This was a fairly quick painting. I enjoyed the subject matter and color choices and it was one of those paintings that almost painted itself. And below, as promised I’ve tweaked the sky from yesterday.
This painting was challenging from start to finish and I spent far too long on it. I wanted to use more traditional canvas and 11” x 14” was the first that came to hand. This isn’t a size I use much, but I rather enjoyed the larger format.
My studio lights are “Reveal” which give a slightly warmer look to the painting and the sky doesnt look as pretty in this image. However, I will tweak the streaky clouds tomorrow. The rest is done. Bob Ross Video - Ocean Sunset - Season 10 Episode 10
I did some progress shots on this one from Season 6. Bob started with a black canvas, but I don’t think that works well with acrylic so I made a base of watery Pthalo Blue and Sap Green which were the colors Bob laid over the top of the black gesso. I kept the acrylic wet with a fine water mist and tried to follow Bob as best I could.
Some lovely things started to happen around shot #3 and I think #4 was my favorite. By the time Bob painted in the water, my painting was getting very gooey. Shot #5 was in studio light and shot #6 in daylight. There were a lot of things about this painting I liked but the interesting paint mixes were mind blowing, especially the lovely highlight mix of Titanium White, Alizarin Crimson and Pyrole Red. I think I may repeat this painting to explore the color combination more thoroughly.
All my 9” x 12” Bob Ross series are painted on Daler Rowney Acrylic Paper. Because of the large amount of paint used, they are quite robust, but I photograph them before they are completely dry, so they have a tendency to shine and curl around the edge. I admit they would look better scanned or mounted, but they would need to dry well before I could do that. Video - Secluded Forest - Bob Ross Season 6 Episode 5
There are many series of Bobs painting show, but for this challenge I chose the first three, intending to eventually do them all.
After viewing a few random episodes, I discovered that in the beginning he was painting Alaskan scenes inspired by where he lived, but later he received many requests for different types of land and seascape. He also began to travel and be inspired by oceans, marshes, deserts etc.
Having lived in the Pacific Northwest most of my life, I’ve seen enough conifers and snow capped mountains and I find myself more inspired by Bobs later series. For this painting I chose an episode with a more distant view of mountains. In this video Bob painted mainly with a flat palette knife. Golden Open acrylic paints flow more than Regular heavy body paint, so it is challenging to do a whole wet in wet painting with a palette knife; the paint can get very deep and sloppy.
The painting was finished just before this blog needed to go out, so I photographed it wet. I’m looking forward to seeing how it dries. Golden Open is generally more glossy than regular acrylics, so it should look similar.
Today, I began painting with Bob, but quickly started to struggle with his Alizarin Crimson in the sky. I wanted to see how he created the waterfall so I kept going. I changed the sky, smoothed out Bobs pointy Alaskan mountains and changed his centralised composition, but I feel it’s still a work in progress. Parts will stay, but it needs a few more tweaks. Bob himself says it’s a good practice painting. As you can see below, my paintings are totally different to Bob’s finished pieces, but it’s not my intention to copy.
Mountain Waterfall took me far longer than I would like and I was in danger of over working it, so it was time to stop and ponder.
I didn't paint along with Bob on this one, but I did use some of his techniques. Painting with Bob has made me highly aware of tonal value. He also likes to lead the viwer into the painting, which here is accomplished with the use of subtle changes in grass color. The grass technique is purely Bob and his fan brush.
When I posted this I started to see all kinds of animals, fairies and angels emerging from the leaves, rabbits, ducks, a moose or horse, a dog, birds etc. What do you see?
I had a “happy accident“ in my studio this morning, I’ve used so much paint with Bob Ross’ method that I was squeezing remainders down the tube so it was easier to get to. I hadn’t screwed the top down on one, so Sap Green Golden Open poured all over my desk. What would Bob do I thought?
Well, I think he would use it as a ground color! so I did (See the progress collage). I became so engrossed in applying his techniques that I forgot to check the composition, so this is still a work in progress. I’m considering cropping it into two tall slices.
However, along the way I created several perfectly good paintings, seen in the progress shots below. I personally like the simplicity of #2 best. The trees in that progress shot were drawn into the transluscent wet Sap Green with a plastic palette knife.
This is painted on 9” x 12” Daler Rowney Canvas paper.
