- Hi, welcome back.

Certainly glad you could join us today.

Let's do a fantastic little painting together.

So tell you what, let's start out and have them run all the colors across the screen that you need to paint along with us.

And they'll come across, as usual, In the same order as I have them on the palette, starting with the white and working around.

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

I have my standard old pre-stretched, double-prime canvas up here.

I use an 18 by 24, but you use whatever size is convenient.

Now, today I've covered the entire canvas with a thin, and let me say that again, a thin, thin even coat of liquid clear.

Now when you're using this clear, I say thin several times because you need such a very, very small amount.

It's transparent, you can't see it.

There's a tendency to put too much on.

Very little.

Okay, and with that, let's just have a good time today.

I'm gonna take little yellow ochre maybe.

Little bit of yellow ochre.

Let's just do a winter scene today that's very nice.

I'll be right back, let me get a little, little dark sienna mixed in with it.

A little winter scene that is warm.

Let's go up here.

Sometimes winter scenes can become so cold, they're almost unpleasant.

So let's do one today that has a lot of just beautiful little things happening in it.

And we just start out and use a two-inch brush and just make little circles and little patterns, just let all these little things just happen.

There you go.

This is a time to have fun.

Just enjoy this.

Let it work and play.

But try not to, I don't want to have just a dead old flat sky today.

I want to have something that has movement and life in it, and is interesting, and it's fun.

So by doing these little circles, going one way a while, then go the other way a while.

Look at what happens.

Look at all the forms and shapes that are happening.

Just automatically.

Okay, a little more color.

Put a little over in here.

There.

And try not to stay in one area and keep working it.

Because it'll just look like it's dead.

It's not interesting.

There we are.

And this clear does not dilute the color.

If you had liquid white on the canvas like we'd normally use, it would dilute the color, because it would blend with it.

And the white would continually mix.

And today I thought we'd just do something where we don't mix color.

Alright.

Maybe just a touch more color.

We put a little something right up in here.

Alright, boy that is a fantastic way of making a very effective little sky.

Now then.

Now comes the fun part.

Let's wash the old brush.

If you've painted with me before, you know that's the most interesting part of this whole technique.

And we wash our brushes, as usual, with odorless paint thinner.

Just shake off the excess and, cover everybody in about a two-block radius.

When you're doing this at home, you might want to get a little brush beater rack that you put down in the bottom of a waste paper basket, and it'll save your happy home.

Okay, now.

I'm just gonna take a little bit of titanium white, right on that same old two-inch brush.

Just a little, we don't need much.

And let's go up in here.

And let's just start, maybe this'll be our light area.

And let's just sort of bounce that around.

Just bounce it around, let it play.

There.

I'm using just the corner of the brush, though.

Okay now.

Sometimes it's nice to leave the sky like we had it a minute ago.

Sometimes it's nice to take like this and add highlights to it.

It's up to you.

This piece of canvas is truly your world, and you can do anything here that makes you happy.

It's such a fantastic day here, I thought I'd put a little bright spot in the sky, and I hope the painting brings a little brightness to your life when you do it.

But we don't need a great deal, I just want a little.

Because I don't want to lose all these beautiful patterns that we have up here.

There, a little more white, you can make this as bright as you want it, and the more you blend it, of course, the more the dark sienna and yellow ochre will mix in there and dilute it.

Okay.

Maybe just the least little touch right in here.

Just so there's a little contrast in there.

Maybe in our world, there's a little bit of light that zings right through that little cloud.

Okay.

Now then, very lightly.

Two hairs and some air, we can just blend that out.

Alright.

And that makes a very good, very effective little sky that you can do in just a couple of minutes.

And once again, we get to wash the old brush.

Alright.

Okay.

I tell you what let's do.

Let's mix up, let's make a little lavender color.

We'll use a little alizarin crimson, a little touch of phthalo blue.

Proportionately, much, much much much much more of the blue than crimson.

Okay, and we'll put a little white out here.

And dilute that color down.

Just value it down.

Ooh, that's a nice lavender color.

Alright, we'll grab the old two-inch brush here.

Let's just take a two-inch brush and tap the corner.

I'm just gonna tap the corner, see?

Right into a little bit of that color.

We're not getting a great deal of paint on the brush.

We'll go up in here, and maybe in our world there lives just the indication of some very, very soft little bushes back in here.

And all we're using is the top corner of the two-inch brush, and with this we can form basic shapes.

And that's all we're looking for.

I don't want these to be too distinct, because then they'll look like they're too close to us.

I want these to be far back in the distance.

Very basic little shapes.

