Northern Reflections. Painting #21. Finding Inspiration from Bob Ross.

Northern Reflections is my 21st painting. Finding inspiration at a beautiful lake hideaway under a blanket of snow nestled below a towering mountain with the notorious lights of the northern sky.

We just show you how, but you make the decisions. When you have this much power, you have to make big decisions.  Bob Ross

Let’s Get Started

This post is about my original painting, Northern Reflections. First, I’ll talk about the inspiration for this painting. When I talk about inspiration in this blog, it will normally be why I chose a certain subject or Bob Ross or other artist tutorial to follow. Then, I will go over the colors and equipment I used and that you will need if you want to try your hand at it or something similar. Next, I will expound a bit about my process or simply provide a few simple tips. Finally, I’ll wrap up with some lessons that I learned from painting this picture and things I could have done better or wished I had known. So join me on this trip down memory lane as I recap my 21st oil painting. 

The Inspiration

This painting was a commission of sorts. It was a custom request by the same co-worker that requested a Mountain Reflections picture. He wanted a night time version of it so I painted the Mountain Reflection general landscape, covered it with snow and added the northern lights. 

I didn’t follow an episode for this one. However I did use S12E2 and S8E13 of The Joy of Painting for inspiration. I even did a FB live video for a portion of it. Little did I know how much live painting videos I would do in the future.

Materials Needed for Northern Reflections

• Black Gesso
• Liquid Clear
• Alizarin Crimson
• Bright Red
• Midnight Black
• Phthalo Blue
• Phthalo Green
• Titanium Hwite

For a list of alternative materials and other items needed to paint, visit my Getting Started page. 

Before We Begin

Every Bob Ross painting begins by covering the canvas with a medium. In most paintings he starts off with the medium known as Liquid White. And this is where I would explain how to apply the liquid white because it’s not as straightforward as it would seem. In this painting, it’s obvious that there is no liquid white. Canvas prep for this one is a bit different. It requires one of the following. 

• Black gesso
• Black Acrylic Paint. It doesn’t need to be fancy, and you’ll need a fair bit.
• Black Canvas 
• Liquid Clear

If you’re not using a pre-made black canvas, you will need to do a little prep work. You will need to cover your entire canvas with either the black gesso or a flat black acrylic paint. For this you will need an old paint brush (I do not recommend using your Bob Ross brushes for this). Alternatively, you can use a foam brush.  These are super cheap. You can get a few uses out of them if you clean them properly or you can just throw them out when you’re done. Also, they are everywhere from hobby shops to dollar stores. Another tool that works great for covering the canvas is a mini paint roller. These actually work rather well. 

Once you’ve covered the canvas in gesso and let it dry completely, or if you’re using a ready made black canvas, you’re ready for the next step. The next step is to apply the Liquid Clear.

The Liquid Clear works similar to the Liquid White. That is it helps the paint move and blend effortlessly. The Liquid Clear however is not diluted by the white. Therefore, you retain the true value of the color. In the case of a black canvas painting, its primary purpose is to help the base color move and apply painlessly. I always use a thin layer of the medium when doing black canvases. Nic applied liquid clear in this tutorial and does a fine job of explaining the process. It’s a shame that the video is no longer available. 

Liquid Clear

How to apply Liquid Clear. Applying Liquid Clear is much like applying Liquid White. The trick is to not apply too much.  You really don’t need a lot. Bob once said on his show that one jar of Liquid Clear will last you a lifetime. He’s not wrong! I still have the first jar I bought nearly 4 years ago. Having the right amount of medium on the canvas will aid in blending everything together. 

The best way to apply the Liquid Clear is to dip your brush into the medium then dab it all over the canvas. After you’ve dabbed it, then you start to spread it around. But, you don’t paint it on like you’re painting a fence. With this medium, you have to spread it around and scrub it in. Really get tough with it.  Don’t worry, you’re not going to hurt your brush. 

Make sure the medium is spread evenly. To do this, I use the light of the room or outdoors.  For example, I look at the canvas at different angles to pick out dry spots. Remember, you don’t need a lot of medium. Once it’s completely covered, take a dry brush or a shop towel and lightly wipe the surface. The medium you need should remain on the surface. Now it’s time to apply the base color.  

How I Painted Northern Reflections.

Base Color

You apply the base color the same way you would any other sky. Use the little criss-cross or figure eight strokes. Blend the transition of colors with a clean, dry brush. This can get a little tricky if you can’t see the colors. The Liquid Clear will aid in blending. 

You can see roughly where each color is placed in the sky but put the colors wherever you want. If you want to do it like Bob, do it like Bob. You can even use totally different colors, as long as they’re transparent. Transparent paint is a paint that let the light through to the underlying layer. So if you notice when Bob starts to paint the Northern Lights, you can’t see the color he already laid down. Adding a thin layer of white will mix with that transparent base color and show through. 

The auroras are simple to put in. Just follow Bob’s instructions from S8E13 and you can’t go wrong. There’s not really much I can add to explain it better. He does a pretty good job at demonstrating how to put in the auroras. Just remember, the upstrokes with the white are short and the upstrokes with the dry brush are long. This is important for bringing some of that spectacular color into the sky. The only other thing I would suggest is to carry some of that residual white from the brush all the way to the horizon area. This will come into play later. 

Foreground

The rest of this painting can be painted any way you like. You could add a mountain or any feature from your favorite Bob Ross painting. Bob is a wonderful source of inspiration. Maybe take your favorite painting Bob does and add a night sky, nebula, or the classic northern lights.

Final Thoughts 

This was another fun one. It allowed me to sort of do my own thing and find my own creativity even though I took inspiration from two different Bob Ross paintings. I think my mountains turned out pretty good. Doing if on FB live was pretty fun as well. I had no idea that painting live would be something I would end up doing on a regular basis on Twitch in the future.  I truly experienced the joy of painting. If you do this one I hope you experience the same thing. 

I don’t have any high quality photos of this one. The initial photos were taken in my poorly lit garage that I painted in at the time.

I hope you enjoy this painting. Give it a shot yourself then share a link to a photo of your rendition. Have a question? Comment below.  As I just mentioned, this one is no longer available however, a lot more of my art is available in my Etsy shop. Check it out if you want to see more of my work and see other paintings available. You can also follow me on all my social media sites. 

Happy Painting!