I got excited about painting The Old Weathered Barn from Season 28 episode 7, but now I'm confused about Bob's preparation instructions.

  1. He says he took brown acrylic and mixed it with gesso. Gesso is already acrylic, but I only have white and black gesso, so do I need to find/buy some brown acrylic (gesso?) and mix it with my white gesso, or what is he talking about?
  2. Bob doesn't mention applying liquid white or liquid clear to the canvas. Are either of these used on the painting? If they are which one, and do I apply before of after the gesso mix? If after, does the gesso mix need to dry completely first?
  3. I'm itching to start this painting, so all help will be appreciated!
    Thanks, Lyndell

    I'm excited to see your painting!

    It looks like Bob used some kind of brown, maybe Burnt Umber acrylic paint mixed with White Gesso to do the underpainting. I suspect any brown acrylic (e.g. umber, sienna) would suffice. In fact, you can also probably mix together any complementary colors to achieve a brown you can then mix with your gesso (i.e. red/green, blue/orange, yellow/purple).

    I think Bob just forgot to mention that he applied Liquid Clear to the whole canvas (after the underpainting dried), before adding the Indian Yellow at the beginning of the episode. He mentions it later.

    Hope that helps!

      dracula
      Thank you very much for the information. I will pick up some brown acrylic locally and give this painting a try. I just viewed your paintings archived on TwoInchBrush and they are wonderful!

        9 days later

        With some gracious pointers from Count Dracula, I've gotten past the initial brown acrylic/Gesso phase of painting The Old Weathered Barn. Now I'm faced with choosing the proper sized Round brush for painting the foliage, as well as the proper sized Filbert brush for painting the barn. I have neither of these style brushes and need some pointers as to what sizes I need and where to best purchase them. Anyone have any help to offer?? Count?? All help appreciated!

          LYNDELL Glad to hear you are on your way. As far as brushes, though it doesn't seem like Bob calls it out by name exactly, I'm pretty sure he's using the (Half-size Round Brush). I think for the barn it's just the usual #6 Filbert Brush. The links above are for Amazon in the United States; I wasn't sure where you're located.

          Also, if those brushes aren't available to you, I think you can achieve the same kind of effects with any type of ample-sized round brush and and medium-small Filbert brush. To be fair, I use the Filbert brush for foliage (and clouds, and mountains, etc.) all the time. I think sometimes just using what you've got works great. After all it's your world! 😀

              dracula Thank you very much for the links sir! I'm in the states, so I was able use them to order the brushes from Amazon. I also found a Bob Ross pallet on the site and ordered one of those as well. Now just waiting for them to arrive.

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