(light music) (horn blowing) - Hi, certainly glad you could join us today.

Thought today we'd just do a fantastic little winter scene that's very easy, and I hope you'll enjoy it.

Let's start out and have 'em run all the colors across the screen that you need to paint along with us.

While they're doing that, let me show you what kind of craziness I got up here today.

Today I've taken our standard old canvas, but I've taken a piece of contact paper and cut an oval, stuck it on there.

And then using gray gesso in the background, I've just taken a natural sponge with gray gesso on it and just tapped.

And then an old liner brush with a little gesso and put the indication of a few little sticks and twigs.

That's all there is to it.

After that was dry, then I took and used the same old sponge with black gesso and just tapped this in.

I've allowed that to completely dry.

The gesso is dry.

And on top of all of that, then I've just put a very think coat of liquid clear.

Very, very thin coat, just enough to cover it.

And now I'll show you how to make a fantastic effect very simply.

Let's start with a little white and a little touch of the phthalo blue today.

Add a little bit of white to it.

And phthalo blue, phthalo blue is such a wonderful, beautiful color.

And then we'll just go up in here and begin painting.

Now the phthalo blue is very transparent, white is opaque.

But I've used such a small amount of white, you'll still be able to see through it and make out all the little individual things that we put in there just using an old sponge.

And when you're looking for a sponge, I'd really recommend for this purpose that you use a natural sponge rather than a man-made sponge.

Reason being, a natural sponge has just hundreds of irregularities in it.

A man-made sponge is very symmetrical, all the holes are the same size.

So it's not a very interesting shape.

There we are, okay, let me wash the old brush.

And that's the fun part of this.

We wash it, just shake off the paint thinner.

(banging) (chuckles) And beat the devil out of it.

I usually wipe it across a paper towel.

I wanna take some more white and a little bit of alizarin crimson now.

I want a little pinkish hue, but very little color on the brush, there's not much.

Now maybe right in here we'll use white and a little crimson, and we'll just let this little glow happen in here.

Maybe a little touch more white right down in here.

There we go.

Thought today we'd just do a painting that is very, very pretty, one that'll make you feel good.

Okay.

And that's really about all I need.

Already it looks misty and soft in there just from doing that.

Now then.

Take a little white and alizarin crimson again.

Just want a little crimson in there.

I'm gonna tap it to create, see that little ridge of paint right there?

There's one just like it on the brush.

Right on the corner is what we're looking for.

Let's go up in here.

And maybe back in here we can begin picking out just the indication of a few little highlights on some of these rascals.

We don't want a lot of color here.

Just enough to show some little happenings on some of these trees in the background.

Just that much.

Very quickly, you can have too much, so be stingy with it, there.

All kinds of little dooders.

Without really painting, so it gives the impression that these things are back there and they're happening.

And since they're just background material, we don't care.

This is a very simple way of doing it and very effective.

There we go.

And maybe we just pick out a few little individual bushes that are showing here and there.

And that's really all I want in the background.

Very soft colors are very relaxing.

Just make you feel good when you look at a painting like this.

There we are.

Okay.

Now then, for these dark trees, we can get right into the fun.

I'm gonna take phthalo blue and alizarin crimson.

Proportionately, much more crimson than blue.

The blue is many, many times as strong.

There we are.

But I wanna mix this to the reddish side.

You can take it to the blue side or the reddish side.

Today, for this part of the painting, I want it to go sorta to the reddish side.

All right, wipe off the knife.

I have several old brushes going, so we'll just grab one here.

Good, dark color, load a little bit into the bristles in the same exact way as we did before.

And let's go up in here and just put us in some nice edges on this dark.

We don't need much paint.

Just enough to bring us some edges here.

There, all kinds of little hangy down doers, there.

But see, I just use the corner of the brush, just the corner.

And most of this dark is here with the gesso.

You really don't have to worry in this part of it.

And maybe there's some little individual things that are happening in here.

And we just paint in some little basic, very basic little shapes.

Just some happy little things that live there.

A few on the other side.

There.

Something about like that.

