- Hi, welcome back.

I'm glad you could join me today.

Today I have one of my little friends here that's having lunch while we're doing this, so I thought I'd share her with you.

This is a little baby fox squirrel, and she's just having a little lunch with me.

Oo, what's there?

Too much?

Huh?

There.

Isn't she somethin'?

She's only a few weeks old, and just as cute as a button.

Thought I'd show her to you today.

There.

Alrighty, enough of that.

This is just one of my many friends.

I'm gonna set her down, and we'll get started here.

Okay, if I can get her off my shirt.

There.

They have about 9,000 claws and they can all seem to grab you at once.

Alrighty, tell you what.

Come on up to the canvas, let show you what I've got done today.

Today we have our standard ol' 18x24" canvas, or any size that you want, and I've done something a little bit different today.

I've taken in this area up here, the white area, this is a mixture of liquid clear and liquid white.

I put the clear in there because I want some transparence today.

Then the rest of it I've just covered with a little bit of liquid black, and just sort of swirled it around a little bit.

Just sort of let 'em blend together.

So, we have liquid white and liquid clear mixture, and liquid black, and just blended together.

Let's just have some fun today.

I thought we'd just do a happy little painting.

If you don't have all three of these mediums, you can do this with liquid white, but you won't have the transparence and the bottom will be a little bit more difficult.

But you could do it.

Let's go into a tiny, tiny little bit of the Yellow Ochre.

Maybe add a little Cad Yellow into it.

Just mix them up together, here... like so.

We're gonna run all the colors across the screen so you'll know exactly what we're using here.

There.

Alright, let's go up in here.

Let's make a big decision.

Maybe right up in here we'll put just a little bit of this color.

Just blend a little bit of it on.

Somethin' like so, just using little criss-cross strokes, little x's.

Now then, not even gonna clean the brush, but I'm gonna go right into a small amount of Alizarin Crimson, and the crimson is strong enough that you don't have to clean the brush, it'll go right over it.

There, now then.

Let's just go right around the edges here, like so.

Just add a little touch of that crimson.

There.

And let it blend outward, we don't wanna go back into this bright color, we wanna save that.

Just let this blend right on out.

There we go.

(chuckles) Alright, we have a masterpiece for the Museum of Modern Art, right there.

Right there.

Now then, take a little bit of the crimson and Dark Sienna, still using the same brush, haven't washed it yet.

Mostly, though, Dark Sienna.

Then I'm gonna come right around these, this area, and just begin blending it out.

Now, this'll begin mixing with the liquid black, and it'll get darker and darker and darker out here, and that's exactly what we're looking for.

There.

Now then, over here, a little bit more.

This is just mainly Dark Sienna with a little bit of Alizarin Crimson.

There we go.

Hope you like the little squirrel.

I'm so crazy about these little devils that I like to share them with you.

They are absolutely precious.

We have four of them here in the studio today.

They came from Diana Schaffer, the bird lady here in Muncie.

She takes care of these little fellers when they've been orphaned, and I think she's doing a fantastic thing.

There.

Alright, now then.

Let's wash the ol' brush.

That's the fun part of this.

Let's just scrub it.

There's a screen down here in the bottom of the can that I scrub the bristles against to remove the paint, we shake off excess, (chuckles) and just beat the devil out of it.

Now then, with a nice clean and dry brush, be sure it's dry, though, it needs to be dry, we want to start blending this.

Just blending.

You wanna blend it 'til you can't tell where one color stops and the next color starts.

There we go.

Sometimes when you're doing these little paintings, you like to make this area in here brighter, shinier.

There.

So, I tell you what.

I have several brushes going.

Let me just grab another clean one, here.

We'll take a little bit of Titanium White, right on the ol' two-inch brush.

Just tap a little in there.

Let's go back up here, and right in here we'll start with the white, and just begin blending, and blending and blending and blending.

Start from the light area, and blend outward.

Now, this'll really brighten this area.

It'll just make it shine.

You can do this as many times as you want to achieve a desired lightness or brightness.

There, very lightly, just go across.

When you're doing this, sometimes step back and take a looksy at your painting.

It's very difficult when you're standing real close to it to tell if you have it blended enough.

You want it to be very soft.

You don't wanna see distinct lines in here.

Alright.

A few strokes and we're in business.

Tell you what, while we have that ol' brush going, (chuckles) let's just have some fun.

We'll go right into this Dark Sienna.

I'm just gonna tap the top bristles.

Just tap it right into a little touch of that Dark Sienna.

Let's go back up here and with this let's begin putting in the indication here and there and there and here of some little shapes for little bushes and trees that live way back in the distance.

Now, we're not looking for detail.

We'll put detail in the foreground.

Back here, we just want the indication of little things happening.

Let your imagination go.