Alright, very good.

Something about like that.

And wherever you think they should be.

And you can vary these a little bit, some of them be a little darker than others, and the ones that are lighter like that, when the painting is finished, will look like they're much much farther away.

So if you put one in front of it that's a little darker, it'll help strengthen that illusion.

Alright.

Sometimes we can even take the brush and just push sideways like that.

It'll make it look like a little tree that's far back in there.

There we go.

Little bit more of the color.

Put a little darker one right here in the foreground.

Whatever you want.

Just let your imagination go when you're doing these.

Okay.

Now sometimes, I'll show you a little trick.

Let me show you something that's a great deal of fun.

Okay, let me get a clean brush.

Sometimes it's fun to just dip just the corner of the brush, just the corner, into a little paint thinner.

Because we have liquid clear up here, paint thinner and liquid clear have almost a violent reaction when you put them together.

And you can take and just flick a little paint thinner on there, just like so.

Let me get just a touch more.

And you can do this with a fan brush or whatever.

But everywhere that paint thinner touches, it'll begin to remove the paint.

That means little dots will appear, and it looks like little leaves and stuff that are way back here on your little trees and all that.

But it's just a very neat little way of making a lot of effects very quickly, very easily.

And people will go crazy trying to figure out how you've done this.

Okay, but be careful that you don't get too much paint thinner.

There, that should be about enough for what we're doing.

Okay.

Isn't that sneaky?

But try that, you will be absolutely amazed, and it takes a couple of minutes.

As this painting progresses, you'll begin to see these little spots appear.

Okay, let's take, put another layer of little things in there.

For that we'll use yellow ochre, be right back, and dark sienna.

Just yellow ochre and dark sienna mixed together.

Like that.

Let's go back up here.

Now then, right in front of these lavender little bushes, I'm going to begin to just put an indication of some happy little things that live right in here that are this color.

Just varying the colors back and forth here.

Back and forth.

Little Indian yellow here and there.

There.

Okay, now I'm gonna go back to the lavender.

And all I'm doing, I'm not even cleaning the brush, I'm just sort of working back and forth, so you have all kinds of different little things happening in here.

Add this least little touch of the cad yellow.

This is cadmium yellow.

Make that a little bit brighter, right here.

Because here's our light source, right above it.

That way it's a little bit brighter right in there.

Be careful with the cadmium yellow, it'll eat up your whole world here in a minute.

We don't want too much of it.

Going back to the lavender color.

And if lavender and yellow get together, it just makes brown, and in this painting, that's wonderful.

We don't mind at all.

Don't mind at all.

There.

Now then.

There's one that's a little bit lighter.

But see all the different layers that you can create?

Just with the top point of a great big old brush.

Little touch of more of the Indian yellow there.

That's gorgeous.

Maybe, maybe back here in our world, let's have a few little tree branches and sticks and twigs, and for that, we'll just use that same lavender color, what the heck.

You can use anything that you like.

But think we'll just use that lavender.

A little paint thinner, go into that, turn the brush.

That brings it to a nice sharp point, loads the bristles full of paint.

Okay?

Now, maybe in our world, there lives a little tree right back there.

There.

Put some arms on him.

There we go.

Little sticks and twigs.

Just wherever you think they should be.

Let your imagination take you anywhere that you want to go.

There we are.

And put them in the different layers, so that they layer all in different planes.

That helps separate the different planes in your painting.

Get a touch more of the paint thinner.

Maybe, yep, let's put a big one right here.

Now the paint thinner's gonna react against the liquid clear that's on the canvas, and these will start turning whitish.

So they'll look like they're highlighted without you hardly doing a thing.

It will take a few minutes for that to happen.

As the paint thinner and the clear begin to react.

Use this reaction to your advantage.

You can make some fantastic things.

A little darker color.

Who knows, maybe there's a, oh there we are, oh that one, it goes right over like that.

If you've painted with me before, you know I don't like all my trees to just be perfectly straight, I like trees that have character.

I like trees that are like people.

They're all different, and they're all wonderful.

There we are.

You just sometimes have to look for the good, but it's there.

Always there.

Alright.

Maybe on the other side, we'll have a couple over here.

I'm gonna add the least little touch of dark sienna to that too.

So we just change the flavor a little maybe.

Or you could add a little of the Van Dyke brown, whatever.

Just so we have some variety here.

I don't want all my little trees to look exactly the same.

There's one.

And however many you want.

We could even take a little of the titanium white and thin it down, and here and there, you have one that's white.

Because there are always a lot of little white sticks and twigs in the woods.