This caught my attention because I liked the water. It is a very relaxing scene with some nice darks and lights. I couldnt resist adding a touch of my own irridescent bronze to the colorful tree, just to add some sparkle. Impossible to photograph with an iPad but very pretty. The more I look at this painting, the more I like it, which is a good sign for a painting.
I’ve used up all my Canson Mix Media Art Boards now, so this is painted on Daler Rowney 9” x 12” Canvas Paper, which is much thinner and would suit a mat.
No, I didn’t make an error, I used the same video for inspiration as yesterday. At least as far as colors go. I wanted to create a calmer sky with those pretty colors.
I’m getting tired of big old mountains and friendly trees, so when the next show in the series was entitled “Brown Mountain”, I thought I’d give it a miss. As any long time follower knows, I’m an ocean lover and so I chose this ocean painting for my next paint along. I’m glad I did.
The first thing that struck me was the lovely mix of Titanium White with a whisper of both Indian Yellow and Van Dyck Brown. Even better was the lovely soft aqua created by adding Phthalo Blue to the mix. Then the datks were mixed with Phthalo Blue and Van Dyck Brown, which created a lovely dark and velvetyblack.
I did follow Bob most of the way, but at the end I didn’t like his streaky sky and painted in some billowing clouds. The painting is very striking, so much so that I decided to use the same colors and paint another seascape, which I will post tomorrow.
Bobs Tip
When using a flat palette knife to create mountains and water lines, scrpe most od the paint off, leaving a thicker edge. That way when you go over with a highlight or blending brush, you don’t end up with a sticky mess.
My computer has started to throw me random Bob Ross videos because the watchers have discovered that I spend a lot of time watching them. Today in a bit of a departure I decided to paint one of his later episodes. This is marked Season 23 and he is using the same list of colors but has added a rich black. This painting has an unusual mix of mainly Indian Yellow, Alizarin Crimson, Sap Green, Black and Cadmium Yellow.
I thought it would be interesting to see how the tonal values sit in these compositions, so I converted the finished painting to black and white. Being the master he is, Bob does a great job of leading the eye into the composition with tonal value. Sometimes he looks as if he is going waaay too dark and streaky, but he always rescues it with generous helpings of Titanium White and Cadmium Yellow. As he says, it’s important not to loose the darks by covering too much of it because that is what creates depth.
I’m not a big fan of black grounds, so I groaned when Bob decided to do one. Nevertheless, I duly painted my Art Board black and waited a couple of days so it was good and dry. Bobs method called for coating the dry black base with transparent colors and then going back and “hypnotizing” with Titanium White. I quickly found this didn’t work with acrylics because you can’t keep them wet enough for this lengthy process.
I got frustrated and then started adding my own slant. I added much brighter colors, texture and sparkling stars and turned it into a truly unique painting. I just couldnt find a way to photograph it accurately, so you’ll have to take my word for it.
As I look at the images I’m thinking I may paint more detail and light on the moon.
If you paint in oil, I encourage you to watch the video below and give it a try. The technique looks very interesting.
Winter Sun by Sea Dean
Inspired by watching Bob Ross
The image doesnt do justice to the lovely colorful greys in this work.
I’m finally getting into the groove. Bob himself says he is just painting to give ideas and technique, he doesn’t expect the student to copy. I never understood this before and it makes me happy to know I can experiment. Being an experienced artist I would find it far too confining to replicate.
Sometimes it is something Bob says that inspires me, or it’s an interesting technique, or a wonderful blend of colors .... and before I know it I’m off at a tangent. Here it was an interesting mix of Phthalo Green and Alizarin Crimson that set me off.
Bobs Tips
Use a heavy duty easel which holds the painting firmly because this method calls for pressing hard into the canvas at times
Use a large palette because you need to have plenty of room to mix enough color to use across the whole painting so the color doesnt change with a new mix.
Your paint should be very thick. When squeezing it out of the tube it should stand up about 3/4” before starting to bend.