Just let it go.

Up in here, we can't hardly even see 'em.

Just let it go.

There.

As I mentioned earlier, the only reason we put that liquid clear in the background is to make this a little more transparent.

Just a little more transparent.

There.

I've added a touch of Van Dyke Brown to the color now.

As it gets further away, we want it to get a little bit darker, but not much.

Just enough so it stands out a little bit.

Maybe we'll have some nice tree shapes that lift all the way up to the top of the canvas over here.

That easy.

That easy.

Alright.

Let's take our little liner brush, shoot.

Little paint thinner.

I'm gonna get a little more of the thinner.

We'll go right into that same Dark Sienna.

A lot of paint thinner, though.

This should be as thin as water or ink, should just literally run.

See how it just drips?

Very very thin, okay?

Now then, here and there, I'm just going to put the indication of a little trunk or a stem or whatever.

Some little tree shapes here and there, just to break it up.

There.

Maybe a few up in here.

Not lookin' for a lot.

When things are far, far away, you don't wanna be able to see a lot of detail.

There we go.

Alright, now then.

Wash the ol' brush, and the liner brush, all I do is just wipe it on a paper towel after I washed it.

Let's use our little oval brush today, what the heck.

It's easy to tell the little oval brush, It has a black handle on it.

Alright, we'll take a little yellow.

Be right back, don't go away.

Get a touch of the Sap Green, here.

'Kay, now, to load this brush, give it a little push.

Just give it a little push.

Get a little touch of the Yellow Ochre.

I don't want a lot of color, just enough to sparkle.

A little of that Indian Yellow here and there, too.

Just go up here.

Now then, all you gotta do with this little brush is just tap.

Just tap, and we can begin making the indication of little distant trees and bushes that live way back here.

Lighter, lighter, lighter as it comes down.

A little bit of the Bright Red here in there, too.

Tiniest little bit.

Decide where you want these little things.

Maybe this little tree lives right here.

Wherever.

There we go.

There we are.

Now then, a little bit more.

Tell you what, right in here, that looks like a good spot.

When you're doing this, just sort of look around and decide where you think a little tree would be happy living, and that's where he should be.

That's where he should be.

I'm still just using the same colors, just varying them back and forth.

Have a little touch of the Sap Green, a little Cad Yellow, Yellow Ochre, a little touch of Indian Yellow, even, here and there, and once in a while, the least little touch of Bright Red.

Don't want much though, it's so strong.

The farther away it gets here, the less detail that I want.

I want to get dark and darker back in here.

Maybe even up in here there's some little things going on.

There.

These are hiding way back in the shadows.

This is where all the little creatures live.

Little bunny rabbits live back here.

There we are.

Okay.

Shoot, that's about all we need for a little background on that side.

Now then, we're gonna put something over here.

Tell you what, let's keep a lot of this in the brown tones today.

That's so pretty.

Nice earth tones.

We'll use some Dark Sienna, a little Van Dyke Brown, pick up a little Yellow Ochre.

A little Yellow Ochre.

There.

Maybe even the least little touch of black in there.

Oh, that's nice.

Lemme wipe my knife off.

Wipe the ol' knife off.

We'll find us a fan brush.

There we go.

There we go, just load it full of color.

Both sides, just back and forth.

Alright, let's go up in here.

Maybe there's a little patch of evergreen trees, and they live right there.

Just start with a little line.

Use the corner of the brush, just the corner.

As you work down, apply more and more pressure.

More and more pressure.

There we are.

Let 'em go.

Like so.

Now then, let's give him a little friend.

There he is, there he is.

Okay, and just decide how many trees you think should live in your world.

Sometimes I like to do little evergreen trees where you can see parts of the trunk, so maybe you can just tap in the whole trunk, 'cause trees don't grow all perfect.

They're like people, some of 'em are big, some are small.

Some are skinny, some are a little heavier.

There.

See?

Maybe another one like this right here beside him.

Something like that.

You decide how many trees live in your world, and put 'em in, put 'em in.

Let's put a couple on this side over here.

I like to make these little clumps of trees because a lot of times you see evergreens in nature, it looks like they all got together and started a little community or somethin', having a party or somethin'.

I don't know, having a good time, though.

There.

Okay.

That ought to be enough for our little area, but if you want more when you do yours, just drop them in.

Nice clean dry brush.

I want to create the illusion of mist down here at the base.

Right down here at the base, just like so.

There, just tapping, just tapping.

Up here we'll tap softer, 'cause we don't wanna destroy up here.

All we wanna do up here is diffuse.

Down here we're getting tough and mean 'cause we're destroying.

We wanna create softness.

But here?

Barely.

You can probably hear the difference.

Barely touching up here, gentle, easy, easy.

There, okay.

