- Hi, welcome back.

I'm certainly glad you could join us today.

I thought today we'd do one of my favorite kind of paintings where we use the black gesso.

So, I'll tell you what, let's start out and run all the colors across the screen that you need to paint with us at home.

While they're doing that, let me show you what I've got prepared today.

So, I say this black gesso is one of my favorite ways to paint.

And today, I've taken black gesso, as you can plainly see, and just painted the bottom with a little foam brush.

And I've used the little brush and just made some indications here that look like little distant trees.

This is one of the neatest, sneakiest ways of making little distant trees that look like they're far away.

And it'll save you a lot of time in your painting.

So, I think you'll enjoy this one.

So, let's going to started.

I'll start out today with the old two inch brush and little bit of the, we'll use a little Phthalo Blue today.

What the heck, such a fantastic day, let's use some bright colors that just, they make you happy.

Just tap the bristles into the color to just make sure that you have a nice even distribution of color all the way through the brush.

Okay, let's go up here.

Now, I've got the top covered with Liquid White as usual.

The bottom of this canvas I've covered totally and completely with a thin even coat of Liquid Clear on top of that, then we've just put a little Sap Green.

And put a little Van Dyke Brown in to dull it.

Then you can see they've sort of blended together.

Already you have a misty effect.

Now, watch here.

We'll take a little of the Phthalo Blue.

Just make little criss-cross strokes.

Start at the top as usual.

And we work all the way across.

Just allowing that color to blend.

And it's blending with the Liquid White that's on the top here.

And we'll just bring it right on down.

And just let all of these little colors just come together.

That easy.

That easy.

Isn't that neat?

Already though, it gives the impression that there's trees far back in the distance and you can see beautiful little misty areas in there.

This black gesso is one of the neatest things that we've ever developed.

There, okay.

And then, very lightly, we can just go across to take out the brush strokes and blend everything together.

And that easy, we have a fantastic little sky.

And our distant trees already.

And it only takes a matter of a minute or two to do this.

Try this, you'll really like it.

Now then.

Let's begin building something in the foreground.

Let's take, (ponderous vocalization) we'll make some big evergreens, so we'll take some black, I wanna use Prussian Blue today.

I like that Prussian Blue.

And Phthalo Green.

And maybe a little Alizarin Crimson, what the heck.

Long as they're good dark colors.

And I want a blue-greenish base to it.

So anything that comes out looking that way will work fine.

Okay, let me wipe off the old knife here.

We'll just want to wipe the knife on a paper towel.

And I'll find a little fan brush.

Number six fan brush.

And we load it full of color.

A lot of paint in the bristles, both sides.

There, okay, let's go up here to the canvas.

Now then, we have to make some big decisions.

Where does evergreens live.

So we'll just pick a point here and start.

All you do is touch, make us a little center line.

And just let it run right down like that.

Use the corner of the brush, as you work down the tree apply more and more pressure.

So that tree gets bigger, stronger, fuller as it works downward.

Look at there.

Okay, now then, maybe we'll give him a little friend.

We're gonna cover up a lot of these little background trees that were make with the black gesso.

But we're gonna leave some of 'em showing through.

And you will not believe the distance that you can create in a painting.

Just by doing little tricks like that.

There we are.

I like to paint these little evergreens.

They're a lot of fun.

And this will give you a lot of practice.

Maybe we'll do them all the way across the canvas here.

This would be a nice place for my little squirrel to live.

In the last show, we showed you a little squirrel that we called Pea Pod the Pocket Squirrel.

And we've had so many people write and call about him, I wanna show him again.

Maybe we can introduce you to him again.

In case you missed him last time.

We called him a pocket squirrel, because he would absolutely, I think, live in my pocket.

Continually.

There he is, isn't he the sweetest little thing?

He's just a little baby gray squirrel.

And he climbs down in my pocket at home and rides around in there all day.

And then sometimes he even falls asleep in the old pocket.

And he'll stay there for hours and hours if I allow him to.

I'm just makin' some little evergreens while you watch it.

There.

