- I live in the Northeast.

So I get to see a variety of cold weather critters, bear, deer, rabbits, songbirds, you name it.

It's always exciting to see an owl on the prowl.

Join me next on "Painting with Wilson Bickford" as we paint snowy.

(gentle music) - [Narrator] Support for "Painting with Wilson Bickford" is provided by The J. M. McDonald Foundation.

Continuing the example modeled by J. M. MacDonald by contributing to education, health, humanities and human services sharing since 1952.

Online at jmmcdonaldfoundation.org (dramatic music) - [Narrator] In rural New York state bordered by the St. Lawrence River and the Adirondack Mountains is a sprawling landscape with communities that offer self-guided tours for the creatively inclined.

Learn the stories behind the barn-filled traditions, family agriculture, nature, and beauty.

St. Lawrence County, life undiscovered.

- Hi, thanks for tuning in today.

I'm Wilson Bickford, and I'm gonna show you how to paint this nice snowy owl project.

I live in Northern New York and I get to see a lot of animals, a lot of birds, a lot of bears, deer, you name it.

And I love to paint birds as you know, and just to show you, I like doing all kinds of birds.

Not only birds of prey.

Here's a hummingbird I've done.

These two egrets actually came from Florida when Gwen and I took our grandchildren to Disney World.

We were walking around Florida and I happened to take a couple of photos that I used for reference.

This is a Downy woodpecker.

This is all done with a painting knife.

So it's very thick and chunky and textured.

As you know, I like to do knife paintings too.

That's a recent one I just did.

I've got this Baltimore Oriole.

So I'm just showing you to give you some ideas and inspiration to paint your own projects.

And I do, I love chickadees.

I get a lot of chickadees at my feeders.

This is just on an oval canvas, stretched canvas.

So I love to paint birds.

I hope you do too.

This'll be a great lesson for you if that's the case.

And even if you've never tried painting a bird, today I'm gonna show you everything you need to know to do this project.

So let's start at it.

On my palette today I have oil paints and I've prepped this with acrylic and I'm gonna talk about that momentarily.

On my palette I have Ultramarine Blue, Dioxazine Purple, Ivory Black, Cadmium Yellow Pale, Burnt Sienna, Titanium White.

And I also have some White Basecoat that I'm gonna use to blend the background to get nice soft edges in that background where I want them and some Clear Glazing Medium that I'll use on the owl to lubricate that, to put the glazes on to put the shading and form on him.

Now, what I had done previously is took this material.

Now, if you go to the WPBSTV website, you'll be able to download the supply list with all the materials I just told you about.

And I'm gonna go through the brushes as well and you'll have a sketch here.

So if you don't want to freehand your own or feel that you can't do an adequate enough job, some people feel they can't draw, you can take this sketch and take some graphite transfer paper lay underneath it onto your canvas.

I like to use a red pen because the red shows up on the black.

So you can tell where you've been.

Cause this is a pretty busy pattern here.

You got a lot of little areas in there.

So you do want to be able to track your progress.

You just draw this on like I did.

And then I took a small detailed script liner brush with black acrylic gesso and I put all these little markings on here.

So I basically just redid the sketch from the pencil phase, the graphite phase to acrylic paint.

So this is all acrylic paint.

At that point, when it was dry, the acrylic will dry very quickly and you can actually speed it up with a hairdryer.

From that point on, I covered it with tape.

And everybody always asked about my tape.

This is just everyday tape from the hardware store.

I don't use anything special.

I just use whatever I can get.

And I covered it with single layers of tape.

And I used an Exacto craft knife, really sharp number 11 blade.

And I carefully trimmed away everything that wasn't the owl or the stump.

And I forgot to mention, I also painted the stump obviously with black acrylic while I had that acrylic going.

I used a number 10 flat brush.

And I painted that solid black.

So that was all the prepper.

This project has quite a bit of prep work to it but once you get this completed the rest of the painting will fall right together just like nothing.

It will be easy, easy project for you.

All the work is in the underpainting.

So take your time and do a good job on that.

