Sources/Inspirations:
- Official Bob Ross YouTube or Streaming Channel
- Amazon Prime
- DVD (unavailable from this resource as of this writing - 5 Feb 2023)
- Book
Materials:
- 1 Canvas (18x24, but I use 16x20)
- Black
- If white - you will need to apply black gesso and let it dry before starting
- 2" Brush
- 1" Brush
- #2 Script Liner Brush
- #6 Fan Brush
- #5 Palette Knife - Detail
- #10 Palette Knife
- Palette
- Easel
- Paints
- Liquid Clear
- Black Gesso (if you start with a white canvas)
- Titanium White
- Prussian Blue
- Van Dyke Brown
- Alizarin Crimson
- Clean-Up
Assignment
Before I started this assignment I had a pre-assignment assignment. Begin labeling and signing my paintings. I researched a number of methods for this - and settled on the immediate solution of using a China Pencil, or Grease Pencil. These are really easy to come by at your local art store or, of course on Amazon. They are cheap, and you can use them to write anything you want on the back of the canvas. Lots of space back there.
At the same time I began looking at how others sign their paintings (including Bob Ross) and what I found was that most folks had fairly short names, like ROSS. I, on the other hand, were I to use my file name as many sites recommend (for uniqueness) had to learn how to paint 24 characters - and suddenly 16x20 canvas was looking fairly small. Especially given my 'writing' skills when it comes to paint.
I did read that some of the old painters simply scratched their names into their paintings. Hmm - perhaps a simple calligraphy pen? Ok, I ordered one of those as well with a couple different numbs. You can see this style of signature in this weeks painting. What I learned from this exercise is that it isn't really optimal as the pen nub is fairly sharp, and the canvas is fairly rough so - not a great solution. I will have to find something else.
But - back to the painting itself.
The painting makes use of a black canvas. And I really like how most of these have turned out for me. Of course at this point I didn't know you were suppose to 'wet' the canvas with liquid clear before painting - even so, it worked for me.
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| Winter Moon (c) 5 November 2022 Gilbert Blankenship |
I really like the sky in this one and think it turned out quite well. I also like the paintings that have animated number of colors in them. Probably because I still tend to press too hard on the canvas resulting in mud mixing when applying upper layers.
The paint breaks finally worked for me on the mountains, although one mountain face is pretty flat and should have used more peaks or breaks to make it a bit more interesting. I also think I could have misted more the space between the mountain base and trees. A minor issue. I also like the negative space on the right - but I know some may find it problematic from a perspective of scenery framing. But I think it works to push the eye 'westward'.
The mid ground trees turned out much better with a more rounded look and less of a "brick" look in the leaves and branches, and the water/reflections I think are among my best.
Where I had problems was the ground between the trees and the water. At this point being really happy with how everything else was coming along I lost focus on the slopes and directions of the land as it approaches the water. So much going well, I let my excitement get the best of me.
The inspiration for this image also contained a man-made object (cabin) that I am just not up to trying yet ... so it didn't make the cut.
What did I learn from this? Slow down, step away, look, and think about what you are going to do before you do it.
So a couple things in the episode that Bob doesn't mention: Wet the canvas with liquid clear, and how using liquid clear is different from liquid white when it comes to application. In fact, I just saw an episode last night (9 feb 23) where he briefly discusses this.
He also doesn't mention in his books, or in the video from what I recall, the use of the #2 script liner to sign the painting. I still included it here in the materials/equipment section.
- Gil
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