Okay, good.

Now then.

Maybe down in here, tell you what let's do, let's take a little of that alizarin crimson, a little phthalo blue, I'm just making some more lavender is all I'm doing.

I'm just making it on the brush, because I'm about out.

And let's just put some color down here.

Right on top of the clear.

This will just end up being, maybe we'll have snow and this will be shadows.

Or if you wanted to have water, this could end up being your water.

But I think today I'll just have some snow there.

We'll grab another two-inch brush, and we'll go into just pure titanium white, nothing else.

Pure old titanium white.

And we'll start back here, and just begin laying in some snow.

I'm gonna bring this snow all the way up here, and while I'm doing that, I wanna share with you one of the most fantastic little creatures that you've ever seen.

Because this'll all be just the same.

This is a little deer that Diana Schafer there brought, brought here to the station for us to see.

She's the bird lady here in Muncie.

This deer was found right outside of Muncie, in a farmer's field.

And it had been orphaned, and Diana has raised this little deer, and today it's been set free, and he really is doing fantastic.

But I had such a good time with this little fella.

I spent several hours just playing with him, and I thank Diana for sharing that with us.

He is absolutely gorgeous.

We didn't even name him.

But it always looks like Bambi to me when I see a little deer.

Isn't he something?

That has to be one of the most gorgeous creatures God has ever made.

I'd like to take him home and just keep him as a pet.

But that's not what he's meant to be.

He's meant to be free.

So I say he's already been turned loose.

This was shot about three months ago.

There.

But isn't he the most beautiful little thing?

I get to watching the deer, I have a monitor here.

I get watching the deer and quit painting.

Anyway, all I'm doing here is just taking titanium white.

Pay attention to the angles, though.

Angles are very important when you're doing snow.

All I wanna do is make it look like there's a little place right in here, like that.

And by paying attention to the angles, see how easy that is to do?

And already, you see the illusion of distance coming through here.

There we are.

Okay.

Okay, we can take, we'll use a fan brush, what the heck.

And we'll get some of those same colors.

Dark sienna, yellow ochre.

A little bit of cad yellow, little Indian yellow.

Just mix them together.

I always like to mix color on the brush, that way you have a variety of colors on the brush.

It's just not one dead old color.

And we go up here, and here and there and there and here.

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

Oh that's much better.

There.

See, now we can begin putting some little, little things here, that breaks up that straight line, looks like little weeds that are growing right out here, just push up with the fan brush, all you have to do.

Just push up with the fan brush.

There.

Wherever you think they should be.

Now we'll take another fan brush, and I have several going.

Just plain titanium white.

And we can clean these edges up right here, just grab it, pull it, be sure to follow the same angles though.

But that easy.

Snow is one of the easiest things to paint in this method.

No problem.

When I was a traditional painter, I used to labor over things like snow and reflections.

My gosh, reflections are one of those things that just drove you crazy.

In this technique, it is absolutely the easiest thing there is to do.

There.

And then we can take a little bit more of that lavender that we had on the liner brush, and maybe here and there, put the indication of some little sticks and twigs that live right out in here.

They don't all live in the background, some live up here, a little closer.

Okay.

Shoot, you know me.

You know me.

This is such a beautiful spot.

I'd have to have me a little cabin out here, and this is where I'd like to stay.

You could stay out here and watch that little deer grow up.

Alright.

Let's start with a little bit of Van Dyke brown on the knife, the first decision we have to make is where is our cabin gonna live.

I think today we'll put a little cabin right here.

Start a little Van Dyke brown, and we'll paint the back eve of the little cabin first.

Then we'll load the knife full of titanium white, and there's snow on our roof, so we'll put in the other side of the roof.

That easy.

Maybe our cabin's gonna be about there.

And see how easy it is?

Just drop that little rascal right in there.

Now, we just come back, and we'll put some wood in here for the front, and I'm just still using Van Dyke brown, this is just a base color.

We'll come back and highlight it a little bit.

Just touch and pull.

Touch it and pull.

All we're doing is just blocking in color right here.

Okay, a little bit right here.

There we are.

Now I'm gonna take white and dark sienna, and a little bit of the Van Dyke all mixed together.

But not overmixed, I want it left marbled like that.

A very small level of paint, then we can go up here, and with no pressure, just touch and pull down.

No pressure though, no pressure.

Absolutely no pressure.

Let the paint break.

Make the wood look old.

Then you can play back and forth.

You want a little shadow up here?

You take a little dark, pull down, see there.

That wood looks so old, it's unreal.

Now maybe take some more of the Van Dyke brown.