For brushes today I'm gonna be using a two-inch scenery brush, a #3 fan brush, a #6 small flat brush, a #10 large flat brush and a #2 detailed scriptliner.

I have also covered the edge with some blue painter's tape here.

Just to give me a little sense of a border.

I did on this one as well.

You'll notice this white inner ring.

It kind of gives it almost a matting effect.

And I basically did that because if I was painting right to the bottom, it's hard on film for you guys to see 'cause I have to get right tight down to my easel.

And it's really hard.

This way I can just go off the edge and it just makes a clean finish.

If I wasn't filming and I didn't want to tape the edge, I wouldn't have to but I'd have to take the canvas off to get it out of this little channel here to get it off the bottom of the canvas cleanly.

So I put the edge on there and I'll reveal that at the end to show ya.

Okay, I think that's all the supplies and all the explanation I need to do.

So let's paint.

I'm so glad you joined me for this.

It's gonna be a great lesson.

I'm gonna use my two-inch scenery brush and I'm gonna take some of this white base coat and I'm gonna scrub it in very, very thinly all over.

And I'll say, I don't have to paint around the owl because I taped him out.

Now this is on, oop, this is on a panel.

I'll leave it there till I get done.

I'm using quite a bit of pressure here.

This is on a panel, so it's harder.

So it's a hard panel versus a stretch canvas.

So a lot of people are skeptical about doing the trimming on a stretch canvas.

I do it all the time.

You just have to use a really sharp blade and a light touch.

A little bit of experience will help you with that.

And you'll know how much pressure you have to apply or not.

I would take an old practice canvas, something that you don't really care about, and I would just try laying some tape on it and cutting and just get a little bit of practice under your belt will we'll go a long ways.

There, he really looks like a snowy owl now, doesn't he?

Okay, I'm gonna tighten that down a little more.

All right.

In this background, I used some Ultramarine Blue, little purple, a little touch of black and I just wanted it to look kind of stormy and blustery, I guess would be the word.

So if I take the white base coat, that's left in my brush add a little bit of blue.

If you want more of a blue day, you can just simply use blue, and you're gonna have a nice clear blue day, winter's day.

I want it a little blustery, a little cold looking, overcast.

So I'm gonna take a little bit of blue, a little bit of the Ivory Black.

The Ivory Black is very, very, very strong.

So you don't want much of it.

And I'll start with this.

I've got more than one tone in there.

I'm gonna start with this first.

I'm gonna leave some negative spaces of some of the white in there showing too.

I'll bring it down roughly to where I want my tree line to be, maybe somewhere down about here, give or take.

I'm actually gonna use some of this color in the snow.

I realized this is probably looking like a train wreck to you, but it'll all come out in the wash. All these brush marks that you see are gonna go away.

I'm gonna blend this.

So I'll go something about like that to start.

I'm gonna wipe the brush off a little bit.

And this one, I put a little touch of purple.

That's totally up to you.

I could add more black and go a little grayer.

That would be fine as well.

I'm gonna add just a touch of this purple into this blue that I just had.

And the purple is really, really strong.

So I don't really need a lot of it.

Okay, I want it to look kind of cold and stormy, nice winter scene.

I'm one of those people that enjoy winter.

I really do.

I don't mind the change of seasons.

I love the change of seasons.

I know a lot of people don't like the snow and they go south for the winter, but that's fine, but I don't mind it.

I've lived here all my life.

I'm 61 years old.

So if I'm not used to it by now, I'm never gonna be, am I?

But I like the change of seasons.

So see something roughly like that.

It's never gonna match that one exactly and I'm not trying to.

Just showing you the process.

So if I wipe the brush off very thoroughly and now come back and use a lighter touch and kind of a criss-cross.

I Can really soften that right out.

See how it just takes all the harshness, all the brush marks, all the graininess right out of it.

There, pretty easy.

Right?

I'm gonna leave a little bit of this white down here for the snow.

I can bleed more shadows in there later if I feel like I need to.

That's actually gonna look pretty good I think for what I want.