See, now, when he climbs down in the pocket, that's what he looks like when he's asleep.

I wanted you to see what he looks like up close.

Isn't he somethin'?

Of course, he's got huge foots for his size.

(makes amused vocalization) Well, he's been with me now for about a month.

And he'll be ready to go in just a few more weeks.

About month.

Maybe a few more months.

Sometimes I keep 'em a little longer than actually I have to, to make sure they get the best possible start in life.

And then we turn 'em loose and off they go.

And pretty soon they have their own little squirrels.

And a little condo in Miami and car payments and BMW, you know, all the regular problems that the rest of us have.

There, I'm just still making little evergreen trees using the corner of the old fan brush.

And in your world, you put as many or as few as you want.

It's up to you, totally and completely up to you.

Let's put a little baby one right in between there.

There.

Just a little guy.

That's for my little squirrel.

And then we need a couple of big strong ones for the big squirrels.

Alright.

So I say, just put as many or as few as you want.

And they all shouldn't be perfect.

Trees are like people.

Some of 'em have flaws, just like I do.

There we are.

So, when you're painting trees, if one of 'em doesn't come out just perfect, that's a nice tree, don't always worry about 'em being just perfect.

'Cause it makes your painting look more realistic.

Well, let's see, I'll show you, watch here.

Let me finish this one real quick.

We'll just drop in somethin'.

Maybe, well, let's go right here, doesn't matter.

Maybe this tree had a bad year and nothin' grew right there.

And we leave a little place naked.

He hasn't got no clothes on right there.

Then maybe again here.

But you can see a little bit of the trunk showing through.

But see how interesting, making a tree like that gives it just, it adds a little more life to your painting.

A little more realism.

And if you're out selling paintings, and of course none of us are interested in those happy bucks, but if you're out selling your paintings, this is what'll make your paintings sell over your competitors' sometimes.

Just the fact that you put little details in here that add to the realism.

Alright.

We painted a whole forest here in just a minute or two.

Okay.

But this is one of the nicest, neatest ways of making the indication of depth in your forest.

Because of those trees that were made with the black gesso back here.

And the paint's transparent enough that they still show through.

A lot of times, evergreens like to grow in clumps.

So we'll just put us a clump or two here and there.

Okay, tell you what, let's take, we'll have some trunks in our little evergreens for that.

I'm gonna take a little Titanium White.

A little bit of the Dark Sienna.

We'll just mix them about like so, so they're marbled.

Let me wipe the knife off.

And then you can see it better.

Now we cut through that.

Just cut through.

We get a very small roll of paint right on the edge of the knife.

Then we can go up here.

And we just begin deciding where our little trunks are.

And we're not gonna see all of the trunk.

Just here and there, you're gonna see little pieces.

'Cause there's trees in front of trees, there's limbs.

There's all kind of things in here.

There.

Okay, wherever you think they should be.

Some of 'em maybe we'll see all the way down here to the bottom.

A little more paint.

Now this one here, we can see quite a bit of trunk right in there, in there, in there.

Give him a little top knot.

Go on down like that.

There.

But that quick, you can put the indication of a lot of little trees trunks in there.

And with what's on your knife, you could just pull through like that.

And it'll make it look like there's a lot of trees where you've only painted a few.

Alrighty.

There.

Okay, now then.

Let's take, oh, we'll just use that same old fan brush.

It has some color on it that has blue in it.

So, if we go into yellow, naturally, we're gonna have a beautiful green color.

And we'll reach up here, be right back, and get a little black, I wanna dull it down some.

Oh, that's better, I want a very dark green.

Okay, now then, let's go up in here.

Let's begin putting in some nice little highlights on our evergreen trees.

Just where you think the light would strike.

You have to make a determination at this point, where your light's coming from.

Right side, left side, straight on, above.

Wherever.

Okay, and I'm right handed, so I normally have the light coming from the right side.

And you will find, if you're right handed, that normally is the easiest way.

Now see, I'm gonna leave that one without any highlights.

In my mind, he's sort of back in the background and maybe these large trees have swiped the light.

