- Hi, welcome back.

Certainly glad you could join us today.

Today I thought we'd just do a fantastic little painting that I believe you'll enjoy.

So I tell you what, let's start out and have them run all the colors across the screen that you need to paint along with us, and they'll come across right about there.

Come on up here, let me show you what I've got done.

Today I've taken a standard 18 by 24 pre-stretched canvas but you can use any size that's convenient.

And I've taken a piece of contact paper and cut an oval out.

Stuck it on there, then I painted the center with a little bit of black gesso and allowed that to dry totally and completely.

On top of the black gesso, I've added a thin, let me say that again, a very thin coat of liquid clear.

And I have the canvas totally covered but I want to remove all the excess so I'm gonna start with just a clean paper towel and I'm gonna wipe off every bit of the liquid clear that I can get.

It'll still leave this very slick and it'll allow us to move and blend paint.

So just wipe off every bit that you can get off.

Something about like that.

And believe it or not, there's still a coat on here.

You might even be able to see it shine and shimmer a little bit, but that's all you need.

Now then, on top of that, we can begin playing and just have a good time.

I thought today we'd start with a little Titanium White and a little Phthalo Blue mixed together.

Just white and blue.

Now if we had liquid white on the canvas we could just use the pure blue color because it would dilute the blue and make it this color.

But since all we have is clear up here we have to mix our color a little bit on the pallet.

So I'm just gonna take the brush and very gently making tiny, tiny little strokes, little X's just putting the indication of a little sky here.

Don't want a great deal of color, just a little up here.

Just Phthalo Blue and white.

But color stands out so bright against the black.

There.

See one of the things that I hear over and over from people when they write letters is that they get too much liquid clear on the canvas and it's very difficult to make paint stick and then to make it work well.

So if you'll take a paper towel and wipe all the excess off there's just enough left, exactly enough left.

There.

Okay, that's about all we need.

Just gonna have a little blue in the sky.

I thought today maybe we'd just do a painting that's maybe it's just pretty, just very pretty.

(beating brush) (chuckles) Cover everybody for two blocks here.

Now if you do that at home, I suggest you get a thing called a brush beater rack.

It goes down at the bottom of a wastepaper basket and it allows you to shake the thinner off into the wastepaper basket, then you beat the brush against that little rack and it'll save your happy home.

There.

I'm gonna take a little bit of Bright Red and Titanium White, just a little of the Bright Red.

Very little.

It's so strong.

Just tap the corner of the brush right into a little of that There.

Now let's just put some maybe we'll put some just beautiful little clouds that float around up here.

I'm just gonna use a corner of the brush and begin shaping little clouds.

That easy.

Just the corner of the brush though that's all I'm using.

Maybe, yup, comes right down in here.

Something like slowly just sort of floats across the sky.

Just let them go wherever you think they should be.

There.

We're just looking for some nice basic little shapes.

That's really about all.

There we are.

And we work in layers here.

Okay, a little bit more there and I tap straight down when I'm loading the brush then turn it sidewards to paint the clouds.

Tap straight down because it opens the bristles.

There.

Maybe this little cloud just floats right up in here.

I don't know, wherever you want.

I have several of each brush going here.

Make sure it's good and dry, and very lightly, just using the top corner of the brush I'm just gonna tickle it, just barely touch it.

Trying to avoid touching the top edge right now.

Just tickle it a little bit.

Now if you want a shadow at the base of your cloud all you gotta do is blend it a little firmer and the black will show through.

And we'll put another layer on and that will become the shadow for your first cloud.

I hope all that makes sense.

Sometimes I have a hard time explaining things.

There we go.

Very gentle, just the top corner of the brush.

Tiny little strokes.

Tiny, tiny, tiny little strokes.

There we go.

Something about like that.

I beat the brush just to knock excess paint off so I don't go through the entire cleaning procedure.

And then very lightly we'll just blend that.

But isn't that a neat way of making some pretty nice little clouds with very little work?

Now then, go back and get a little more of the Bright Red, a little more of the Titanium White.

Once again, I'm just gonna tap the corner of the brush into the pinkish color.

Just tap.

Now then, maybe there's layers of clouds here.

We can begin forming more and more clouds.

Once again, tap straight down and then use the side of the brush.