Maybe we have, in our cabin, maybe there's a door right there.

Gotta have a way to get in.

Maybe this is a spectacular cabin, maybe it has a window right here.

And we can do that.

Just take a little of the brown, lay in.

Shoot, who knows.

Take the small knife, it's just the right size.

Over here, maybe there's another window.

We can have as many windows in our cabin as we want, shoot.

Take a little light color, just sorta outline this so it stands out.

There.

Okay.

Same over here, just a little highlight so it looks like a little light's playing across the window there.

Shoot, you can even get crazy and put curtains in there if you want to.

Now then, we can take a little Van Dyke brown and make the indication of old boards just by touching.

Just by touching.

Now, time to get our proportions correct.

So we just take the knife and do a cabinectomy.

See, you can cut that old cabin off anywhere you want it.

Just like so.

Fan brush, a little bit of titanium white, and we can bring that snow right up to the door.

Right up to the door.

Sometimes it's nice, if you wanna be sneaky, take a touch of that little dark lavender here, little bit, make the indication, maybe somebody's walked in and out of here a couple times.

Just the indication of a little path that goes up in there.

There haven't been many people here, so I don't want to do, I don't want to do a whole bunch.

If you had a lot of people living here, then that little deer would go away.

And we want to keep him.

Alright, let's take a little bit of dark sienna, a little bit of yellow ochre, tap it together here.

And let's go right up in here, right up here, and just tap in the indication of some little bushes that live on this side.

There we are.

See?

Maybe they come, I don't know, maybe this little bush comes right down here.

This guy, maybe he's like me, and he doesn't cut the yard very often, and it's growing up over.

There.

I'm not a very good yard keeper.

Okay, tell you what let's do.

Maybe over here on the other side, we need something to fill this up.

Let's just take, still just using the top corner of the old two-inch brush.

You can do fantastic things with very few brushes if you just practice and make friends with them a little bit.

Now I'm going back to the yellow ochres, Indian yellow, a little touch of cad yellow here and there.

And also, here and there, a little bit of titanium white, just so you can see different layers, just to lighten.

Something like so.

Maybe down like that.

When you do yours, just sort of look at it, and you'll see things happening in it.

Use those little things that happen, don't fight them.

Take a little white on the two-inch brush.

Put a little indication of snow right there.

There.

See, and it'll push all that back in there.

Same thing on the other side, maybe this snow bank comes right down, like that.

Who knows.

Only you do.

Only you do, in your world, you're the only one who knows.

Okay, good.

Okay, see there?

That easy.

And then like before, we can take the little fan brush and just tap in some little grassy areas that're living right out here.

Some over on this side, too.

Just a few.

Another fan brush with white, just like before, clean up the bottom.

And a little over here.

Alright.

I think it's time to have some fun.

You know me.

I like those big trees.

Let's go into Van Dyke brown, dark sienna, just mix them together on the brush, it doesn't matter.

And maybe in our world, here we go.

I get letters sometimes, people say, "you had the most beautiful painting, and then you put that big old tree in it, and I don't like it anymore."

But when you do your painting, that's the beauty of this.

If you don't want a big tree in your world, leave it out.

That's the beauty.

That's why we don't do any tracings here or we don't do any drawing.

When we're teaching our instructors, that's one of the things that we emphasize, we want to teach people creativity, not just to copy.

Not just to copy, that's very important to me, that you learn creativity, because it makes you feel good in here.

We'll take a little dark sienna, and white, mostly white, and just tap right along this edge here, and put the indication of a little hightlight on this old tree.

But I like to tap this because it looks fuzzy, and to me a lot of times, especially evergreens, look fuzzy, and the edges and the bark are all ragged.

If you want a straight tree, just pull it straight down and make it with a knife.

I just happen to like those kind of trees.

Now, paint thinner.

Get a little more paint thinner.

Go right into those same two browns.

Make the paint thin like ink.

And let's go right up in here, and maybe in our tree, there's a big old limb, hangs right down like that.

There he is.

See?

Putting some little arms out here.

Maybe this is an old evergreen tree.

And they have just a lot of little sticks and twigs and things that hang off of them.

There.

Okay, see all those little rascals?

Maybe there's a big old limb, lives right there.

But think like a tree when you're doing this.

If you were a tree, where would you want an arm?

Maybe something like so.

As many or as few as you want.

There, look at all them old rascals.

Maybe this one comes up and goes around.

Whatever.

But isn't that a fantastic little painting?

It's a good way to use the liquid clear.

Try it.

I think you'll really enjoy it.

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

(cheerful music)