They've got it all and he has none.

Just to break it up a little.

Just a little one there.

There, we don't want this little guy there left out.

Little bit on here.

Now, when you're doing this, sometimes it starts working so good, it feels good and ya just take off and ya cover the whole tree with highlights.

Be very careful that we don't lose all that beautiful dark.

That dark color in these may be more important than the light.

Treasure it, it's your good friend.

Take care of it.

There we go.

I guess we better decide what we're gonna put on the bottom of this, maybe.

Maybe we'll do a little... Maybe a little river today that sort of flows around.

I don't know, we'll see.

That's really the beauty of this type of painting.

You don't have to make all the decisions immediately.

The only thing that you need to know, basically, is the time of day and the time of year.

And off you go.

And the only thing you need from there is a little imagination, some practice, and just sort of a dream.

And off you can go to any place that you wanna be.

Anywhere that you wanna be.

There.

Okay, maybe a little right in there.

I don't know, wherever you want it.

Somethin' like that.

And that gives us a whole group of trees, but look at the amount of distance that we have in these trees from just doing this.

Because of the black gesso, you have all these little things in the background.

And you can take your time and make these much more distinct, and more like trees is you wanted to.

I'm sorta lazy and was in a hurry and I just sorta threw 'em on with the foam brush.

Okay, let's go into, we'll just keep usin' that same old dirty two inch brush that we were using.

And we'll tap in a a little color here.

We're gonna use some Yellow Ochre, Cad Yellow.

Indian Yellow, here and there, a little bit of the Bright Red in there.

That Bright Red, believe it or not, when put with green makes brown.

And it's a duller.

You would think it would turn everything red, but it actually dulls the color.

Now, maybe in our world there's some nice little grassy areas that flow down here.

If we're gonna have a little river, we need some little grassy areas on the bank.

I always like to sit on the bank and watch the river go by.

There.

So, we'll do that.

But all you have to do is just tap.

Just tap.

And the more you tap, the darker this will get.

Because it's picking up that Sap Green and Van Dyke Brown mixture that's underneath.

So that will happen automatically.

Automatically.

Just make all these little grassy areas here.

Wherever.

There we go.

And if you hear the brush tapping, it's just loading a little more color into it.

Okay, but think about angles here.

Think about how you want the land to flow in your world.

It's very important.

And we'll go back with a little touch of highlight color.

And once in awhile here, I'm gonna add the least little touch of the Liquid White to my brush.

I wanna do two things, I wanna thin the paint and brighten it.

So it'll stand out as a highlight on top of these little grassy areas.

There.

Now we can begin bringing it together.

Once again, the more you tap this, the softer it becomes.

Until it can absolutely be made to look like velvet.

That smooth.

There.

Okay, now then.

While we've got this old brush, going to, maybe we'll just use the corner of it.

Maybe there's a happy little bush or two that lives right here below the trees.

See there?

That's all there is to it.

Maybe he's got a friend named Harry that lives right there.

Okay, a little change of color.

Maybe we'll add the least little touch of Bright Red.

(excited vocalization) Look at that.

This guy's the envy of the neighborhood here.

He has got one beautiful coat on.

We'll give him a little friend that lives right there.

See, you can create the illusion of layers of little trees and bushes.

Just little things.

This is where all the little creatures live.

They hide back in there.

Maybe, I don't know, one more little one right in here.

There.

Very soft, very quiet little places.

Then we take the liner brush and take a little bit of, oh, we'll use a little bit of brown.

And white.

Maybe here and there.

That's jusr indication of a little old tree or stick that lives in there.

That easy.

Just to drop it in.

Now then, time to make some big decisions.

Let's go right into Titanium White here.

Just load a little on a clean two inch brush.

Just pure Titanium White.

Now, this is fun to do if you're demonstrating for friends.

Because they might not know that you've put color under here.

And all they'll see is you load white paint and begin pulling straight down, and all of a sudden, it's gonna mix with the colors underneath.

And things will begin happening.

As I say, this is a marvelous way of shocking friends or relatives if you're doing a little demonstration for 'em.

