When I want to view a great work of art, I paint it!

Do thou likewise.

Or paint one of mine!

[piano plays, bright in tone] ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ Welcome back to part two of "Harbor View."

This is the oil stage.

We have completed the acrylic stage.

I'm going to place on the canvas walnut oil.

It will make it so it is very easy to put on a thin color.

I'll do that with what we call Saturday night bath.

I want point out your attention again to the pochade, the painting that I'm working from.

It's just a small sketch, but it is a beautiful sketch.

I a absolutely love it.

I don't think I'd trade it for anything.

I'd sell it for something, but I wouldn't trade it for anything!

You talk just a little bit about a frame.

Look how this frame is compatible with the picture.

This nice grayish green color is there in the sky, also in the water.

You have the gold which is against the sky and the sun.

And the dark, which is a silhouette of the people, the ship, and the trees.

Anyway, I'm ready to paint this.

When I when I was growing up somebody said, I don't know who it was, they said, "if your initials," "if your initials spell a word you'll be rich and famous."

My real name is Donald Eugene Paulson.

I thought, DEP, "dep of a ship."

It just wouldn't work.

No one would accept that.

But now-- "Bucky Dep," oh, gosh, think of that on a clipper ship-- we're rich, were famous!

At least you're watching.

Here comes the Saturday night bath.

I'll take a little bit of extra oil and thin out the Van Dyke Brown, on the palette.

Sometimes I'll put it up there and then thin it out, but since I want so little of it to be used, I'm going to thin it out a little first.

However, even though I put it on now, you say, that's a little darker than I would want.

I have the privilege, the liberty, to go ahead and wipe with a paper towel.

That's the advantage of having the oil all over, you can make the bath as thick or as light as you like.

It gives a little bit of an antique look to it, doesn't it?

Okay, I'll go gently.

My first gentle wiping is just to smooth it out.

I haven't focused in on hard wiping any place to show light coming, but I'll do that very soon.

You can see how I wiped that off.

Now I'll go for a little more force, to wipe it right where the sun will be.

So when we put the sun on it will be on a dry surface and you'll already have a lot of the light expanding out.

Strongly wipe on the path, then I'll wipe near the people.

Both sides there and just a little stronger there, because you have some of the light showing through the trees and right next to the trees.

Now we can go ahead and put on some color in the sky.

But that itself pleases me.

It gives a tonal quality.

T-O-N-A-L, tonal quality, which is very pleasing, which makes the values not too light, not too dark.

They're just kind of a balanced, all in tone.

I have a fan brush and I have a mixture here.

This is Thalo Blue and white with some Raw Sienna in it.

I might have to choose just a little more Raw Sienna, because it's not a real dark blue.

Ok, coming up.

What's so nice to have the little pochade near it, even though you're trying to say, I'll use that-- can I go higher?

Can I make it better?

Oh, there was such a great artist, George Inness.

I absolutely loved that guy, but he would always feel, can I make it a little bit better?

That's what I like about my teacher, he would have a painting, ready to sign it, and then he'd think, I wonder what it would be like if I did this whole thing kind of in a reddish sunset?

He'd work the whole thing over like that.

he was fearless, at least as far as time.

It wasn't a case of that's be too much work.

Will it make it better?

I really admire that.

I think that's where some of the great performers, how they arrive is by thinking whatever it takes, I'll do.

It's not how much work it is.

Of course, when you are doing somebody's yard or cutting there hair, you want one price.

It's not how long is it going to take, how much is it going to cost?

Let's come down across here.

I'm using the same thing I started out in the sky with.

Then I'm coming down into the golden tone a little bit.

We're going to put so more gold back into the scene.

I'm softening the water a little by doing this, too.

You don't really see the horizon, do you?

When you look at that pochade you just know it's out there.

This light, this strong light next to the ship, is not the horizon.

So it means that the lightest light is not hitting the horizon first.

It might be a cloud bank or some other reason making that so.

I think this time I kind of... let's go with what we think would be best.

And that would be, let's make our center of interest strong.

When we do that, then everything else kind of relates to it.

I was going to jump over here and work around there.

It's almost like a portrait.

Do you do the eye first or last?

You can do it first, kind of building around, watching that eye, everything related to it.

Or you can do everything else, then put on the dessert.

That would be the same thing in a landscape or so on.

I'm going to put the dessert on early.

This is yellow and red and white, so it gives just a little bit of an orangy tone.

It has more yellow, so it isn't too orangy.

We'll add just a little reds, pinks, to make it work for us in a minute.

I notice as I come near the ship, I like where there's just a little of that previous acrylic showing there.

So it's not quite as sharp, not quite as hard.

You may have one sail where we'll make it a little stronger next to the sun.

This will be beautiful.

I'll put a little bit on this side.

We'll come down into the water.

Let's take just a little more red.

This Cadmium Red Light and I'm pushing it on the edge there of orangish tone.

This'll make us judge its color, its value and so on, on the palette before we come up here.

