View from Clear Creek

- Hi, welcome back.

Certainly glad you could join us today.

Thought today we'd do just a fantastic little scene I hope you'll enjoy.

Let's start out and have 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 I've got done up here today.

Have my standard ol' pre-stretched, double prime canvas, and I'm using an 18x24 inch, but you use any size that's convenient for you.

I've covered the entire canvas with a very thin coat of liquid white.

The liquid white is still wet.

Now, it's wet and slick and we're ready to go.

So let's just have some fun.

Tell you what, let's start with alizarin crimson today, what the heck, on the ol' two inch brush.

Let us a put in a little pinky area here in the sky.

Once again, the sky is covered with liquid white, or the entire canvas is.

'Cause the alizarin crimson is just mixing with it.

So that it gets lighter and lighter in value.

If this were a dry canvas, it'd be very difficult to put paint on this smooth, this easy.

Mmkay, something about like so, I don't want to set the sky on fire.

All I want to do is just put a nice warm glow in here.

And most of this we'll cover up, I think.

There we go.

Now then, while we still have a little brush going, let's go into, a little bit of phthalo blue.

Phthalo blue is a very warm blue.

Beautiful blue, it's my favorite.

'Kay, let's go up in here.

Now with the phthalo blue, we're going to make little X's, little crisscross strokes.

Just little X's, da ta da ta da.

That easy, that easy, there we are.

Something about like that.

We'll come back and blend when we have a clean brush.

Just bring it down to the crimson and stop.

It'll cover up the crimson, eat it all up.

So just stop right at it, then we'll blend it together later.

Shoot, while we've got that going there, let's put a little more of the blue on the brush.

Load it just exactly the same way.

I'm going to reach here and get a little touch of phthalo green.

Don't need much, phthalo green is very strong.

Beautiful color though.

Let's go up in here.

Maybe we'll have a little water in here, what the heck.

Just pull from the outside in.

Outside in, like so.

Mkay, little more paint on the brush.

Do the same thing to the other side.

I'm intentionally leaving a little area open here, so it'll look like a little sheen of light coming across the water when we're finished.

All right, now then, tell you what, let's wash the ol' brush.

That's the fun part.

That's the fun part, that's where I get even with everybody here, washing the brush.

Shake off excess.

(light beating thumps) I just beat the devil outta it.

That really is fun.

There's such a thing as a little brush beater rag.

So when you're doing this at home, you don't cover the entire living room or wherever you happen to be painting.

If you do what I'm doing with a brush at home, you can certainly end a happy relationship.

Be very careful.

Now with a good, dry, clean brush, we can just blend those colors together.

To where we can't tell where one color stops and the next color starts.

There we are.

And you can make it as smooth as you want.

Down here, same basic thing.

Always want to smooth it out.

Now, I'm going to go totally across.

But see that little light area will still be in there.

It's not as distinct as it was, but it's still there and we don't want it to be real distinct.

We just want it to have a nice little sheen of light coming across the water when everything's finished.

All right.

Now then.

Let's use one of these little oval brushes.

I'm going to go into a little bit of white.

I said oval, but I meant round brush, this is a small, round brush.

Sometimes my tongue gets over my eyeteeth and I can't see what I'm saying, but this is just a little round brush.

And let's play with it today.

Maybe back in our world here, there's just a little mountain that lives right there.

And we can use this brush to just put in a little indication.

You can paint entire paintings with these round brushes, there's a big one and a small one.

There we are.

Now, get the ol' two inch brush, and we'll pull it and blend it.

So that its bottom just disappears.

I want it to just set there, very quietly.

Very, very quietly, very distant.

See, now we just have that little pinkish glow around the top.

And that's all we're looking for.

Let's take, we'll use some phthalo blue, some alizarin crimson, a little white.

Let's make sort of a lavender color.

Shoot, I like that, looks good.

We'll just work with what we have here.

Take a little of that, on the same little brush, I didn't clean the brush, just like it was.

Let's go up in here, and maybe, maybe, yep.

Right along in here, we'll just put the indication of another little hill and bump.

Instead of hills and dales, we've got hills and bumps.

There.

Maybe, right on out, I don't know.

Doesn't matter.