'Cause it'll just jump right out at ya.

There we go.

And we have instant water underneath there.

Now then, let's take a little touch, oh, we'll use some Van Dyke Brown and Dark Sienna mixed together.

Whatever.

Cut off a little roll of paint.

Now then, let's think about, maybe there'a little bank right here.

Just a little bank.

There we are.

Okay, here it goes.

Do you like seein' the little squirrel?

(chuckles) He is some kinda character.

As I say, we call him Pea Pod the Pocket Squirrel.

'Cause that little rascal absolutely loves pockets.

I have a ragged robe that I wear around when I'm at home.

And he climbs in there.

And he just rides around.

And when I take a shower, I just hang the robe up or somethin'.

He stays in there while I'm showering.

And when I come out, he's waitin' on me.

Ready to go for another ride.

Take a little brown and white.

Put a little touch of color, just a little highlight right along the top of some of those.

There.

Somethin' like that.

Now then, let's grab another fan brush.

I have several going here.

Take a little Liquid White.

Go right into some Titanium White.

Liquid White's in there only to make it a little thinner.

Let's go up in here.

And just begin barely grazing the canvas right below that brown.

Okay, and then just make it look like there's a little movement in this water.

A little shimmer.

Little things happening.

There.

There we go.

Just some very nice little spots that happen in there.

Now then, let's find, let's use a little filbert brush.

I'll show you a little trick.

Take some Liquid White.

If you've painted with me before, you've seen this one.

Let me take a little Dark Sienna, a little Van Dyke Brown.

I'm gonna mix that with the Liquid White.

So that we have a very thin paint.

Very thin.

Just a little thicker than Liquid White.

And we'll take the brush through Van Dyke Brown, a little Dark Sienna, just mix 'em together.

A lot of color, both sides.

Then we go up here.

Come right back down here.

And only one side, we're gonna go through this thin paint.

So, we have thin on top.

And dark on the bottom.

Light, dark, thin, thick.

Okay, now then, we wanna make some little stones.

Take the brush, go in here.

And just give it a little, like that.

Isn't that neat?

Watch all the little stones.

How many you want?

10, 20, 100?

It's up to you.

Up to you, you can have as many or as few as you want in your world.

But just like so, and it makes the highlight and shadow in one stroke.

And then we come back with our little fan brush.

And we clean up the bottem of 'em.

Put a little ripple around his foots.

And we're in business.

But that's one of the neatest, nicest ways I've ever seen of making little stones.

Okay, let's have some fun, time to get crazy.

We'll use our one inch brush, and maybe in our world there's gonna live, yep, right here... A nice bush lives here.

It's a beautiful place for a bush to live.

Right in there.

And you just use this dark to put it some background color.

This could just about be done with anything.

You could put this on with your shoe, it doesn't matter.

Really doesn't matter.

All you're looking for is some basic shapes here.

Just very basic little shapes here.

Like that.

Okay, and then, I have several little one inch brushes goin'.

Let's take this one, and I'll dip it into a little touch of the Liquid White.

Once again, just to thin the color.

We'll go into yellow, yellow, yellow, Sap Green.

Sap Green, and there, all kinds of, little Yellow Ochre, little Indian Yellow.

Just back and forth.

But that way you get a multitude of colors happening in the brush.

Okay, let's go up here.

Now we have to make big decisions.

In our world, there's a bush that lives right here.

Just barely pushing upward.

Just enough to bend the bristles.

A little bit.

And begin thinking about shape and form and what makes this little bush an individual?

There we go.

If and you mind, you turn each bush into an individual.

Then you'll work one bush at a time.

Think about that little rascal.

Give him a name if necessary, shoot.

Some of your friends might look at you like you're a little strange, but if you're a painter that's expected, it's okay.

Add a little of the Bright Red to that Yellow Ochre.

Whew, we'll make us a fireball.

Lives right there.

(makes satisfied vocalization) Okay, there we go.

I'm just varying back and forth between those colors.

There we are.

But work in layers, always work in layers.