Just sorta think like a tree, and that's all there is to it.

Just like when I was a little boy, I wanted to catch a rabbit, and I asked my uncle, "How in the world do you catch a rabbit?"

He says, "It's easy, stand behind a tree, "make a noise like a carrot.

"When the rabbit comes by you, grab him."

I never caught any rabbits.

There.

Okay.

And that's really about all we need right there.

Now, going back to my brush that had the pink color, made from alizarin crimson, titanium white.

Tell you what, let me get just a little liquid white.

The liquid white here is just to thin the color.

Just to thin it.

All right, be right back, get a little touch of, oh, that's perfect, perfect.

All right, let's go up in here.

Now then, with this color, we can just go in here and just begin dropping in little indications of things on these little trees, that easy.

Maybe a little touch more of the liquid white.

If you have trouble making it stick, add a little more of the liquid white.

There, see, goes right on now.

That's all there is to it.

With a very little practice, you'll amaze yourself in just a few days at what you can do.

Just a few days, it doesn't take long, doesn't take long.

All right, see, and that's picking up that color that we put on, and automatically over in here, I want it to get a little darker and darker.

There.

All right, little more of the liquid white.

Once again, liquid white's just to make it thinner 'cause a thin paint, as you know, will stick to a thick paint, thin to thick.

So each layer of paint needs to get a little bit thinner here.

All right, and you can do this with a one-inch brush or the two-inch brush, it doesn't matter.

It really doesn't matter.

For the sake of time on TV here, we do it with a two-inch brush most of the time.

Just to save time.

But some people will find that the one-inch brush will give 'em a little more control.

It's up to you, try 'em both, see which one works the best, and that's the one you should use, there.

About like that.

But just think about all the little shapes in here.

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

I tell you what, I've got a little bit of footage right here of Peapod, let me show him to you.

That little rascal, he is such a cute little devil.

He's lived with me ever since he was just a tiny little baby.

Fact, his eyes wasn't even opened when he came to me.

And I've raised him up, and he now lives in the backyard.

I turned him loose quite a while ago.

But he's the one little squirrel that doesn't seem to wanna go away, he just hangs around.

Every morning he comes to my backdoor and I feed him and take care of him.

He runs through the house like he owns it.

Which as far as he's concerned, he does own it.

And that's all right.

Very few people ever have the opportunity to know a little feller like him as well as I do.

And he's very special to me, very, very special.

He's messy.

Isn't that something?

I hope you enjoy seeing all these little rascals.

They're very special in my life.

I spend a great deal of my time and resources just devoted to these little characters and taking care of 'em.

I've added a little bit of phthalo blue now to my brush.

Gonna change the flavor a little bit.

Just a little, something about like that.

All right, now then.

We can take, put the indication here.

We'll take a little white, a little dark sienna.

And a little paint thinner on the liner brush.

And maybe here and there and there and here, you can see the indication of just a few little tree trunks.

I don't want many, just enough to give the indication that there's something back here.

Your mind will fill in what's left out.

There, in painting, you don't have to put in every detail.

There you go, just enough to give indications.

All right, liner brush is not much fun to clean.

It don't splash and raise Cain like the old big two-inch brush, I prefer that big one.

Okay.

Now then, let's grab, let's grab, let's grab a fan brush, let's try that.

We could do it with anything, but the fan brush happens to be convenient.

Load it full of titanium white.

And maybe, let's see, maybe up in here, we said this was a winter scene, so we need a little bit of snow, that easy.

And it, too, is picking up that color that's on top of the gesso there.

And it'll make automatic shadows for you.

Shoot, I tell you what let's do.

Let's take a little touch of our phthalo blue, and I'm gonna put it right in here.

I just decided, watch.

That's what's so fantastic about this.

You see things as they happen, you just begin seeing 'em.

You begin seeing 'em.

I see one right there.

There.

Okay, now then, let's take a little bit of white on the two-inch brush.

Watch, see, I put that blue in there.

Now watch what happens.

See, that easy, isn't that sneaky?

That easy.

And then we pull across, look at that.

