See, right there, just touch, give it a little pull, like so.

A little touch of highlight on it [Bob makes "bloop" sound] like that.

We can take that same old liner brush, and maybe there's a little bit of wire on there.

See, still a little tiny bit of wire hanging on that rascal.

And I think with that we about have a finished painting, so let's sign this one.

I'll take a little red, thin it down with paint thinner, and we'll sign this one right down here in the corner.

I certainly hope you've enjoyed this one.

It's a very easy painting.

As I say, if this is your first time painting along with us this is a good painting to do.

You'll have instant success.

And from all of us here I'd like to wish you happy painting, God bless, and I'll see you next time.

[announcer] To order Bob Ross' 256 page book with 60 Joy of Painting projects or his Four Seasons DVD set, call 1-800-Bob-Ross or visit BobRoss.com [music] [music]