- Hi, welcome back.

I'm certainly glad you could join me today.

It's such a fantastic day here, and I hope it is wherever you're at.

I thought today we'd just do a beautiful, beautiful little painting that's very warm and has a lot of very soft colors in it.

So, I tell ya what, let's start out, have 'em run all the colors across the screen that you need to paint along with me.

While they're doing that, let me show you what I've already done up here.

Got my standard ol' canvas up here, a double-primed, pre-stretched canvas.

And I've covered it with just a thin, even coat of the Liquid White, so it's all wet and it's ready to go.

So let's do a little painting.

As I say, today, it's such a beautiful, beautiful day, let's just do a little painting that's very warm and just one that'll make you happy.

Let's start out with a little Dark Sienna, and I'll reach up here and get the least little touch of Alizarin Crimson.

I wanna make a nice, warm brown color.

Just tap a little into the bristles.

And let's go up in here, and we use our little crisscross strokes.

And just begin dancing in just a happy little area up here.

Like that.

All right.

As I say, this is just gonna be a very, very warm painting, very warm.

Very soft, quiet, delicate little painting.

Because that's the kind of mood I'm in today.

There.

See, the paint is continually, continually mixing with the Liquid White and automatically, it gets lighter and lighter in value as it works downward.

Let the canvas work for you, shoot.

There, very lightly, three hairs and some air, all we have to do is just blend that.

And we're gonna use that for our background today.

And that's about all we need.

Now, gonna show you something that's fun.

Let's have some fun today.

We'll go back into that same color.

Little Alizarin Crimson, little bit of Dark Sienna.

And just mix these on the brush, shoot, don't worry about it.

That way you have a multitude of things happening in that brush, it's just not one old flat, dead color.

Let's go back up here.

Now then, maybe back here in the background maybe we have some, just some little tree indications and bush indications.

I'm just gonna take the corner of the brush, and just sort of rub it.

Just rub it.

Now, if you've ever had problems making little bushes and trees, this is your painting, because this will make it so simple.

Even if you've never painted anything before.

This you can do without any problem at all.

There.

So, just the corner of the brush.

And all you have to worry about is just some very, very basic little shapes.

Maybe over here, there's one.

There's one.

Look at that.

Very soft and quiet.

Maybe there's a bigger one over here, whatever.

But I want these to almost blend right into the sky.

Okay, speaking of blending, let's take a good, clean, dry brush, and I wanna create the illusion of mist.

So, tap it.

Just tap the base, not the top, just the base.

Just the bottom.

And that'll make it even softer.

There.

Okay, now very lightly, one hair and some air, just barely touching.

Now then, if you wanna create the illusion of more depth and distance in your painting, all you have to do, let me show ya, it's easier to show ya.

Take a little more of that same color, and we come back in here, and maybe, there's another one right there.

Let me get just a touch more paint.

So it'll show up a little bit better.

I don't wanna change the color too much, just enough so you can see the difference.

But this misty area in here is what separates.

It's your good friend, take care of it.

There we go.

Okay, then I'll take another two inch brush, and I have several of each brush going.

And just tap 'em.

Just tap.

That's one thing you'll find, if you paint very much, if you have at least two of each brush, it'll save you a tremendous amount of time and materials, because otherwise, if you have to wash and clean your brush between each time you go back from a dark to a light color, most of your color'll end up in the bottom of this washer can.

If you have two or more of each one of these brushes, then you can have one for light, one for dark.

Just makes it easier, and I'm lazy.

Let's take some dark colors now.

We'll go into a little bit of Midnight Black, a little Van Dyke Brown, little touch of the Sap Green, and a little touch of Phthalo Blue, not too much, just a little bit.

Just load the brush up again.

As things get closer to you in the landscape, you want 'em to get darker.

So now they're beginning to get closer, so let's come right up in here.

There's a nice little bush.

You can see some green in this one.

That one's beginning to show a little bit more green.

There, so let all these little things happen.

All we're using, though, is just the corner of the brush.

And just makin' little wiggles.

See there?

Give it a little push.

That's where they come from.

Little more of the color.

And you vary these colors a little bit, here and there.

That's why you mix color on the brush.

That way you get a multitude of things happening without even working at it.

There.

Painting's too much fun to turn it into a chore.

Enjoy it.

We do enough bad things around the house to do that aren't fun.

(chuckles) You can always go cut the grass, or whatever if you want something that's not fun.

When you're painting, it should be fun for ya.

Now, we'll take the large brush, and just tap that.

Once again, I wanna create that illusion of mist.

Very soft and very quiet.

There.

And just work in layers, just layer after layer after layer.

Now then, go back into that ol' color.