Now then, we can take a knife, just a little bit of that same color, and just sort of pull it through here and there, and it'll make the indication of little trunks.

We're not really gonna put a lot of detail in these, they're too far away, but this'll turn a few trees into something that looks like a lot of trees.

There we go.

Now then, tell you what, let's get crazy.

This is our world so we can do anything.

Maybe there's a little bush that lives right here.

We'll just go back to the little oval brush and just tap in the indication of maybe one little happy bush that lives right there.

Something like so.

There.

Shoot, we got it made.

Tell you what, we'll just use this ol' two-inch brush here.

What the heck, you could use a one-inch brush or a fan brush, whatever.

I'm gonna go into a little bit of the yellow.

I'll be right back, get a little Sap Green.

Just mix all these different colors, and give it a little push.

There, it's a good shot right there.

Just a little push, get a little color right on the tips of the bristles, a little bit of color.

Alright, now then, let's make a big decision.

Maybe there's a nice grassy area in our world, and it comes right down like that.

All you have to do is just tap.

The more that you tap, the darker it'll become, because it's gonna mix with that black that's already on the canvas, and that'll happen automatically for you.

Automatically.

There we go.

Now, once in awhile, make a little sparkle.

Add a least little touch of Titanium White, but very little.

If you use too much, you'll lose the effectiveness of this.

So, it looks like there's a little light just zinging right through that.

Then, as we go down, get darker and darker.

Back in here, it's in the shadows.

We don't want much back in here.

Very quiet back in there.

You just put layer after layer after layer of little grassy areas.

There.

You know what?

Shoot, this is such a beautiful little spot, I'll tell you what let's do.

Shoot, I'm gonna do it.

(chuckles) I wanna little house right here.

If this is my world, I'd wanna live right in here.

So, let's just take the knife, what the heck, and we'll scrape out.

All I'm doing here is scraping out a basic design for a little house, it might even be a little chalet-type thing.

I don't know, whatever.

No, we'll have it lower.

Just make a decision and drop it in.

You can do anything here.

A little bit of Van Dyke Brown.

We'll put the back eave in first.

That's easy.

Here comes the front.

Nice straight edge right along there.

There it goes.

I'm pushing this paint into the fabric, don't worry about the bottom.

We'll do a cabin-ectomy when we get to that point, and then we'll make big decisions.

There we go, just whack that right off when we get ready.

See there?

Now, we need the other side of the roof.

There it is.

Maybe it comes to about there.

I don't know, wherever you want it to be.

Wherever.

Some sides over here.

Let's really get crazy.

Maybe this guy put a little room out here on this little house, so we can do that, too.

Maybe it comes from right here, see?

Got another little area, that easy.

That's what's so fantastic about this, you can change your mind, do anything that you want, make up little stories, just let these things happen.

Let it come down, and all we're doing is just blocking in color, that's really all we're doing.

That's all we're doing.

There.

Okay, now then, let's take some Bright Red...

Bright Red, some Dark Sienna, and let's mix those together, like so.

I'm gonna put a little touch of Yellow Ochre in there, too.

It's such a beautiful day here.

I hope it is where you're at.

We'll just sparkle this up.

Cut off our little roll of paint.

Just a small roll of paint.

Let's begin, coming right down here, barely touching.

Barely, barely touching.

No pressure.

No pressure at all, like so.

Maybe even a little touch more of the Yellow Ochre and, shoot, we'll even put a little white in there.

I want this to sparkle a little more.

Oh, that's it, that's it, that's what we're looking for.

Look at that, isn't that something?

There we go.

Over in here, we'll put a little bit right in there.

Maybe there is a little dark area in between these two.

You can do that.

Now, gotta put something on the roof for that.

I'm just gonna take some black and Titanium White and just mix it together.

Put a little bit of the Van Dyke Brown in there, just to give it... Leave it marbled, don't overmix it.

We'll come right down here, and all you do is touch and just let it bounce.

Bloop bloop bloop bloop.

Gotta make that little noise or it doesn't work.

Just touch it, and let the knife just bounce as it works right down here.

Look at that, see?

That's all there is to it.

On this part of the roof, since it comes this way, touch, and once again just let it bounce, let it bounce, right on down, right on down.

There we go, alright.

Now, this is a much darker color, and we'll come right in here.

Same color but darker, and put it in the front of this rascal.

Sometimes on these edges it's nice to put a nice bright area so they really stand out, so the edges stand out from each other.

Darken this one a little bit.

Joom, there we are.

Shoot, we got a heck of a little house, there.

That's coming along pretty nice.

We'll take a little bit of the Van Dyke Brown, and let's make the indication of some boards here.

There we are, see how easy you can make that look like it's old boards?