Seas tips for acrylic conversion
With oil paint it takes weeks to dry so you can squeeze out a huge blob. One of the main challenges I find with my students is the do the same with acrylic, which dries in minutes and a lot of paint is wasted. One way around this is a good quality sta-wet palette and another is to use slower drying acrylics like Golden Open. I don’t squeeze out any paint until I need it. Even so, try to guage how
much you will need for your size of painting
For the second series Bob changed his color selection very slightly. The original colors were Titanium White, Prussian Blue, Phthalo Green, Alizarin Crimson, Van Dyck Brown, Cadmium Yellow, and Permanent Red. Later in the first series Sap Green and Phthalo Blue were added. For the second series Bob also added Burnt Umber, Yellow Ochre and Indian Yellow, warming his palette slightly. This means he is now working with a full cool/warm palette with extra geens and browns to help with mixing landscpe colors.
Red Cool - Alizarin Crimson
Red Warm - Permanent Red
Blue Cool - Prussian Blue
Blue Warm - Phthalo Blue
Yellow Cool - Cadmium Yellow
Yellow Warm - Yellow Ochre and Indian Yellow
Green Cool - Phthalo Green
Green Warm - Sap Green
Brown Cool - Van Dyck Brown
Brown Warm - Burnt Umber
Liquid White and Titanium White which are used for mixing and are fairly neutral
This is day 13 of the 30 painting in 30 days challenge and also day 13 in the Opus Daily Practice challenge. This morning the water in the building was unexpectedly shut off and then the fire alarm kicked in, so I didnt manage to paint ahead as much as I wanted to. I did get this painting done though, and I think it turned out well.
Snow paintings are fun to paint but the don’t sell well unless you have a gallery on a ski hill. I’ve sold quite a few snowy paintings at Kelowna airport where our ski buffs fly in and out, but generally buyers prefer spring and summer landscapes. Therefore, I resisted painting “Snow Fall”, but when I saw that Bob was actually painting snowflakes, I had to give his method a try. As it turns out, it’s very similar to my method. Watch the vido to see how.
Today Bob emphasized the importance of using stretched canvas, rather than canvas board, because it absorbs the oil too fast. I made the mistake of purchasing cheap canvas boards to practice with in the beginning and I agree with Bob that stretched canvas is much better, if its good quality with a very tight stretch (if it droops in the middle or has poor quality prep. it causes even more problems).
For the past 10 paintings I used Canson Plein Air Canva Artboards, which come in a pad of 10 sealed together with removeable glue to give a tight, hard, canvas like surface. At first I found they absorbed ordinary acrylics too quickly, but if you look back over my Bob Ross blogs you will see the formula for my “liquid White” substitution which has made them work really well. I actually prefer the boards to stretched canvas now. It says right on the pack that they are ready to use without priming and I’m all for simplicity.
Sadly, I’ve now run out of Canva, so for my next few paintings I will be using a similar product, Canson Plein Air Mix Media Artboards, which have a smoother surface. So far I’ve found they are even more absorbant and need a lot more moisture to get a smooth brushstroke. That is occasionally a good thing, but mostly a pain.
Today I found out how to play YouTube on my TV, which was very exciting and I got so engrossed that I messed up the Bob Ross painting I was working on. Normally I would wait for it to dry, back up a few steps and rescue it, but this time I wanted to experiment.
Prior to starting the painting I had watched a question and answer session with Bob Ross and his son doing the demo and I thought I would practice some of the techniques. I also wanted to heap on some texture. The result is nothing like the Bob Ross painting and I love it!
Bob advice
Work in planes. Every plane adds more depth to your painting.
You must be able to see the background through the leaves. Spaces for the little birds to sit.
You need dark to show the light. Don't lose the dark, your trees will look flat and we don't like flat trees.
This was another fun painting, a little more challenging because of the trees and snow. I think I’ve discovered a new way of painting with acrylics using this mock “liquid white” idea. (Golden Open Titanium White and Golden Open Thinner). It certainly gives a lighter look to the painting and some nice contrasts. I’ve photographed the painting in different lights, interior and exterior.
I’m spending the month with Bob Ross and trying to get my head around converting his wet in wet oil techniques to acrylic. I’m doing this for the 30 paintings in 30 days challenge and this is day 9. So far, in the first series, Bob had painted a lot of trees, mountains and rivers, but for this painting he said he was going to do something different. It sure was! After a few brush loads and color changes he said that people watching were starting to think he was crazy. It did seem that way, but being experienced with this kind of brilliant light and color from my impressionist work, I felt quite at home. Actually I was having so much fun that I got a little ahead of him in places. It’s an unusual color scheme for me with a touch of 80’s, but the foreground really saves it. I’d even like to do some larger works along these lines. This painting is on auction over at my Daily Paintworks gallery for a ridiculously low start, so catch it before it’s gone.