That opens the bristles so they're not stuck together in a chisel edge, because I want them very fluffy.

I want these clouds to be free looking.

There we go, nothing's worse than a stiff cloud.

Clouds are very loose, they're free.

They just float around and have a good time all day.

There we go, something like so.

I think you can take these anywhere that you want.

Okay, back to my other brush.

(beating brush) Be sure it's nice, clean, and dry.

If your brush is wet, you have paint thinner on it and you go up here and you touch this with a liquid clear underneath you're gonna be in agony city, and you're gonna be upset with me.

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

If you don't have the facilities to beat it and bang it like we do here, dry it the best you can and rub it real good against a paper towel or a nice soft rag.

There, just blend the base of it out some.

And very lightly, one hair and some air.

Just blend it just enough to make it nice and soft.

Once again, see we automatically have this nice dark base down here.

And you can just keep on and on and on making as many layers as you want.

It's up to you.

Up to you.

Wherever you think a little cloud should live that's exactly the right place for it.

Maybe something comes right down in there, I don't know.

Don't know, just whatever.

I think I'll put some trees in there so maybe we don't need too many more clouds.

(beating brush) There, if you make this many clouds it'll give you plenty of practice doing clouds in this particular manner.

And this is just one of many ways of making clouds.

We just try to show you as many ways as possible.

Then you try it and you pick the way of making each one of these little things that you like.

Because some people will find that this way works great for them, other people will find that some other way of making clouds works even better.

It's very individual.

So whatever works for you, that's exactly the one that you want to use.

There we are.

See as I said, I know I'm gonna put some trees here so I'm not worried much about this side at this point.

Let's go up here and let's make some brown.

I'm gonna use Alizarin Crimson and Sap Green in about equal proportions, mix it up very good.

It makes a gorgeous, gorgeous brown color.

Just by mixing those two.

So I'll take a little bit of that brown.

I mixed a lot because I'm gonna use it throughout the painting, I think.

I just like that color.

A little bit of the black, a little bit of the Prussian Blue mixed with it, and reach over here and get a little bit of white.

I want to lighten it up.

Ooh that's nice.

That's a nice color, I like that.

Alright, let me wipe off the old knife.

Now then, I'm gonna go right into that color.

Load a lot of paint into the bristles, wiggle that brush.

Wiggle it.

I want to bring it to a nice, sharp chisel edge.

Wiggle it, and then sharpen it.

Look how sharp you can make that.

Now then, maybe up here, this is a simple way of making some nice trees.

Just take the brush and give it a little sidewards push.

Then you make the other side, see?

Sneaky, huh?

It's a beautiful way of making little delicate trees that live far, far away.

Little distant trees that don't have a lot of detail in them.

There, just using the brush sidewards.

And you can put as many or as few in your row as you want.

Maybe down in here there's a few more.

There and there.

There and here and just everywhere.

Make all kinds of happy little trees.

There.

When you make these, people come along and look at your painting and never believe you made all these little trees with a two-edged brush.

Shh, that's our secret.

Don't tell them.

There.

That's one of the things that I hear over and over again in letters that people write me.

They'll say they did a painting and they showed it to their family and friends and nobody believes they've done it.

And I bet that's...

If you've painted and showed your paintings after they're dried and everything people say you didn't do that, where's the numbers?

Somebody else did that.

But you know you did.

There, something maybe about like so.

Now I want to create the illusion of a little mist down here This brush still has a little white on the bottom.

I'll tap a little of that.

Now, with a clean brush, just want to blend this together.

That'll create an illusion of mist.

Right at the base, something about like that.

You can lift upward.

But isn't that a nice way of making some little distant tree shapes that are very, very simple?

You can do that, you can do that.

Make another layer, because layers in a painting, as you've heard me say so many times, creates the illusion of depth.

It makes your painting look deep.

So to do that, I'm gonna use the same color only I'm gonna darken it a little, okay?

Now then, maybe there are some little bushy things that live right here.

I'm just using the top corner of the brush but see that little misty area becomes a separator.

It's your good friend, it's what separates the layers.

Between the misty area and the darker colors, that's what separates them.

There we go.

Okay, maybe we'll put a few more here like that.

And once again, we'll tap a little bit of that lighter color in.

Something about like that.

And very lightly, lift upward.

