Painting from a memory can be a sobering experience, and that's the way it should be!

[piano plays in bright rhythm & tone] ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ Boy, are we going to have fun today.

We're going to work from a pochade, and we're going to build it up to a halfway stage with oil paints, and then next week we'll put on the finishing touches.

First let me show you the pochade.

This is a beautiful little painting that I call "Moment of Serenity," and it really was, and to try and recapture that it helps-- I saw it; I enjoyed it.

I remember, and sometimes I remember more than I put down there.

So this is the halfway stage which is enlarged on an 18-by-24 canvas, and you can see over to the right that I have the canvas which has been primed with 6 White, 1 Permanent Green Light, 1 Payne's Gray with acrylic, and that's put over the whole thing.

I have a drawing on it that should be a help for you.

And we'll go ahead and see what it's like, because this is a new painting to me.

I've never painted you before to completion.

So we'll start, I think I told you, I already put Walnut Oil on this canvas, and then I wiped around a little bit so it's very thinly placed.

I'll dip into the Walnut Oil here, and I have Yellow Ochre and White with a little touch of Viridian Green in it, and what I like to do is see, I'll go just a little bit like that.

That's close, that's very close.

So we'll say that's good, and we'll come over to here and I'm starting right in the middle of the canvas.

Then we'll work out to the sides.

Often I go along with the idea, start with the dark, and build to the light.

I think watercolorists do just the opposite.

They start with the lights and build to the dark.

I don't know.

No.

I don't know.

No, I usually start with the darks and build to the lights.

Now, I've gone across a little bit of the line that's there.

I'll wipe for it gently, and same way here.

I'm going across that tree just a little bit.

Even though it has a little "walnoil," Walnut Oil.

How do you say that word?

Wal-nut-oil, on it, it has a little bit of a dry feeling, so I can do it, kind of brush it out and see what happens.

Now I'm taking a dirty paper towel, apparently, and I just wipe a little bit.

I can see enough there, so I don't need to do it there, I'll do it over here.

What I want next to do is stay down low and over to the left.

So it's kind of the neighborhood that isn't changing much.

So to go there, let's see, this is Viridian Green, and I'm touching a little bit into what we just placed on.

I feel a need to add just a little touch of Umber to that as well.

So it's Viridian Green and White, a littler Umber.

That, I like that.

This will be where it pushes into the middle slightly, and I'll do that first while I still have the paint on the brush.

Notice I put just a little character out there on the right side of this, right side of the dark that I'm placing on, and then I'll push this over slightly there.

What is quite helpful, that priming of the canvas is really such a great opportunity, and I learned this early from my teacher Claude Buck.

We always primed the canvases, and we used a variety.

Sometimes black, sometimes blue, sometimes blue and white.

Pink, and I like the one that I'm using this time.

Permanent Green Light, Payne's Gray, 1 part each, 6 parts White.

It works real well, and you can vary that a little bit by having less white or more white to get the value that you desire to work into.

Now, I'm going to go over on the right side slightly with the same thing, same paint, just a little bit in here.

Now, what I have in the middle, I want to just soften that a little bit, so the canvas is being covered.

Okay now, let's come down, and I'm going to come down to the lower part, which is a little darker green.

What do we have?

We have Viridian Green.

I think you need to get off the bus.

Get your uniform on, because you're playing today.

So we'll take the Viridian Green, and we'll take some Burnt Umber.

So my formula would be half and half, and my formula would change as I do that.

So I take a little gold and put into it so it isn't quite-- No.

You guys need to get together.

Okay?

Ah, love it!

So it's Umber and Viridian Green and just little light.

You made it on the third try.

You know, some of the best baseball players that I know would wait till they got 2 strikes, and then they'd go ahead and blast that ball.

So we had 2 strikes on you, Viridian Green, and you did real well.

You might find the little difference between what I'm doing here than what I did up on the left, is that I have, this is just a little more generously painted, a little more paint in the brush-- more paint on the canvas.

Okay, I have a nice intermediate area that I want to address now.

So I'll use the same thing, Umber and the Viridian Green, but I have more Green in it.

See so that looks just a little more greenish.

It gives the feeling of going back, back, back.

That sounds like some of the pitching I'd do.

I'd pitch and the announcer would say "Back, back, back!"

You sure hope your center fielder can catch it!