Absolutely doesn't matter.

If you'll make it look like there's little trees, lift upward, it'll look like you're covered.

Like some of the hills in North Carolina and Missouri, ah, beautiful places.

In fact I'm gonna be in Missouri pretty soon.

We're going to be in Branson, Missouri doing the show.

So if get a chance and you're in that area, stop by and say hello, I'd love to talk to you.

See what you're doing.

There, now okay.

Now then, see?

We have two ranges of hills already.

Now then, let's go a little further.

Take a little Prussian blue.

Prussian blue is much stronger, darker.

A little more crimson.

I want this to get darker.

As things get closer to you in a landscape, they should get darker and darker in value.

Alright, let's go up in here.

Decision time.

Alright, see here, maybe.

There it is.

You just decide, in your world you can have things anywhere that you want 'em.

Anywhere that you want 'em.

There we are.

Alright, maybe it goes right on out there somewhere.

Doesn't matter.

Absolutely doesn't matter.

And since we had trees on that one, maybe this one here should have the indication of little distant trees.

There, see, it's that easy.

Little short strokes though when you're doing this.

Don't get greedy.

I know it gets feeling good and you want it all at once.

But take your time, little strokes, work in layers.

Work in layers, just keep working down, down, down.

See that, it makes it look like there's tiny little trees growing back there.

I want to create some mist, down at the base.

I like these misty areas.

So we'll just tap, firmly tap.

That's mixing with the liquid white that's on the canvas.

And automatically, you'll get the impression of mist.

Very, very, easy.

Very easy.

Very soft, mmm.

And you could just keep going here, it doesn't matter.

Let's see, add a little black to that, we'll get it darker.

We'll have a lot of little footy hills in this one.

Much darker.

Fact, this one's almost, pure dark, but not quite.

Just a little white in there.

And maybe, let's just start up in here.

There's a bump, see there.

Just let your imagination go.

Absolutely let your imagination go, wherever you want it to take you.

There.

I just wanted to use this small round brush just to show you what the fantastic things it'll do.

'Cause it's unbelievable what you can do with it if you'll just practice a little.

Just make friends with it.

All of these tools, you have to make friends with.

Now, we've got some dark color in there.

Look at all the distance in this painting though, already.

Just in that background, looks like you could walk back in there forever.

And you know there's a ton of little streams and waterfalls and all kinds of things happening on those little mountains.

(light beating thumps) Alright.

Now, we'll just continue to use that same brush.

I'm gonna take, a little bit of green, little bit of yellow, little sap green right there.

Alright, little yellow ochre, Indian yellow, once in awhile, I'll hit bright red.

But tap it, see?

Mkay, let's go up in here.

Now then, with that color, we can just begin creating the illusion of grass on some of these little things.

Just little hilly areas.

Now you could do this with a two inch brush and it's much, much quicker.

I just want to show you that you can use this brush to do these things.

It's much, much faster with a bigger brush.

This might give you a little more detail.

Get into the yellow ochres here, I see a little touch of the red now and then.

There, we'll just let all these little things happen.

Goes right up, we don't care.

Wherever you want it.

Wherever.

If you have trouble making it stick, add the least little touch of paint thinner.

Least little touch, not much.

Not much, doesn't take much.

You can always add a little more.

It's a son of a gun trying to get rid of it though.

There.

Just a little.

And we're just tapping, just tapping.

See, then we get a little more of the yellow ochre here, maybe, oh I don't know.

You could put all kinds of little dooders, wherever, wherever.

Now with the two inch brush we'd probably already been finished with this.

But this is more fun.

There.

But see, it's already beginning to look like little hills in the back here.

Maybe Jack Frost is playing his way through.

Autumn's beginning to come.

The colors are turning.

Some of the little birds are flying south for the winter.

I live in Florida, so the little birds come to see me during the winter.

There we are.

Alright, this areas I've showed you Peapod, my little pocket squirrel a whole bunch of times.

He's my friend.

Mkay, a little touch here, you decide.

Maybe there's another little dooder here.

You put as many of these in as you want.

You can create these illusions anywhere that you want.

Anywhere that you want, put a little dark right there.

There we are.

See?

But look at the distance in that already.