All right, I'm gonna lay that brush to the side.

I'm gonna take a #3 fan brush.

I'm gonna mix up a color for my background fir trees.

What gives me green?

Is it blue and red?

Nope.

Blue and yellow.

You're right.

Somebody in Idaho said blue and yellow.

All right.

I heard you.

Okay.

I'm gonna take a some Ultramarine Blue, a little bit of the Cadmium Yellow Pale.

This is gonna give me a green but it's gonna be really, really bright artificial-looking green.

So I'm gonna take a little bit of this Burnt Sienna to tone it down.

And that will gray it and knock it down a couple notches.

The best thing I can do is come right up and on the, where the owl is taped out.

I can simply just put it right on there just to see how it reads against my blue.

See if it's a color I like.

This is a little darker and a little bluer than that, but I'm liking it.

So I'll use it.

Doesn't matter.

Like I said, I'm not trying to match that one exactly.

I just need a little more of that color.

So I'm gonna mix it a little more up here on the fly and notice I'm gonna tap the bristles open, get them spread right out.

And if I hold the brush vertically I can come in and tap and get a feeling of fir tree standing up.

The first thing I want to do is find my snow line where the trees and the snow and the land meet.

I'm gonna see maybe across here.

Notice that I'm going at an angle just to give it more interest.

Straight lines are boring.

So I want it to look like there's a little bit of a hill here.

Once I get that established across the bottom.

Now that I'm looking at that that's a little too green for my taste.

I'm gonna put just a speck more of this Burnt Sienna in there.

Just to kind of knock it down a notch.

There we go.

It makes it more of an olive green, not quite so green green.

And that's all a matter of taste preference on your part.

Okay, now I'm gonna come in and I'm gonna start making trees here.

And I want them uneven heights, uneven distances apart, shouldn't be any rhyme or reason to them.

They're far away.

So we don't need a lot of detail in them.

So something like that is more than sufficient for what I want.

Come out the other side here a little ways.

Let's see, I'm just tapping and I'm going up and down and to the left and to the right.

And that's all it is.

It's pretty simple.

Don't make it any more complicated than it is.

Okay.

Maybe something like that.

And you'll notice in the finished one here I've got some snow laying on the trees.

So I'm gonna take my brush.

I have a odorless paint thinner here in this bucket with a screen in the bottom.

I just rub that against the screen.

It takes all the paint out.

Notice I leave the lid on when I'm not using it.

If you're the type that is sensitive to paint thinner or anything like that, don't expose yourself to it needlessly.

Just leave your cover on it.

It's fine.

You'll see that I don't do a lot of brush washing as a general rule.

Usually wiping the brush and keeping rolling is more than sufficient.

So, okay, I'm gonna take some white.

Little bit of the blue.

I want it not pure white.

It's kind of overcast.

So the snow is not gonna be pure white like the sun shining on it.

So I'm gonna make it a little blue.

I can even bleed a little bit of the sky color purple stuff into it.

As long as it's lighter than what my tree green is.

Now, the important part here is to get just enough paint on your brush, that you're leaving a texture on your palette 'cause I want texture on the tree.

So that's always the guideline.

If you don't have texture on your palette you won't have texture on your canvas and see I've got the bristles spread right out.

Now, if I use a light touch, it gives me that rough texture.

It looks just like snow on the trees in the distance.

This doesn't work so well for trees that are closer but for the distance, it works fine.

That's the key to painting is knowing what works in what perspective.

These are farther away.

So we don't need a lot of detail and hoopla, Just want the suggestion and the implication of snow on these trees back here.

All right.

I think it's come along pretty good.

Don't you?

Yeah, I think so too.

I'm gonna switch this brush out again.

I need to clean up my snow line.

Notice how it's kind of ratty down at the bottom.

I want that kind of smoothed off a little bit.

It'll push the trees over the knoll.

So I'm gonna wash this brush out.

I'll put a little bit of white on it here just to be safe.

And I'm just gonna kind of saw this off a little cleaner and I'm probably picking up green as I'm doing this.