Ooh, that is so pretty!

Oh, gee.

"Buck, you sound like you haven't done this before."

I haven't!

This is the first time I'm doing it!

You're watching me in the studio.

That brings up another point, that's a little scary.

This is a little different situation where you can watch.

But see, you're not saying anything.

I have painted paintings.

Let me give you a little philosophy.

I was painting a portrait of this fellows wife.

She came over and sat, and I was painting her portrait.

He said, "I'd like to see it," it was about half finished.

I said, "no, no,no!

I don't want you to see it."

"Yes, yes, yes."

[deep voice] "Yes, yes, yes."

He was bigger than me.

So I showed it to him.

His comment was, "She looks too young."

So the rest of the time I'm painting, I'm thinking, I need to make her look older.

I need to make her look older.

I would have adjusted those things if I hadn't heard that, but that becomes foremost in my mind.

That's one thing, if you can keep from showing an unfinished painting from someone, if you're doing a commission anyway.

Here, I want you to watch what I'm doing.

I'm enjoying with you.

And it's so true.

I find when I can talk on the telephone, and paint while I'm talking, it frees up the right brain, and I'm more creative.

So as I'm talking to you, I can actually paint this thing better than if you weren't there.

In fact, if you weren't there I wouldn't be painting here!

Support PBS.

Oh, gee, they bring you so much.

I just love it.

I love working with these people.

"We love you too Buck."

Oh, thank you.

I'm a part-time mindreader.

Alright, now let's go to maybe just a little bit whiter.

I love this idea where you can go just a little bit lighter.

This will be yellow and white, and I'm gong to go right in the middle of the sun with this.

Um.

So I make it lighter, and I have a little quantity.

I'm going to use that same quantity, just a little bit more.

I'm going to pick it up on the side of the knife.

So I can place it and draw more of a horizontal shape.

Boy that's warm!

Let's take a small brown brush and what I want to do with this, let's take some of that Van Dyke Brown.

We'll go just a little higher, this is the mast.

What's the matter with you?

you're so new, you haven't been taught yet.

I'll just split you a little and come back.

You might want to sit down a while.

Let's take your thin brother.

Oh, yeah, that's good-- the liner brush.

This will be better anyway, because it holds just a little-- you can paint a little longer.

The other thing I'll use this for, I'll make this for, I think they call them yardarms.

I know they call them yardarms.

Coming out into the sky.

We don't have to be too detailed on this, just a semblance of.

That's really the whole essence.

Now I'll sharpen a couple of these edges.

Then you can have a little bit of a loose kind of rope.

I think they call those sheets, don't they?

Does anybody know, anybody in the studio know?

A little stronger on that edge, so you get that nice bulging out feeling.

Then I'll take the Van Dyke Brown.

We'll come right down on this, on the side of the boat.

The starboard side.

What's the other one?

Oh, port!

See I remember port as being left, because we used to talk about baseball players being "portsider.

Portsider."

So "starboard" and "port."

Because the water is moving a little bit, these are not totally connected, you can have some where a little swell hits it and it picks up along like that.

Let's go ahead then and work elsewhere.

Let's come over by the people.

I'll bring that other brush back because he's a good little one.

Here's my Alizarin Crimson.

Are you Alizarin Crimson?

No, you're rose, you're rose.

Do you know who you are?

You're rose.

Ok, right on here.

If I hit that shoulder, I can use that dark that is there.

The acrylic dark I'm using and I'm touching a little light on the side of that.

A little bit for the darker hair.

And just a little bit on this side, which makes it a little darker.

We have a little light on the second one.

You can just barely see it.

This is yellow and white.

Looks like the person is holding a flashlight!

Let's take a little Raw Sienna and white, and maybe a little Van Dyke Brown.

We'll put this right on the shoulder.

A little bit on the hair.

Wipe the brush slightly and spread that just a little bit.

Let's come up on the tree, the foliage.

I will use a large brush.

Let's put just a little wash on.

What should we use?

This Van Dyke Brown--no you're Burnt Umber and you are Sap Green.

We'll use them almost equal.

This won't change a lot of what's there, but it makes it so we have something to blend into a little bit.

I'm pushing this around.

I like the aspect of this silhouette.

The tree has a nice silhouette effect.

I'm kind of tapping it, full face of the brush.

Then what's very helpful when you are doing trees is that you address the edge of the tree.

That will be, in my case, I don't see it on the pochade, but I'm going to put a little bit of this rose color.

Just tap it on the edge, so you feel, again, a slight influence of the sun touching against that tree.

You still get your effect of a silhouette, but it's more natural and it brings the heat over to that.

Now, as I go higher I'll go with some of this Sap Green and Van Dyke Brown.

Let's see...

I remember what we need to do.

We'll just take some of this Burnt Umber and make this branch a little more strengthened again.

For some reason it helps-- the arch folds them into the boat more than if it were just going up straight.