It would sure help if some of you guys that are enjoying the show if you could respond and say, ha, ha, ha, ha!

I like that, Buck!

See, the camera people don't laugh much.

So I need to have somebody.

I need somebody.

Everybody needs somebody.

Don't you?

I can hardly wait to get to next week, because to work on that one when it's dry will be a lot of fun.

Okay, now I need to have some big darks.

I'm looking at the tree on the right, but before I do the big darks, I know that it would help if I use a little more of the Viridian Green just where, on the edges, and when I say the edges, it's truly that.

You're mixing it and letting it blend out into the middle, and then you can see on the interior, it has a little more the Umberish look to it.

Oh, I see one thing that I'm going to take care of right now, and that is the area right in here.

I'll go back with some of that middle color, this middle color, and push into that.

This is a nice way to do too, when you have on the paint, and then if you need to cut away a little bit, it works very well, and you achieve a nice edge.

This has a little light, both sides of that.

Okay, my first thought is, I'm doing that big tree.

Would it be better to put on the dark foliage, then the trunk, or the trunk, then the dark foliage?

I think what I will do is put on the trunk first, because I'll lose a little bit as I put the dark foliage across which is great, so it isn't just a silhouette.

All right let's go ahead with that.

I'll take a flat sable brush, there you are, and I'll use the Burnt Umber.

Just a wee bit of juice with it.

And as I suggested, we're going to lose some of that as we put on the foliage.

We can always add it back if we want.

Here's one thing I've learned just recently in doing branches.

Rather than just put it on and drawing down to it, if I go sort of slow, almost piecemeal, like that...

I like the character of that better, even on a small one out from it; kind of tapping it on.

You know, once and a while you can just draw it down, but I do like the difference between those two, of this being one that's kind of gently added.

Still Burnt Umber, and as I suggested when I put this on first, you're going to lose a little bit when you start putting on the foliage, And maybe not necessarily now, but we'll add other little branches into it.

Okay, I continue down on the big trunk.

I think I've said this before, but let me say it again, a tree needs to taper.

So you can see that it's a little more narrow there, it's wider at the bottom, and then as we come down we want to make sure we're consistent with that principle.

I won't put any light on this tree until we've addressed putting on the foliage both on the tree and then behind the tree.

There's a certain feeling that I like in there that-- I need to check which blue you are.

Let's take this down.

Okay, you're Phthalo Blue.

What's your neighbor, or is that the same thing?

Yeah, you're both Phthalo Blue.

Why don't you get together?

Geez, perform a marriage.

Okay, you're Van Dyke Brown.

So I don't have any Ultramarine Blue out there, and there must be a reason-- I don't need it!

Okay, so I'm taking some of the Blue, and we'll mix a little bit of the Blue and just a little bit of the Van Dyke Brown.

You can see the slight difference as I leave that, which is untouched there, and this has a little bit of the Van Dyke Brown in it.

And here again, I'm careful, because this is behind the tree rather than up above where it's going to be over and in front of the tree.

Okay, so let's go ahead with some of the dark on that tree, which we'll also use over on the left side.

It looks like Umber is our choice.

Where are you, Umber?

Here you are.

Probably need a little bit more.

And I wonder what you would do.

This is Sap Green.

So I have equal parts of Umber and Sap Green, and I'll test it a little bit by putting some White near it.

Yeah, I like that, that's all right.

So take the brush.

I didn't overly clean it, because the colors are so similar.

So this is the Umber and Sap Green.

I initially am putting this on and then touching against that edge that is out there.

Now, some of this comes out quite aways.

Just wiggle the edge of the brush just a little bit.

Quite a bit over in here.

And I have to make sure that I do come across that trunk a little bit up above here, right in here And since that was Umber and we're using Sap Green and Umber, then we're fine.

Aren't we?

It's going to be so much fun to go on with this and to put more color on the original, because I have not done this one before in completeness.

I have tons of little pochades at home that are waiting to be worked up or to be beautiful as they are.

Okay, let's go over to the left tree, same thing.

Oh, this covers quickly.

Notice on this one, I did not put on any trunk first, because you don't see the trunk much.

Okay, now this as I come to the edge I'll have a little less paint so I can come out with it.

I thought I was home for a moment.

You need to work kind of fast to make this thing work for the great TV audience.