There's one, two, three, four, five, six planes.

Six planes in there.

Now, I know you're not interested in selling paintings, and making all that money, but if you should be, these little planes, show distance in painting.

And they're what make paintings sell.

People like that, to be able to look into a painting and just see forever.

And it's very simple.

Very, very simple, you can do it.

You can do it.

Alright.

There we are.

Something like so.

Mkay.

And you can also take and put a little titanium white on the brush, or even a little liquid white, that's a little too stiff.

We'll use liquid white.

You can pick out a few areas and really sparkle them.

Don't do too many though.

If you do too many, it'll lose the effectiveness of it.

Just here and there.

Just here and there.

Alright, I'm gonna wash the ol' brush.

This little round brush is not as much fun as a two inch brush to wash and beat.

(light beating thumps) But it's not bad.

It's not bad.

Let's mix up a big ol' pile of color here and have some fun.

Take some Prussian blue, black, we'll put some phthalo green in it, brown, doesn't matter, crimson, just all the dark colors.

Alright.

Now there are many, many ways to paint bushes and stuff.

I want to show you one that's very simple.

If you've never painted, and you're afraid to try because you say it's too difficult, watch this.

We'll take this little round brush.

And I'm going to load a lot of paint in it, just a lot of paint.

You need a pile of paint to work out of, don't be stingy with paint here.

A lot of paint.

Now I'm gonna figure out, maybe we'll have a little, maybe we'll have some water down here.

Maybe there's some little weeds that grow back in here.

Looky there, see how easy that is?

All you gotta do us take and tap it.

Just tap it.

It's like, playing the war drum here.

My father was a Cherokee Indian, so I can play the war drum here.

But see that?

Isn't that fantastic?

Anybody can paint.

There are no big secrets to it, we give them all to you here.

Give you all the secrets.

If you want a reflection, decide where you want it, pull straight down, that's all.

That's all.

It's a little easier with a two inch brush 'cause we've got a little more hair to work with.

We just pull it straight down.

Like that, then very gently, go across.

And you have instant reflections, that easy.

That easy.

Now, you want to put some highlights on those?

We'll do it the same way.

Now I'm not going to load it as deep, notice that it's not as deep as the dark color is.

I just went through the yellow, because it has blue on there, you'll get instant green.

Alright, now.

Wherever you want a little highlight, all you do is touch.

I want to leave these dark so they'll stand out.

But that's all you're gonna do.

A few right in here, I don't want too many 'cause I want this to stay dark.

We'll do this in the foreground and I'll show you how to put more highlight, 'kay?

But that's about all we need there.

A little touch of the liquid white.

Maybe a little more.

Little more, put a little, ooh, put a little blue in there.

Just a small amount to change the flavor.

And we'll come right up in here and let's make the indication of a little water line.

I don't want one that's very distinct, just an indication.

If you put one in here that's too bright, too much paint, all you gotta do is rub it.

And it'll just be absorbed right into there, right into what's there.

That's all there is to it.

Now, let's do that again.

Back to deep loading the brush.

Lot of paint, lot of paint, once again.

You need a pile of paint if you want to do this.

You can really load the brush's bristles thick with paint.

Now all you do is just tap.

This is so easy, it's almost unbelievable.

If you've never painted, I believe you can do this.

I really believe you can do this painting, it's that simple.

There.

Something about like that.

'Cause that's one of the things we do.

We travel around and teach people to paint.

Who honestly don't think they have any talent or they say they never could.

Recently we were on the Phil Donahue show, they picked us out some five people out of the audience and said they absolutely could not paint.

They had no talent, no experience and knew they couldn't do it.

We worked with them for just over two hours.

And if you saw the show, they produced beautiful paintings.

I was as proud as an old mother hen.

And Phil, himself, he just took a video tape home and painted with it.

Shoot, he didn't even need instructions.

But I think he's good at everything he tries, if you'll know the truth.

I'm gonna go back, get a little more of that color.

Once again, notice I haven't loaded it as deep as I did the dark.

'Cause I just want these highlights to be more on the top.

Mkay, let's try this.

Sometimes you have to think the paint a little to make it come off.

There, see?

Looks just like ol' swamp grass.