Maybe wanna make the indication here of a little tree.

This is an easy way, just touch, and bend, just bend.

And less as you go up, there it is.

See?

Take the other side, that's all you have to do.

Push harder when you want it to get wider.

Isn't that super?

Maybe, let's give him a little friend.

And you can do as many, or as few of these as you want in your world.

Just touch it, give it a little push.

That's all there is to it.

It makes the indication of a nice little tree and you have done virtually nothing.

Take the knife, put the indication of a little trunk here and there in it.

And people will think you've worked for long (chuckles) periods of time to put these in, shh, it's our secret.

Don't tell nobody.

Okay, now back to our color.

Let's go back in here and maybe put another layer.

Same basic colors.

I'm gonna use the same basic colors.

I just wanna show you numerous layers in here.

Now this can be made to look very, very soft, almost like a watercolor.

When I was in school, I took several courses in watercolor.

It taught me two things, first of all, it wasn't my medium, it's too difficult, and secondly, a tremendous respect for those who could do it.

To me, that's the hardest medium there is.

Boy, if you make a mistake there.

Phew.

But this is very forgiving.

You could scrape this off and start over, even now.

I'm gonna start adding some yellows, and Cad Yellow, Yellow Ochre, little Bright Red here and there, whatever.

Indian Yellow.

There, you know, while I'm putting this on, 'cause this is gonna be very repetitious, I'm just adding color, I wanted to mention, recently, through our newsletter, we had an art contest.

And from all over the country, people sent me paintings, you wouldn't believe.

We had, just, hundreds of beautiful paintings came in.

One of the hardest things we've ever tried to do is to figure out whose paintings we liked, and who we thought was the winner, that's very hard to come up with.

But I wanted to share with you today some of the people that had won according to categories.

So, we'll just put those up on the screen, here.

This is Becky Gibson and she's, was under six years of age, can you believe that?

Fantastic young painter.

And then we had Harold Jennings from St. Louis, Missouri.

He was in the six to 12 year old category, that Harold, he's a son-of-a-gun, look at that painting.

Boy, he's gonna be after my job too, pretty soon.

And Steve Silverman, from Virginia, that's where our company's located.

He was in the 13 to 18 year old category.

And Steve has quite a career in front of him, I can tell that now.

And, in the category, (chuckles) 18 and over, that means they're not gonna tell you how old they are.

Ernest Hopewell won.

And Ernest is a fantastic artist.

I'm so proud of these people.

I'm just overjoyed.

And, as I say, it was very hard to pick a winner.

I just can't tell you all the beautiful, beautiful paintings we had.

And I hope next time we have one of these little contests, that you enter and maybe we could show your painting on here.

Oh, I'm just takin' all different colors, the yellows, and, just whatever.

Just making layer after layer.

Maybe a little of the Bright Red mixed with some yellow.

There, see, just let 'em bounce back and forth.

As I say, if you've practiced with this a little bit, shoot, it'll come out looking almost like a watercolor.

It's really a very, very nice technique.

And and another way you can make oil paintings look like watercolor, is use oil washes, or just dilute the paint down 'til it's the consistency of water.

And you can make beautiful watercolor effects very easily.

There we go.

Okay.

You know, it's interesting, I get letters from people, sometime they say they're allergic to oil paints so they use another medium.

Most of the time, we find that people are not really allergic to oil paints as much as they're allergic to the turpentine that's traditionally used with painting.

I'm just putting a little paint thinner into some brown here.

Let's go up here.

Put in a few trunks.

We use no turpentine in this technique.

The only thing that we ever use is odorless paint thinner.

And most people find they don't have a problem with that.

But if you've had an allergic reaction to paint before, check to make sure it's not just the turpentine that's traditionally used.

I'm just putting in a few indications here and there of some sticks and twigs, and all kinds of things.

There.

I really am proud of the artists that we just showed you.

They have done so much.

So very much.

There.

It was unbelievable to me, when I began looking through all the different entries that people had sent.

Because I never knew so many people were painting, and they were doing such a fantastic job.

There we go.

See how all these little things just create that indication, and we can take a little paint thinner with a light color, just white, basically, and here and there, maybe maybe there's some light little sticks and twigs.

They have those, too.

They live in the woods, too.

Okay.

Wash the ol' brush.

I just wash these little brushes in thinner, and then dry them off on a paper towel.

I don't beat and bang on them.

I'm gonna take some dark color now.

We need a contrast.

Painting is nothing but playing lights against dark, darks against light, et cetera.

Maybe right down in here, there it is.

We'll put a nice dark area.

I'm still just using the corner of the brush and just rubbing it.