You'll notice I have a paper towel right in my hand.

I'm gonna keep wiping that off.

So it stays clean.

These snowy owls are pretty magnificent birds and they're pretty, pretty large.

They're a big bird.

Very impressive when you see him out in the wild flying around.

Okay.

That's pretty much it for the background.

Now, if I wanted to I could add more tones in there and it's totally up to you.

Having said that I've got time here.

I'm gonna show you, watch this.

I'm gonna backtrack and go back to this dirty brush.

And if I were to and I'm just doing this as an ad-lib.

You don't have to do it.

I'm just showing you that you can 'cause I know some of you will get to this point.

You're gonna say, boy, I should've put more color in my sky.

It's not too late as long as the owl is still taped in place.

If you remove the tape, then you got to paint around him.

I still got free wheeling here.

So I'm just taking more of the blue purple, black mixture.

Just something a little darker just to show you that you can.

If I had a change of heart and I wanted to put something extra in here whether it's gray, blue, purple, whatever, it's your choice.

See, I can always go back and add more stuff in there and then wipe your brush as before.

Use a light touch and soften it in.

See, I'm not making big fluffy clouds.

I'm just painting overcast sky.

So it's very simple.

It looks very nice.

The very, yeah, very good look to it and very easy to achieve.

Okay, I've got to take all this tape off the stump and the owl, and I'll be back in just a moment.

(upbeat music) Here's a helpful hint.

When you're doing the underpainting on your owl, notice that these are feathers.

So I like to spike the brush up like this with the black gesso.

And I come in and I'm doing a little downward dabs like this, and it's kind of a crescent shape.

Don't make the mistake of just painting lines across like this.

They're too solid.

Open your brush up, keep everything nice and feathery.

Okay, now I've removed the tape and the owl is in there just like I mentioned before.

And it's all under painted with the acrylic.

All we need to do is add oil glazes on to give him some shape and form.

And you probably noticed that I only had part of the stump taped off.

I thought I could be careful and go around my edges.

So I didn't bother taping the whole stump but you see where that got me.

Even I mess up once in a while.

I got a little over zealous and little excited and forgot about that.

So I just painted over, which is no problem.

So if that happens to you, that's no problem whatsoever.

I'm gonna take a paper towel and just dampen it with just a little bit of thinner.

And I can just wipe this right off.

Even if it doesn't come back 100% clean it doesn't have to.

That little bit won't bother anything.

So I'm gonna take the #10 flat brush and I'm gonna take a little bit of the clear glazing medium, put a coat over the whole owl and the stump area.

And if you get into a problem or maybe this is too much brush for you you can always scale down and use your #6 flat.

It doesn't matter.

It doesn't matter which one we use as long as we get the job done.

So I'm gonna take some of this clear glazing medium and I'm gonna scrub this on.

Now, this is clear.

So it's hard to really see it against the white.

So you might have to actually take your canvas down, tilt it back and get some shine on it.

So you can see, where there'll be dull looking where it's dry and it'll be shiny where it's wet with this glaze.

Well, we put this on because it will make it easier to blend our glazes together and get a nice smoothness.

We want him to look round.

So I'm just gonna scrub this on like this.

I'm trying to make sure I get it all.

Now might happen that you see a little gray coming off here now and then, it's not the acrylic.

It's the graphite, where I had put the graphite on.

I drew this out on a paper first to get all my drawing correct.

And then I transferred it just like you will with the graphite paper.

So I did freehand at first, I drew it but I drew it on paper and then I did transfer it.

And the graphite leaves a little residue on here around the acrylic where I painted it.

And you might see that it'll wash away.

It'll dissolve the graphite, but not the acrylic.

So that's all that is.

So a little bit down here on the stump.

From here on, like I said, at the introduction once you get the underpainting in everything else falls right together.

We got it made now.

Everything else is gonna be fairly easy from here on out.

So take your time on the underpainting.

That's why we do it first.

We want to get it done and done nicely.

Hey, a weasel walked into a bar.

The bartender says, "You know, I don't think I've ever had an weasel in here before.