The first image is in studio light and the second image is photographed in daylight.
I did things a little differently this time, I didn't rewind, but stopped the video each time Bob loaded his brush so I could catch up. I particularly like this painting, which seems to have more character in the mountains than Bobs usual pointy Alaska peaks.
I prepped the canvas a little differently, using Golden Open slow drying acrylic, mixed with Golden Open thinner, rather than slow drying medium. I also kept misting very lightly when loading the brush. I’m still having trouble with mixing a nice dark black, but I think I’m finding the palette a little easier to use.
Bob mentioned in this video that he often uses a touch of Van Dyck Brown to dull his colors. I remember this as being an old madter technique that I learned in beginner oil painting classes. These days I tend to use the complimentary color to modify, which is probably a more impressionist technique.
Bob starts with the sky and furthest distant areas, working the foreground last. In this painting the distant peaks were quite light and modified to grey with Van Dyck Brown. The mid ground mountains were a datker mix of Alizarin Crimson and Prussian Blue. Bob made then very dark but I lightened the mix with Titanium White and I think this works better for Acrylics as they tend to darken, while oils stay the same as when wet.
This is a painting that has been on my tweak pile for some time. I’ve repainted it several times and never been completely happy. This time I decided I would take some of what I have learned from Bob Ross in the last week and give it another go. I’ve changed it so radically that I can call it a whole new painting.
When I do this with my older paintings they develop such great texture from all the layers of paint that people love them, so I hope someone will snap this up soon.
It’s been an interesting week of discoveries. I hope you’ve been reading my tips for following Bob Ross Oil painting videos and converting his techniques to painting with acrylics. I’m doing it so you don’t have to suffer.
Version 1 Version 2
I discovered that I can follow Bob by stopping and replaying sections. I’m not trying to copy his paintings exactly because I want to add local landscape features and make them more saleable in our era. However I do want to try out different methods, colors and compositional tricks. There is a lot of information to take in during Bobs half hour show, some of which I had never considered and some which don’t really work with acrylic paint. I may try some oils later in the month to see if I can use his wet in wet techniques with water solubles.
Version 2 Version 1
I complete one of Bobs follow along paintings in about 90 mins, but I find that after consideration there are always a few tweaks needed. Only one of this weeks paintings escaped without a tweak. The one at the top, A WALK IN THE WOODS, is the one that needed the most work. I added a more modern color scheme and some more impressionist brush work. I love it now and I think it counts as a whole new painting for todays submission to 30 in 30.
The others underwent some minor adjustments. Can you spot them?
Bob often says that he's painting fast to demonstrate, but ”you”, meaning the viewer, ”have all the time in the word to add more detail”. I suppose that wet in wet oil painters do have more time, but as an acrylic painter I have to say the faster you paint, the easier it is to go back and blend away the hard edges.
Hard edges are the enemy of the acrylic painter and softening them is a huge part of making your painting look good. There should be a variety of edge in any object, broken lines, uneven areas, dark and hard and those so indistinguishable that they just blend into the background. If you’re struggling in acrylic, check this out in your paintings.
Today I discovered that Bob Ross does add some extra colors to his limited palette occasionally, this time Sap Green. In a departure from his usual Liquid White start, this painting started with a green ground, then an ombre look by adding Prussian Blue to the wet paint, fading from bottom to top.
Today I decided to use Atelier Interactive Acrylic to get a bit more manouverability in the paint. As I’m missing some of Bobs colors in my Interactive selection, I substituted, using Ultramarine instead of Prussian Blue, Arylamide instead of Cadmium Yellow and Crimson instead of Permanent Red. I had no substitute in Interactive for Sap Green, so I used Winsor Newton Galeria. I applied the Sap Green ground directly onto the Canson Canvas Board, scrubbing it into the dips in the weave. I added slow drying medium on top of the nearly dry paint and Ultramarine as the ombre.
The great thing about Interactive, is that if you lightly spritz ordinary acrylic paint with water, or paint on top before it is dry the original acrylic will lift, leaving white spots. Interactive is designed to be spritzed, so this doesnt happen and you can blend on the canvas. It takes a bit of getting used to, but it is much less frustrating than regular acrylic paint.