Just literally doing nothing but rubbing.

Just the corner of the brush, though.

You'll be amazed at all the different shapes that you can make.

There we go.

Nice, dark, strong color, though.

But see how each one of these plains here creates that illusion of depth.

And, to me, that's what makes a painting special.

There we go.

And you vary it back and forth, maybe, maybe in here there's a little lighter color that just stands out.

See there?

Just layer after layer.

As many or as few as you want in your world.

There we are.

Boy, this is turning into a very nice little area.

Then we have to get crazy in here.

You know me, I can never leave well enough alone.

Have to play with it a little.

So let's do some weird things here.

Maybe (chuckles).

I tell you, let's come right up in here.

Maybe in here we have, maybe there's a building here.

Let's just scrape out a basic shape, give our little building a place to live.

And we'll put his roof there.

All this does is remove excess paint and gives you a basic outline.

We'll take a little bit of Van Dyke Brown.

Now we can begin blocking it in.

There, there's a nice roof.

And maybe it comes over to about there.

(hums descending note) There we are.

All we're doing is blocking in color.

You don't have to worry at this point, don't have to even be concerned with it.

Little bit on this side, don't want him to be left out.

There we are.

Now then, I'm gonna take a little bit of the Van Dyke Brown, a little bit of Bright Red, touch of white in there.

Just make a sort of a dirty red color, and we'll come right down here, just put the indication of an ol' roof here.

There it is.

Let's take, we'll use a little Dark Sienna, some white, some Yellow Ochre in it.

See, it's always a (chuckles) tendency to say, "Yella Okra," but okra's what you eat in your soup.

So I won't say that.

Now, leave this color marbled like this, with all different things in it.

We'll just take off a little roll of paint, we don't need much.

Now then, let's begin grabbing this, just, (softly whistles descending note) Let's just put in, and I'm pushing very firmly.

Very firmly.

Allowing all those little background colors to mix in with it, too.

Straight down.

Straight down.

On the other side, I'm gonna take that same color, and add a little more of the Titanium White to it.

I want it to be a little lighter, but the same basic color.

All right, once again, our little roll of paint.

Let's go right out here, and we'll just lay in something like this.

I'm mashing very hard, once again, allowing it to mix with those colors that are underneath.

Very hard, getting mean with it, tough with it.

There, we'll wipe the knife.

Keep right on rubbing.

There we go.

Very nice.

You get all those effects, just automatically.

Make us a nice straight edge down this side, pull it right down, zoom.

There.

Now then.

Want this edge here to be a little bit lighter so it stands apart.

Then we'll come right down.

Okay.

Now, tell you what, I'm gonna take a color that's a little bit darker and very, very little of it, almost none.

Let's go up here, and I'm just gonna touch, and let the knife just sort of bounce around, just at random.

You might even find a small knife works better for getting in these areas.

Just sorta let it bounce around, so it just gives a indication of some little distant things that are happening.

We're not looking for a lot of detail here.

There.

It'll give that impression that, shoot, maybe it's even made out of old stones all put together.

Just let it bounce.

There.

Okay, see how that, it really helps create that image, that illusion.

And painting is nothing but illusions.

All right, grab the small knife, let's go up here, I'll take Dark Sienna, Dark Sienna, Dark Sienna, and the white, want it quite dark.

Our little roll of paint, we'll once again, maybe right in here we got a little window.

Zoop, like that.

Shoot, maybe there's another one over here.

I don't know, wherever you want 'em.

Take a little dark paint, outline that a little bit.

Not a lot, just enough to give an indication.

There.

Now, while we've got dark paint on there, some nice, dark Van Dyke Brown, maybe we'll put a little door.

There he is.

Okay.

And, we can come back with a lighter color and we just sort of outline that door so it stands out.

Good, there we are.

Now then, shoot, let's use the liner brush.

Maybe... Take a little bit of this, that's Dark Sienna and white, maybe up in here, maybe coming out of here somewhere, we don't know where this is coming, we'll have a little, I think they call this a flume.

It's hard to say.

Little box that water runs in.

Just, (softly whistles descending note) there we go.

Comes right out of there.

And, maybe down in here, maybe there's what remains of an old mill.

So we just put the indication here of a old wheel that's about wore out.

(softly whistles through teeth) Now, notice it's not completely round because you're looking at it from sort of a strange view.

(chuckles) There.

Little dark inside.

Okay.

Maybe little touch of light color here just to highlight.

Now we need something to hold that rascal up.

So, let's have some fun.

I'm gonna take the knife, get in here and get a bunch of the Liquid White, I wanna mix a little Dark Sienna with it.

Little Dark Sienna, maybe a little touch of Yellow Ochre.