We can have a branch that goes off from that, in the main tree.

Let's emphasize that by coming over with some twigs or something that are hanging down.

I want to say one thing about my teacher that will relate to you too with your teachers.

I absolutely loved the guy-- he was so good, so giving.

Everybody had a--oh gee, that's kind of nice.

That has just a little light on it.

Picked up just a little bit of white with the Van Dyke Brown.

But everybody had a privilege of painting.

His idea was, what can I gain from that person?

I don't care if you're 9 or 91 or anywhere in-between.

What can I learn from you, that was his attitude.

Now compare another one.

I went over one time to a class.

I won't need to say where it was or about names or anything, but I was trying to promote a portrait class, or a portrait exhibition, in Santa Barbara.

I thought that would be a great opportunity for them to know about it, and they could enter and have their paintings being displayed.

So I did, and they seemed pleased.

But then the gal, the teacher says, "you'd make a great head.

It would be fun to do a portrait of you."

I said, "No, no,no.

I don't have time, I'm an artist also."

"Oh, who do you study with?"

And I said, "Claude Buck."

And people go...(giggles) And I thought, Oh, gee, I was so mad.

I was going to hit this one person, but she turned away so I didn't.

I was just kidding about hitting her, but I was very upset.

The fact that the would kind of hold Claude down.

Why?

If this was teeter-totter-- I could teeter-totter with my kids all day.

I would put a couple of kids there and all I would do is move back farther on the teeter.

but the principle is always the same-- for them to go up, I need to go down.

For them to go down, I would go up.

It's not that way in art.

You don't have to pull somebody else down to make your teacher look better or your favorite artist.

I just, boy, that can't be allowed.

There's room for everybody.

Let them have different views and opinions.

I like these, just little twigs that just peek out slightly, so you know that there's a tree there.

Let's take some of the same color.

I was putting some of the green on the foliage on the tree.

I'm taking the same thing.

This is the Burnt Umber and the Sap Green.

Just a little bit down here and I'll come back and we'll work a little further on the foliage.

I need to bring that just a little bit closer, so the person doesn't look like he is casting a halo out there.

Oh, oh!

Look at this.

I need to push up, so that person is standing down.

Talking about portraits and not showing in advance, I'll tell you another thing that I would suggest.

You'll save a lot of agony and it doesn't have to be portraits, any painting, is when you are going to do a painting for somebody, let's say a commission-- here's a little extra branch there.

Now I want to put some highlight on there.

That you know in advance, what the price is going to be.

Oh, gosh, don't get caught where it's at the end and say, "I don't know how much.

I don't know."

I'm taking this color, which is Sap Green.

I'm coming up and taking a little Raw Sienna and white.

I have to be careful that I'm not too light.

Let's do this.

I'll build to the light.

So this is the Umber and Sap Green.

Here I have just a little white with it.

It isn't quite as much.

There!

That's what I want, so you get some of the fullness.

If you establish a price up front, that's good.

Rather than say, "Oh, what do you think it's worth," or "How many hours did you put in?"

"I put in 40."

"You get 2.50 an hour, we'll give you 80 bucks."

If you want to sell it for 80, do it.

But it's so surprising how people-- If you don't value your art, no one else will.

I had a painting once.

It was a beautiful big thing, a couple of figures.

Claude says, "Oh, that's so good, put in the Santa Barbara Art Association."

So I did.

I didn't want to sell it, so I put $10,000 on it.

It was rejected.

The curator told me, "They rejected it because of the $10,000!

You make these other guys who put $450 and so on, make them feel bad!"

Now let's take just a small little bit of light.

This is taking the red light, just a little bit of the golden tone.

When I come up, I want just a slight feeling of a little bit of the light tingeing on the branches here and there.

This is kind of a nice spot, right there.

If you look at the pochade for a minute, I want to point something out.

When you look at the signature on it, what do you notice?

Well, you notice it's there, and you notice it's blue.

That blue was chosen because it gives just a little balance with all the greens.

I'm not signing this painting, but I'm taking some of the Turquoise Blue and just pushing it around.

I'll tell you another color I love there, and that's purple, Dioxazine Purple.

It looks so good with greens.

I'm going to do just kind of a going away thing as we look a bit further out at the sails.

I am coming up with a dark.

I'm going to have a little dark there.

Then we'll put a little crow's nest up there.

So that part of the sail is emphasized a little bit more.

A little bit more here too.

Maybe just a small touch of dark, with the umber.

Put on just a little umber, so it's just a little darker right near there, right near the sun.

See how that does what it's supposed to do?

I'll sneak a little bit down lower, but it has the most right near the sun.

I think we've brought our ship in.

You listened to all those things I told you, right?

About pricing a painting, about teeter-totter, don't pull anybody down, do the best you can, don't let work stop you from going forth to make something better.

So we'll see you next time.

I really appreciate your being there.

So long!

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ (woman) Funding for "Painting With Paulson" is made possible by the members of Prairie Public.

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