If you wanna soften that, if you want to make it look very soft and smooth, you can take the large brush, and lightly, barely, barely, barely caressing the canvas, just pull gently down.

Gently down.

You know what we need?

We need a door.

Gotta have a way to get in there.

So, that easy, we'll put us in a little door.

Just cut right around there with a little bit of light color There.

just to make that good old door stand out.

Shoot, tell you what.

Over here, maybe there's a window.

When he put that section of the house in, maybe he wanted a way to look out and see all this beautiful scenery.

There we go.

A few little board indications over here... And a little touch of roof on the other side.

You gotta have that there, so it stands out.

Shoot, that's not a bad lookin' little house.

I sorta like that.

Sorta like it.

Now we'll do our cabin-ectomy.

This is where you make the big decisions and decide where everything's at, and fix up your perspective and your shape.

Alright...

There.

Now, we go back into our brush that has the greens and the yellows and all that on it.

There we are.

Just tap, load the brush with color.

We'll come right up here.

Look at there.

We can begin laying in some grassy areas all around the little cabin there.

There we go.

Just sort of let 'em happen, very dark back here.

This guy's like me, he don't cut his yard very well.

(chuckles) I'm the world's worst yard keeper.

There we go.

You know what we need in here?

We need a way to get to that place.

Shoot, I'm about to put him out there and leave him deserted.

Let's take some Van Dyke Brown, we just use a fan brush.

You could use a knife and do this if you wanted to.

I'm just gonna use the fan brush, 'cause I have one laying here and it's dirty.

We'll just lay on a little brown, have a little path that comes right out here.

I'll show you, I'll show you.

We'll take a knife, take a little bit of the browns and whites and very gently, very gently, very gently, just caress.

Just barely caress, just enough to give a little color.

There.

Alright, now then.

Back to our old two-inch brush, and just begin tapping.

Just begin tapping.

Thinking about the lay of the land, though.

That's very important.

Here we go.

Just fill these areas in.

Once again, the more you tap this the darker it'll become, but if you work with this a little bit you can make it as smooth as velvet.

Look just like little soft grassy areas where make you wanna take your shoe off and run through there with naked foots.

Grass feels good when it touches on your foots.

Over on this side, don't want it left out.

Just begin putting in little things to bring it all together.

Maybe here, in there, there's a little bump.

Just by changing the angle, you can make the indication of a little bump right there.

All kind of little hills, here and there.

There we go.

Now then, tell you what, we'll use our little script liner brush.

We'll use a little Titanium White.

Maybe there's a little birch tree that lives right there.

Maybe there's a little clump of birch trees, we don't know.

Just put two or three little trees, or however many you want in your world.

There they go.

Like so.

Now then, we'll just use that oval brush again.

Shoot, that's working so well today.

A little bit of color, and we'll just put the indication here and there.

Look at that.

See, a few little leaves on that tree don't wanna be left out.

This side needs something over here.

Tell you what, we got a minute left here, maybe over here there's a big ol' post.

Maybe there was a fence here at one time, and it's still there.

Maybe there's a couple posts.

Maybe there's three posts.

(chuckles) We keep goin' here, we'll have our fence back, won't we?

And we have a little light playing through here.

There's a light source, so we know exactly where the light's coming from in this painting.

Just touch, and begin putting a little bit of highlight on that side, a little bit on this one, don't want him left out.

And ol' number three here.

Maybe on top of our post we'll put a little touch of red.

There.

We can go back to our liner brush.

We'll use a little brown.

Whatever.

See if that stands out enough.

I'm gonna add a little white to that, it's too dark.

There, just to put the indication that maybe there's still a little wire hanging through here.

There we go.

That's just brown and white, so it stands out a little.

Tell you what, while we got that ol' brush going we're still using Van Dyke Brown.

There's a fence back here, maybe.

Yep, you're right.

Maybe there's a fence here, and it goes right over the hill.

We don't know where it goes.

Don't know that we care.

Shoot, we'll put some nice ol' rails across there.

There they go, right on.

Maybe it's three.

There.

Now, we can put the least little touch of color up on top of that.

Something like so.

There, now then, okay.

I wanna use a little green, a little bit of the black, I wanna get a least little touch of Phthalo Blue and put in there, too.

Oh yeah, that makes a nice dark green.

Oh yeah, a little Phthalo Blue really sparkled it.

Put a little touch right down here at the base of that, so the little post has something to sit on.

Don't want it left out.

Tell you what, just take a little paint thinner, and we'll go right into some Bright Red here, and I think we'll sign this one.

It's about finished.

Luckily, I have a very short name, so it's quite easy to do, but make your paint as thin as ink once again.

I hope you've enjoyed this painting, it's quite interesting.

It'll give you a little challenge and let you use all the equipment.

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

(upbeat jazzy music)