Little more of the sienna.

There, ooh, that's nice.

But notice how thin this paint is, it's literally almost like water.

Very, very thin.

Very, very thin.

Now, today let's use, let's use the old filbert brush.

I'm gonna go right into some black, load a lot of paint into the bristle.

Now, come right down here, see, both sides I got black, I'm gonna reach over, and just pull one side through that light color.

Dark, light.

Maybe right up here, there's a big stone lives.

There he is.

And we can put the shadow and the highlight on at one time.

By using that thin paint, there he is.

'Cause there has to be something for that wheel to hook on to.

Now then.

I'll go back here, and we'll just scrub in a happy little bush that lives right up here beside it, it'll push that rock right back into the distance.

That's all there is to it.

All there is to it.

You can make just as many of these or as few as you want.

There we go.

Now then.

Tell you what, we'll just take that same ol' color.

(chuckles) This is where you have fun.

Here we just fill this in.

There we are.

Just really throw it in there, we don't care.

You could do this with a paint roller, doesn't matter.

Doesn't matter.

While we have that going, maybe over here on the other side, here's a nice little bush, and I'm still just using just the corner of the brush, that's all.

Just the corner, that's all we need.

And we'll go into a little bit of the other, the browns.

Just vary these colors, back and forth.

Back and forth, however you want 'em to be.

There.

Now then.

Let's take, we'll dip a fan brush into a little bit of Liquid White, little bit of Titanium White, be right back, a little touch of the Phthalo Blue, not much.

Maybe there's still a little water trickling down here.

It falls right down in here.

We have a happy little splash.

Wanders around a little, bloop, falls over again.

Where do we want it to go?

We don't care.

We don't care.

Just, any time you want a splash, give it a little upward push.

Comes right on down.

There we go.

Now then, let me go back to my filbert brush with some brown on it, a little bit of that thin paint, and let's begin dropping in, just all kinds of happy little stones, wherever you want 'em.

Just, maybe over here there's some, too.

See, but you can do the highlight and the shadow all in one stroke.

There, that's an easy, easy way kind of putting all these little little individual rocks and stones in.

There they are, look at 'em, all down the bank of this stream.

There's a big one there.

There, see him?

There we go.

Maybe, wherever, wherever.

You have to make these decisions in your world.

And change the color, shoot, there's all color of stones and rocks.

There's some more.

Okay.

That gives us something sorta to, it sort of holds our stream together so it doesn't slip over the bank and make a big flood.

There we go.

Now we just come back with our thin paint.

Maybe right here, shoom, up to you, wherever you want it.

Want a little waterfall?

You can have it, you can have anything you want on this canvas, anything that you want.

There.

We just let that wander right on off.

We don't care where that goes.

Wherever.

Now then.

Get a little Sap Green in there too, shoot.

Now then, let's just come in here, we'll just tap in some nice little grassy areas, comes right down these stones.

There they are.

Wherever.

Okay, there's one.

Put a few on the other side.

Bring that all together.

Little bit of grass, just hanging right over those rocks.

Now then, tell ya what, shoot, let's just, let's get crazy here.

Let's get crazy.

We'll take the ol' big brush, go right into some black and all the browns and et cetera.

Let's go right up here.

Maybe in our world there lives, boy, there does now, whoo.

Just a great, big, ol' tree.

Ooh, there go my little trees in the background, but you know how to do 'em now, so it doesn't matter.

It doesn't matter, as long as you know how to do 'em.

Look at that.

Isn't that a neat way, though, to do a great big tree?

See there?

Just drop 'em on.

Now then, need a trunk.

Gotta have a trunk.

Take a fan brush, we'll go through a little bit of Van Dyke Brown, little Van Dyke Brown, then I'll take the other side, where you at?

There ya are!

(chuckles) I had to find ya.

And go through that light color, so we got dark on one side, light on the other.

We'll touch and go, (hums descending note) and we have a nice tree trunk.

Just like that.

Then we could take our fan brush, put a little Yellow Ochre on today, what the heck.

Come back, and we'll just put in the indication of a few highlights here.

There, isn't that something?

This is a beautiful way to make a very nice painting.

I hope you'll give this a try.

It's sort of different than what we normally do.

And it'll open a whole new world to ya.

Just absolutely a whole new world.

It's very soft, very nice.

And it's, this particular one is done with extremely warm colors that, they just make you happy when you see 'em.

And we could drop in a few little sticks and twigs, and it'd be all finished.

But I think we're gonna call this one done today.

The ol' clock on the wall tells me it's time to go for right now.

I look forward to seeing you again.

Until then, happy painting, and God bless.

(easy-listening music)