Now, I ran down, picked up the same thing, which was Umber and the Sap Green.

Okay, now I'm looking in this area, and I really like that.

So let's take some Phthalo Blue.

What else do I put in that?

Probably a touch of White, and then we'll see about the Payne's Gray, or let's see, I got Van Dyke Brown.

Not Payne's Gray, Van Dyke Brown is what I'm referring to.

When I mumble it means I'm checking what I'm saying.

Van Dyke Brown and the Blue.

Isn't that a pretty color?

You can always say yes!

Just don't change that dial!

Oh, I love that color.

That really is good.

Isn't it?

Oh, ♪ dance with me.

♪ Dance with me.

And I will take maybe just a little more Van Dyke Brown as we come down in the water.

See, that's a little darker on purpose than the above foliage.

This, as it meets the edge, is very soft blend.

Gee, I like that.

I'm going to put a little bit of you up in here, maybe a little bit in there.

I think that will work.

I do like just the little dark that's showing in the lower right corner, and the lower left corner.

Now we'll push some Green in on that.

Where are you, Green?

This is-- what kind of green do we want?

Oh, you're over here kind of hiding!

Permanent Green Light!

Oh, it's so tough to be at the end of the bench and hoping the coach notices you.

Let's have just a little Van Dyke Brown.

You're Van Dyke Brown.

Not much.

Now, here I'm making conscious effort to come a little bit above so you get the feeling of grass is growing above the edge of the water.

And while I have this on the brush, I'll sneak just a little bit in there.

It gives just a little bit more correct feeling.

Okay over on the other side, the right side.

Step back, Buck!

Okay!

I stepped back!

Did that work?

Here again, you like the little empty spaces, if you want to call them that, where the canvas shows through, shows through the character of the canvas.

I feel a little sweep is necessary right now before we go on, just a little more finishing touches.

Perfect!

Oh, I'm so glad you've come to watch today, and you be sure that you come next week.

You can set an alarm... 7-day alarm.

I don't know when it's shown in your area... areas.

It was funny, at home in Santa Barbara, California, the PBS show there didn't carry it, but our neighbor across the street, they had this old-time television set, and he could get the show!

Gee, just with the antenna, without cable.

Lucky dog!

Okay, so let's do a couple things that will be very helpful.

We'll first take some, I need to see what you are.

I think you're-- are you Rose?

Oh great.

You're the Violet.

You must be Alizarin then.

You look so much alike, you're almost identical twins.

I'm going to use the Alizarin and White and I have a palette knife that I will apply the paint with and that's on this tree.

And it's surprising, but there's just the smallest touch on the back side of it.

Can you see that?

When we do the finished painting, we'll make sure that the front one has more light than the back one.

Okay, I'm going to come through the middle of the canvas with a little bit of dark.

I don't know what you are.

I'll take just pure Umber, and I hardly touch this.

And then I'll take and put on just a little bit of light on it.

So I'm taking the Yellow Ochre and White and the knife again or as my neighbor friend would say, "a-gain," and she's probably correct.

Just a touch with Umber down at the bottom of it.

And this, I'm putting this on, and I've almost wiped the Umber off the brush so that it stays very faint... and some there.

Do you notice a little teeny waterfall?

Oh, I love that.

So we just got a couple minutes.

So let's see what happens on that.

First I'm going to put just a little, this is Yellow Ochre and White and a touch of green.

Just a little bit here so it's kind of on both sides.

You're not high enough, higher, And then a knife with not real White, but it's going to have maybe just a little blue in it for now.

Let it kind of wiggle just a little bit as it comes down.

And you have down below, you have another little sequence of a waterfall there, and you have-- great, this is Yellow Ochre and White, a nice gleam right there, and a nice gleam down below that.

I think we have just enough time to kind of look things over.

What do we want to do?

There's a little bit of that kind of greenish middle color that we put on just slightly on these.

And what we can do just as kind of a going-away present, take Umber and put on another tree trunk.

Soften with that brush mommy gave me.

A little bit of pink on the side there.

The light's coming down through the middle.

So on this side it would strike on the left, this side on the right.

You come back, because I want to continue my memory and see what you think!

See you next time.

Bye-bye!

[piano plays in bright rhythm & tone] ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ (woman) Funding for "Painting With Paulson" is made possible by...