See, it'll give the impression of a little water right there.

And that's all you have to do.

I know sometimes I get sorta carried away and get excited.

And I've probably in my life, I've probably painted somewhere in excess of 30,000 paintings.

And I still get excited, it's one of the few things in my life that I never get tired of seeing.

It just fascinates me.

I worked for so many years painting, but painting was hard for me.

It was not fun, I worked at it.

And then I discovered this, this style of painting.

It's easy, anybody can do it.

You don't have to go to school half your life to be able to paint.

You can do this.

Over here, see here, we'll just put in all kinds of little doers, maybe little... Look at that, you can do this.

I get letters every day from people who said, "I heard you say that over and over, "and I finally got up my nerve and I tried it, "and you were right."

You really can do this, you really can.

You know what, that's such a beautiful, I want a little cabin right here, right here.

I'm just gonna scrape off some of the excess paint, which there is not much there, so we don't have to worry.

Let's build us a happy little cabin.

I'm gonna take some van dyke brown, pull it out very flat, just flat as I can get it, and then cut across and get a little roll of paint.

See, it lives right out there on the edge of the knife.

Decide where your little cabin lives in your world.

And it can be anywhere that you want it.

We'll start with the back eave, there we are.

And we'll just sort of fill it in here.

We're just blocking in color.

Really doesn't matter here.

We're just blocking it in.

There, something about like that.

Take a little white, a little dark sienna, mix 'em together.

And I don't wanna over mix these.

I wanna leave 'em marbled, just sorta marbly.

Like that, see, all the different things happening.

When you pick up that little roll of paint, they're still in there, all those little things are right there, okay?

Now we can take that color and very gently, very, very gently just let it graze.

Just let it graze the canvas.

Make it look like old boards, old wood.

There we are.

Something about like that.

Boy, that rascal's hiding up there in the trees.

Now then, let's decide where our roof lives.

Snow on the roof.

And there.

This old knife is wonderful for painting things like this.

Works so well.

Then on the other side of the roof, we need a little snow.

Just to bring it all together.

Take a little bit of van dyke brown and make this look like old boards 'cause I like old boards.

You could make this a log cabin or anything else you want it very easily.

Need a door though so the little rascal can get in and out.

And we'll just sorta outline the door so it stands out.

And that easy, we've got a little door.

Do a little cabinectomy.

All right.

All right.

Then put a little snow right back up in here, bring him around.

Okay, let's see what's on this side.

This side of the cabin, maybe we'll put a tree that grows right out in here.

What the heck?

In our world, we can do anything that we wanna do.

Fact, maybe, yeah, what the heck.

See, you just see these things and you get carried away.

Maybe there's a, maybe it comes all the way down.

I don't care, it doesn't matter.

You can do anything that you want in your world any old way that you want.

Take a little brown, van dyke brown, dark sienna, a little white.

Let's put us in the indication here of a little tree trunk.

Well, maybe we'll have several little sticks and twigs, doesn't matter.

Doesn't matter.

All right, tell you what, we talked about using a one-inch brush, let's try one.

I'm gonna dip it into liquid white to thin the paint.

That's the only reason, just to thin the paint.

And let's grab a little of that phthalo blue.

Just a small amount.

There, now, I wanna tap the brush.

See, once again, we're creating that same little ridge of paint, just like we did with the other brush, with the two-inch brush.

Now then, try this little brush, try the big brush.

See which one works the best for you.

Once again, I don't wanna tell you that you have to do anything any certain way.

I just wanna show you possibilities.

And you make it work any way that you want to.

But the one-inch brush will work just as well to make all these little bushes and trees.

I personally prefer the two-inch brush.

It seems to have more hair in it.

And it's faster.

(chuckles) And I got a mean old director who has no sense of humor if I go over 30 minutes here.

Absolutely no sense of humor.

So we'll go back to the two-inch.

Just wanted to show you how it could be done.

There, just a few little highlights on some of these things.

These paintings come out looking very, very soft, very delicate.

And they're gorgeous when you hang 'em in a room.