What'll you have?"

"Pop," goes the weasel.

(laughs) I know it's a bad joke, but.

Better than no joke at all, right?

There you go.

Okay.

Okay, I got the glazing medium on and I'll start in with the eyes.

The eyes are the important part.

You'll notice on here that they're mostly yellow.

And I got a little bit of an accent of some of the Burnt Sienna in the corners to give them roundness and shadow.

So I'm gonna take some of this Cadmium Yellow Pale on my detail scriptliner.

Maybe a little bit of this medium, or you could use thinner.

Just something to thin it down a little bit.

And you probably remember from previous episodes, my little friend here, my 69 cent dowel.

they make mahl sticks, which is spelled M-A-H-L, mahl sticks for artists that you can use to steady your hand but a 69 cent dowel from the hardware store works fine.

So I'm just gonna paint in all of the white area of the eye and I'm painting around the black.

The yellow is kind of translucent.

So it will show up on the black pupil if I get it on there.

But if I get it and it looks too cloudy, if I get it on there and it looks too cloudy.

I can actually touch it up with some of the black on my palette.

So I'm gonna paint those in yellow like that.

And then I'm gonna take a little bit of Burnt Sienna into this color and darken it down.

It'll be more of a orangy color.

Roll it to a point.

See how flat they look right here with the yellow?

but notice how much more life and form and shape they've got with the corners darkened.

A lot of people, amateurs would just paint the yellow and leave it like that.

You want to go the extra mile and do it right.

So I'm gonna take some of this darker color.

I'm gonna darken it, just a tad more.

Take some of this darker color and put in the corners.

And then I will wipe the brush and kind of blend those edges together so they're just not too linear.

The whole idea is to make the eyeball look round.

So see where I've done it right there.

There's a line between the Burnt Sienna color and the yellow.

So I have to eliminate that line, which is easy.

I'm just gonna wipe the brush off and I'll come back in and just lightly tap that transition between the colors a little bit, just to soften it.

Okay.

That's looking pretty good.

And like I said, I'm going to come back and add glazes on here for the shape and the form on here.

These are white feathers, but there's a lot of other colors.

I worked from a photo that I had, and you'll notice that there's some rusty orangy colors in them.

And this purple tone here is a good shadow color for anything on white, the rule of thumb for shading on anything that's white is a grayed down blue or purple mixture.

So that's what we're gonna use for that.

So the glazing is gonna fall together pretty easily and it won't take much time.

So I'm just gonna scrub this like this.

I've seen a little bit of the graphite on there so I'm just removing that.

And we're just about through with this episode.

Just for the heck of it, I'm gonna take my brush handle and back here in the trees, I can scratch out a few indications that maybe some birches or aspen trees silhouetted against some of these evergreens.

It just gives it a little more depth in the tree line.

A little more interest.

So I'll catch you on the next episode and we'll finish this up.

Until next time, stay creative and keep painting.

- [Narrator] Support for "Painting with Wilson Bickford" is provided by the J. M. McDonald Foundation.

Continuing the example modeled by J. M. MacDonald by contributing to education, health, humanities and human services sharing since 1952.

Online at jmmcdonaldfoundation.org, (dramatic music) - [Narrator] In rural New York state, bordered by the St. Lawrence River and the Adirondack Mountains is a sprawling landscape with communities that offer self-guided tours for the creatively inclined.

Learn the stories behind the barn-filled traditions, family agriculture, nature, and beauty.

St. Lawrence County, life undiscovered.

- [Narrator] All 13 episodes of "Painting with Wilson Bickford" season seven are now available on DVD or Blu-ray in one box set for $35 plus 4.95 shipping and handling.

Or learn the techniques used to paint Sunset Lake with the in-depth "Paint Smart, Not Hard" series of Wilson Bickford instructional DVDs.

Includes the bonus episode "Don't be so Coy."

Additional titles available.

Order online or watch or download directly to your computer or mobile device.

More information at wpbstv.org/painting or slash painting.

(upbeat music) (gentle music)