Then just work with individual little clumps.

If one's too bright, just continue to tap it.

That dark color will absorb it, and it'll go away and leave ya.

Just go away and leave ya.

There we are.

Add a little touch of paint thinner to my paint.

See, then it comes off so much easier.

Just have to barely hit it.

There.

Which you can make beautiful effects.

Beautiful effects just doing this.

You can even take, touch it this way, give it a little upward push if you want to make little small grassy areas.

See there?

That's all.

That's really all there is to it.

There we are.

Mmkay.

Now then, we can once again, a little reflection here and there.

There.

Little touch of our liquid white on the knife.

Come right in like that.

We'll put us a little happy water line right in there.

Doesn't matter.

Doesn't matter.

Something about like so.

There.

Now then, let's do the same thing over here, put some grassy areas.

That's working so well, I like it, that's fun.

That is fun.

Where do we want this one, right there.

We'll just tap in all kinds of little dooders.

There.

See there, you just decide where the reflection is.

Just invite it up to the reflection.

That's all there is to it.

Put a little color, and I'm going to grab the two inch brush just because it's a little faster.

You really could do just about this entire painting with nothing but this small brush.

Alright.

Little paint thinner, then I'm going to go through the greens again.

Just so we can highlight.

And we'll put in just a few little dooders like that.

Not many, not too many.

Don't kill all your dark area.

There we are.

Now, I know, I know, watch here.

Let me find the ol' fan brush.

I see something.

We'll put some more dark color in there, I'm running outta color.

Same colors.

Load the ol' brush full of paint, lot of paint, both sides.

Alright.

Maybe, right there.

Maybe in our world there live, just a little evergreen tree.

They live right here in your fan brush, just sorta scare 'em out.

Alright, we'll give him a friend.

See there, just like that.

Just like that.

If there was two there, sooner or later there'd be three.

You know how them trees are.

There.

I want to take that color, leave it right on the fan brush, go right through little bit of yellow, and that'll give us instant, green dry highlights.

Don't want a lot of highlights, just enough to make 'em stand out a little.

And that's really about all we want.

That's really about all we want.

Add a little water.

I know, let's get crazy, we got a minute or so left here.

Back to more brushes.

Got all that dark, dark color.

Sometimes, I told you we'd get crazy here.

Sometimes it's fun.

I know, we'll just let this go.

There it is.

See there?

But don't be afraid to try things, shoot.

Take a chance sometime, in painting you can take all the chances you want.

Go out on a limb.

Go out on a limb once in awhile, take a chance.

Shoot, I learned a long time ago that's where the fruit grows, out on the end of a limb.

All the good things are there.

Take chance, don't be afraid of it.

Especially in painting, you're not gonna hurt anything.

There.

All the little grassy areas, see 'em?

That easy.

Leave some dark in there though.

Vary your colors.

Just a little.

But leave some of those dark holes in there.

And you can figure out where all your little water lines are back here.

Shoot, have to make all these decisions.

Where do they live?

Maybe.

Just little things in there.

This looks like some of the swamps in Florida almost.

But we don't have these kind of foothills.

But this would be a beautiful way of making little swamp scenes.

Mmkay.

I'm gonna take my little script liner brush, a little dark sienna, a little van dyke brown just mixed together here on the brush.

A lot of paint thinner.

A lot of paint thinner, maybe my little black too, I want it dark.

Alright.

Maybe in our world.

Shoot, you know me.

Now this isn't gonna be that big a tree.

I know, you think I'm gonna put a huge tree in there.

I'm just gonna put a junior sized tree.

Just like so.

If you have trouble making the paint flow, add paint thinner to your brush, that's all there is to it.

If it's thin enough, it'll slide right over here.

Maybe this ol' tree is dead.

I hate it, but it happens.

There.

So just put as many arms as you think are remaining on him.

Just as many as you think are remaining.

We'll give him a little friend right here.

Maybe it's the same tree, both of 'em.

Maybe both of 'em pooped out.

Tell you what, let's sign this little devil and call it finished.

Take a little red and we'll sign it.

I really hope you've enjoyed this little painting.

It's one of the most simple paintings you'll ever come across.

And you can do it.

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

(peaceful music)