Just enough to sort of blend it together.

Once again, creates that illusion of mist.

There.

Now then, let's get crazy.

You know me, I like to paint trees and stuff like it.

Let's see how many different ways we can come up with.

Let's use the old two inch brush, what the heck.

We'll make some trees back here in the background.

I'm using the same colors.

Blue, black, and that brown that we made from crimson and Sap Green, only darker.

Each time, a little darker.

Okay, and let's go back up here.

Maybe in our world, there lives a little tree right there.

Now, if the two inch brush scares you you can do this with a fan brush or the one inch brush it doesn't matter.

I just have it going here and it's dirty so might as well put the little rascal to use.

If you're doing painting demonstrations for friends, the two inch brush always excites people because they just don't believe you can paint such delicate little things using a brush this big.

Let's go on the other side here and put in a couple little happy trees, maybe.

Yup, about right there.

Just make a decision, drop the little devil in there.

There.

Nice place for the little creatures to live up in that tree.

I like that tree.

Just using the corner of the brush initially and as you work down the tree, add more pressure, bend the bristles harder and it'll make the branches wider, larger, bigger automatically.

Let the brush work for you.

Maybe there's an old leaner over here.

If you've painted with me before, you know I like old trees that sort of have some character not just a future telephone pole.

There.

See, each layer now, just creates an illusion of depth in your painting.

Maybe, right there's one more.

Just however many you want in your world, drop them in.

Drop them in, don't be afraid of it.

Because you can do this.

You can do anything that you believe you can do.

Maybe there's a few more little bushy areas right in here.

Something about like that.

Alright, now... We'll take the brush with a little bit of white a little bit of that brown color we made.

We just want to put the indication here and there of a few little tree trunks you can see.

I don't want a great deal of detail.

These are, they're sort of back away so not too much detail.

Just enough to give the indication that there's some trunks in there to hold the little rascal up.

There we go.

Now then, I'll just use that same old brush and we'll go right into a little bit of the Yellow Ochre and the Cadmium Yellow.

Reach over and get a little Indian Yellow once in a while.

Mix various colors on the brush though.

I want a dark green.

Maybe I'll reach up in here.

Ooh, that's nice, I'll get a little black.

That'll make it dark, very dark, yeah that's nice.

Okay, now then, let's put just a touch of highlight on this tree, still just using the corner of the two inch brush, just the corner.

There.

As I say, sometimes people have a tendency to be afraid of this because it's so big.

When Annette and I... We used to travel all over the country and teach people, that was one of the things that we would get students to do is to use this brush, and once they got over the fear of it they couldn't believe what you could do with it.

But you have to get over that.

It sort of intimidates you because it's so big.

There.

Just a few on these, don't want them left out.

That one in my mind is in the background.

I'm not gonna put any on it.

I want it to stay wee back here.

Sometimes it's better to leave some of them just the way you paint them, so they look like they're far, far away, way back in the background.

Now then, while we have that old brush going to... That's working pretty good there.

Let's get crazy.

Maybe, tell you what, maybe there's a nice little grassy area right there.

There it is.

All you're doing is tapping.

Still just using that same old green color, just tapping.

Yellow Ochre, Indian Yellow, Cadmium Yellow, and here and there, the least little touch of the Bright Red and the Bright Red acts as a duller.

It makes the color dull, because red and green make brown.

There.

Something about like that.

Now it's fun sometimes to make a bright spot in your painting, and I'm gonna take a little Titanium White right on that same brush and just sparkle.

Like there's a little light zinging right through there.

Just sparkle it a little bit.

Now don't overdo this or you'll kill the effect of it.

Just a little.

Just a little.

It gets feeling good and you want to do it all but it'll absolutely kill the effect.

So be conservative with it.

Let's wash that old brush.

Start with some new dark color here.

(beating brush) (chuckles) I just like to beat the brush.

That's really the fun part.

Let's go back into black and the Prussian Blue and the very dark colors.

I want more of the black and blue.

Just a very little bit of brown here and we'll change the flavor a little bit but I'm loading it back to a nice chisel edge.

Nice chisel edge.

Okay let's go back up in here.

In our world, maybe there's a darker tree that's a little closer to us, there he is.

A little more into the blue hue.

Blue hue That'd make a nice song.