They just brighten up a room, make you feel good.

I know, I know, I know.

Let's take a little titanium white and maybe, maybe there's a little snow right there.

See how you could just keep adding things though?

I'm sorry, I just really get carried away.

I'll take a little van dyke and a little dark sienna.

Put a little black in it, too.

There we are.

Now maybe there's a few little fence post right there.

A few little fence posts, there they are.

Put another one right here.

And another one.

Okay, one more.

There, let's take a little brown and white.

Looks like our light's coming from the left here, so we'll highlight that side.

Like that.

On the shadow side here, I wanna take a little white and a little prussian blue.

Use prussian blue 'cause it's very dark.

I wanna make reflected light here.

Just a touch, just a touch.

There, on the top, maybe, there's a little snow that's just hanging up here.

Just a little snow, you could do this with the liquid white and the liner brush, work just as well.

Show you a little trick.

We'll take liquid white, pull it out as flat as we can get it, just really flat.

Really flat, and then cut across.

Okay, let's go up in here.

Now you take that liquid white and just let it run right down through here.

And that easy, you can paint a happy little fence.

Okay, gotta decide how many strands of wire are on your fence, let's have three.

It's our world, we can have as many as we want, shoot.

We can have as many as we want.

Now then, let's go back and get a little bit of, maybe we'll use a little of that prussian blue, it's darker.

I want it to stand out a little more.

Yeah, it's beautiful.

Put in just some little bushes and things on this side, just a few.

All right.

Maybe we can just cover up the foot of these little post here and there.

Wherever, let's go on the other side of the canvas.

Now then, we'll put a few little dooders that are hanging right off into this snowbank.

That easy.

Grab the little script liner brush.

Let me mix up a little touch of, take a little of that prussian blue, a little crimson.

Yeah, here we go, a little white put in there.

This nice color, sort of a lavender color to the reddish side.

Okay, paint thinner.

I wanna thin this paint, very, very thin.

In fact, you can see it drip there.

Look at there, it's that thin, it's almost like ink.

Very, very thin, then turn the bristles.

That'll bring it to a very sharp point.

Okay, now then, if you'll take this darker color and just go right along here along the edges of these, put a little dark line under there, it'll give the impression that there's depth and thickness in there.

And you see how, just like in a seascape where you put a little dark line under the foam.

That's all there is to it.

But doesn't that make a radical difference?

Yeah, we can take a little of the liquid white, a little titanium white, and I'm using a little filbert brush.

And we can just pop in an indication here and there of a few little snow-covered stones that live in there.

Take any old brush, it doesn't matter.

Pull some of it down.

Go across to make it look like it's reflecting into the water.

Once again, with our little liner brush and that same color, put a little line in there.

It makes it look like there's a little thickness to it I guess is a good word.

So it gives it a base to sit on.

That easy.

All right.

Think we'll put in a couple little sticks and twigs.

Shoot, we'll be about ready here.

I'll go into some van dyke brown, a little paint thinner, very thin, very thin.

Maybe there's a little one here, right there.

Lives right there.

But just put these wherever you think they should be.

They grow every old where, that easy.

Maybe back in here in front of the cabin there's some little teeny ones, they're not too big.

A few in there, anywhere you want 'em.

It really doesn't matter.

Old sticks and twigs grow everywhere in the woods.

There we are, see?

Okay, I think we're about ready for the magic moment here.

Tell you what let's do, let's bring the camera up here.

Let's pull the contact paper off and see what we have.

Hey, isn't that something?

It makes a striking little painting.

These little paintings make wonderful gifts, especially around Christmastime and et cetera.

Wonderful gifts, people go crazy over 'em.

I'm gonna take a little bit of the red, a little paint thinner.

And I think this one's about ready for a signature.

If we had a little more time here, you could bring this fence right on out, you know, right on out through here, and it'd just extend past the oval.

But the old clock on the wall says it's about time to go for today, so we'll just sign this one and call it done.

All right, and from all of us here, I'd like to take this opportunity to wish you happy painting, and God bless, my friend.

(light music)