Then that way you can drop another layer right in.

And it separates, it looks different.

And it gives dimension and depth to your painting.

It's not just old flat painting.

There.

This is one of the things when we're teaching instructors.

We work a great deal with teaching you how to make these little individual things.

'Cause it's easy just to hit 'em at random.

But you're painting will look special if you put these little efforts into it, little extras.

Let's go back to our Van Dyke Brown, a little Dark Sienna.

And let's just put us a little land in here.

That won't show too much yet.

It will, we're gonna put some highlights on it.

All we're doing, once again, is putting in a little base color.

And, tell you what, go back to that brush that had a little white on it.

Let's put us a little reflection right underneath here.

Grab it, pull it straight down again.

Straight down.

All the way up to here.

(imitates laser beam) Just straight down.

Go gently across.

Just enough to give it a watery feel.

There.

See there?

Okay, great.

Okay, now back to my little fan brush.

And we'll go right here.

This is just white with a little Liquid White in it.

Titanium and Liquid.

Just mix 'em together.

And that thin paint will then slide right over top of your thicker paint.

Without, as my son says, without mushing together.

There.

Okay, I'm gonna back to our little filbert.

Let's put some more little stones in there.

I like those little stones in the water.

And they're so easy to make this way.

Maybe in our world, there we go, there's a happy little stone.

Another one right in there.

There's one.

Some right up here on the bank.

And you put as many as you want in your world.

This reminds me of some of the scenery that I used to enjoy in Alaska.

I lived there for over a dozen years.

And it's one of the most gorgeous places on the face of the Earth.

I like to tell people God was havin' a good day when he made Alaska.

Everything went right for him.

Now then, a little touch of that brown and white.

We can go back in here.

And put the indication of a little highlight.

Right along in here.

There, barely touching the canvas.

If you've painted mountains, you know this is just barely grazing.

Barely, barely grazing.

Take our little fan brush that has a little green and yellow in it.

Pop in a few little things that work their way right down the side here.

It sort of cleans up everything, gets rid of that straight line across there.

Just makes it a little more pleasing.

Take the knife.

And in here and scrape in a few little sticks and twigs.

Now, since that was black, these sticks will come out looking dark.

Sometimes it's nice to take a little touch of white color and put in a few little white ones here and there that show up.

You find these in the woods all the time.

It adds interest to your painting when you do that.

Okay, let's get crazy.

(chuckles) You know me, I like to do these big tree things.

Let's take the browns, both browns, put 'em on a fan brush.

And we'll come right over here.

And I'm gonna, once again, take one side through that light color.

Maybe we'll put our light side over here.

We don't, I don't think it really matters too much in this particular painting.

By double loading that brush, we'll make both sides of the tree trunk at one time.

There we are.

See, the light and the dark side hit all at once.

Tell you what, that was fun, let's do another one.

Maybe in our world, let's get crazy.

Maybe there's a great big one here that sort of fell over.

Right through that pretty bush.

That's okay, we know he's there.

And we know how to make him if we need him again.

Let's make this a big tree.

Big old tree.

There.

A little light comin' down the side.

But just tap with the fan brush.

You'll be amazed at what beautiful tree trunks you can make just by tapping with the old fan brush.

That's all that you have to do.

Now then, back to my liner brush.

Paint thinner.

And we'll go right into a little of that brown color.

We'll put the indication here and there of some little limbs.

And then just like so, just a few here and there.

Maybe back here in the background.

Use a fan brush, some of that dark color.

Maybe there's a few little leaves hangin' on this tree.

Just a few.

There.

A little highlight.

Come right in here.

Put the indication of a few little sparklers on this tree.

And this last old tree here, maybe it's dead.

For it, we'll just put the indication of a few old limbs that are hanging around here.

There.

But isn't that a fantastic way of making a very effective little scene?

Just using the black gesso.

It works so well, and you can do it.

Give it a try.

I think you'll absolutely fall in love with it.

And with that, I think we have a finished painting.

Hope you've enjoyed this one.

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

(bright laid back music)