There we go.

Alright maybe there's a big old tree that lives... We don't even know where it lives.

It's just got some arms that are coming right down in here.

Something like that.

We don't know, don't know that we even care.

Take that same brush and go right back into our greens and yellows, and just come right along in here.

Maybe make that a little brighter so it'll stand out.

Cad Yellow, that's better.

Now we can see it against that other one.

There, just change its flavor a little.

Something like so.

Okay, let's do the other one over here.

Don't be afraid of this old two inch brush, use that rascal.

You can do entire paintings with it very easily.

You know what, I just had a brainstorm.

We've got a minute or two left here.

Maybe in my mind, I see... What if we had a little cabin that lived right out here in the woods.

This would be such a fantastic place to live and watch all the little creatures.

Let's just do that, what the heck.

Take some of that brown color that we made.

Start with the back eave.

Now we can do the front.

All we're doing is just blocking it in here just basically laying color down.

We're still not committed at this point.

Take a little Yellow Ochre, little bit of that brown color, a little white, and just sort of mix them together.

Come right along say... Want to make this look like old wood.

Something like so... Maybe we'll make a log cabin.

Doesn't much matter.

Take a little dark, put some do do do right across there.

And then maybe the logs come here.

Little bit of brown, see there.

Little brown and white, then we come along and put a little highlight on some of those logs.

All we have to do.

On the other side, much darker over here.

Not much light over here.

Just the least little hint, something like so.

Now we need a roof on that house.

Otherwise that fellow that lives there, well he's in for it.

Let's take some black and some white and make a nice grayish color.

And I'll use the little edge of the knife and we'll just come right here and make it look like there's a few old shingles still hanging on this roof, it's an old cabin.

There, work in layers, starting at the bottom and working up, just like you put real shingles on a house.

Years ago, I used to be a carpenter and I guarantee you, it's not this easy to shingle a roof.

My friend Dana Chester, who's one of our instructors that you've probably seen before, he was a carpenter also before he became an instructor.

Shoot, that rascal travels all over the country now.

Teaches literally thousands of people the joy of painting.

Let's have a door on our cabin, right there.

And let's have a window.

Something like so.

Maybe just a little indication we can see the end of some logs.

Little touch of highlight right around the edge.

Some around the window.

Nobody's home, no lights on.

No lights on.

Alright, let's just... We'll find a two inch brush that's halfway clean, tap a little more of our grassy color in there.

And let's just start putting all kinds of little layers of grass right around like that.

Maybe this is a nice little meadow he lives in out here.

There.

Sometimes it's fun to play some little games here.

Watch here, we got a second left.

Maybe there's a hill right here that's sort of overlooking this whole thing.

So we put some dark coloring first, then we come back with our lighter colors, the highlight colors.

And we begin forming this, just a little hill right here.

See that?

There we go.

Just enough so it stands out.

Maybe even... Tell you what.

Take a little of that brown color we made.

Maybe there's even a little path that comes up this hill.

Take a little white, right on top of that brown.

Give it a little highlight.

Little grassy area on this side just to sort of bring it all together.

See now he walks down and goes back into his little house here... Had a little vacation.

There.

That's a nice place to live.

Now, let's take our little liner brush and paint thinner and go right into our good brown color we made.

Want this paint to be thin like ink, very thin.

Maybe we got a big tree that lives right here.

Great, big nice tree, there.

And he's got a big arm that comes over here.

Maybe an old crookedy one right there.

A little highlight color, just a little brown and white come down and just make it so it stands out a little.

Blend it in.

Just wanting to stand out a little.

There.

And we can put all kinds of little arms up here, wherever you think they should live that's exactly where they should be.

There.

I tell you what, let's take the old contact paper off and see what we got.

That's the moment of truth.

So we'll just grab it, pull it off, and take a little look-see there.

And what's fun... Watch here.

I like to let things extend out of the borders.

Let this old tree sort of grow right on up.

His arms just come right out of this oval.

Something like that.

There they go, wherever you think they should be.

I like these paintings where part of the painting breaks the borders.

Really gives a very nice effect.

Hope you try these.

I think you'll find them just fantastic.

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

Hope you've enjoyed it.

From all of us here, I'd like to wish you happy painting and God bless, my friend.

(lighthearted music)