Bobs palette knife trunks and branches are integral to his style, but the technique doesn't work well with acrylic, so I ended up scratching in some branches and adding the trunks and more branches with a small round brush and thin paint.
Posted as #94 on Leslie Saetas 30 paintings in 30 days challenge blog.
The painting was finished but forgot to post it :( This makes a difference in page views, but so far no difference to sales.
Also
Updated the image of yesterdays painting photographed in natural daylight.
I’m a bit rushed today after a series of events like leaving my charger somewhere so I couldn’t watch my Bob Ross episode till late tonight. Then my scanner wasn’t working. However, I squeaked in just in time to write my blog and post on the 30 in 30 blog. Phew!
As you see, I’ve very much added my own twists to this to bring it more in line with my local landscape, and I’ve added a little more color.
I attempted to follow Bobs oil prep by substituting slow drying acrylic medium for his liquid white base. I then added a touch of zinc white on top and lightly misted before launching into Bobs mainly blue scene. I found this wasn't the best plan, because it caused widespread fracturing under the paint layer as it dried. I quite like the effect, but traditional landscape lovers may find it a step too modern.
I apologise for the image but I’ll fix my scanner tomorrow (I hope).
The top image was photographed in halogen light and the image above in natural daylight. What a difference!
While Bob paints he throws out nuggets of wisdom about painting and life in general. He constantly encourages his viewers to give things a go. He knew many would be afraid to pick up a brush, but his show was entertaining even if you just watched and listened.
Bob said he learned from William Alexander who was an earlier TV painting instructor. Prior to studying Bills technique, Bob was a painstakingly slow traditional landscape painter who spent days getting a cloud or a tree perfect. Bobs show was half an hour, and in that time he completed a painting live from start to finish. Today, with the benefit of new technology, we can stop, start, rewind and fast forward until we feel comfortable, but early students had to go at Bobs pace. Bob soon brought out videos, but video players were expensive, so often a student had to wait for re-runs. How lucky we are!
I keep forgetting to time myself, but I think with stops and replays, I’m completing each painting in about two hours. That doesn’t include prep and varnish, but nevertheless that’s pretty fast for me.
I think one of Bobs secrets is the limited 8 folor palette he works with. I find that working with acrylic paint, changes things somewhat: Prussian Blue is dull and cool and I would like a warm blue like phthalocyanine blue (red shade), or light blue permanent. Also, perhaps it’s because I’m using hues, but I find it difficult to mix a really dark color for the shadows with Bobs palette and would like a more opaque deep red to mix deep purple and green/red blacks. I admit that the Van Dyck brown I’m using is not well pigmented, so perhaps I can find a more opaque brand to enhance the darks.
In this painting I did cooy Bob’s crazy cliff on the left, and on reflection its OK, but I may modify it in time. It does add an element of surprise and curiosity though.
The last time I painted along with Bob Ross, I chose to do so in acrylic. I had painted with gouache, watercolor and oil, but never acrylic. I chose acrylics for their simple clean up and less odor in my small unit. However, I had trouble learning to paint with acrylics, struggling with fast drying time and the color change when dry. I had no idea it was so different to oil painting: Don't believe any instructor that tells you it’s the same. I was determined to master acrylics and thankfully I’ve learned a lot since then.
Bob Ross was an oil painter and he painted alla prima, wet in wet. It’s a challenge to keep acrylics wet long enough to use his technique, but there are solutions. Bob uses something he calls “magic white” or “liquid white” as a base. I’m not sure what the formula is, but picking up white from this liquid base lightens his mixes, so it is an important step. In order to mimic this layer I first tried using slow drying medium, but quickly realised it was clear, not white. Then I tried Zinc White mixed with slow drying medium, which was better, but thick and gummy, not like the slick liquid base Bob uses. I still had to mist lightly to keep it slick, but it was a fair substitute. I liked that it added thick texture you could scratch into for branches and tree trunks.
This painting is the second of thirty for the 30 in 30 challenge. I painted along with Bob Ross Series 1 Episode 2 Mount McKinley. I am adapting Bobs work to my local landscapes and my style, so I’m calling this MOUNTAINS It can be purchased here.
