The Joy of Painting

Featuring Bob Ross

Bob Ross’ patient teaching and “wet on wet” painting techniques helped introduce thousands of amateur painters to the art world. The “serious” art establishment might not have had much time for Ross—and the contempt was mutual—but even now, 14 years after his death, Ross’ iconic show The Joy of Painting still enjoys a large following in syndication. Let’s take a look at five things you might not know about the man who brought us so many happy little trees.

The Joy of Painting ran new seasons on PBS from 1983 to 1994 and Ross actually did the series for free; his income came from Bob Ross Inc. Ross’ company sold art supplies and how-to videotapes, taught classes, and even had a troupe of traveling art instructors who roamed the world teaching painting. It’s tough to think of a better advertisement for these products than Ross’ show.

How did Ross find the time to tape all of those shows for free? He could record a season almost as fast as he could paint. Ross could bang out an entire 13-episode season of The Joy of Painting in just over two days, which freed him up to get back to teaching lessons.

In a 1991 interview with the New York Times, Ross claimed he’d made over 30,000 paintings since he was an 18-year-old stationed in Alaska with the Air Force. When Ross died of lymphoma in 1995, most of his paintings either ended up in the hands of charity or PBS.

Ross utilized the wet-on-wet oil painting technique, in which the painter continues adding paint on top of still-wet paint rather than waiting a lengthy amount of time to allow each layer of paint to dry. From the beginning, the program kept the selection of tools and colors simple so that viewers wouldn't have to make large investments in them. Ross frequently recommended odorless paint thinner (aka odorless mineral spirits) for brush cleaning.

Combining the painting method with the use of one- and two-inch brushes as well as painting knives allowed Ross to paint trees, water, clouds, and mountains in a matter of seconds. Each painting would start with simple strokes that appeared to be nothing more than colored smudges. As he added more and more strokes, the blotches transformed into intricate landscapes.

Ross dedicated the first episode of the second season of The Joy of Painting to William Alexander, explaining that "years ago, Bill taught me this fantastic [wet-on-wet] technique, and I feel as though he gave me a precious gift, and I'd like to share that gift with you [the viewer]".

Ross noted that the landscapes he painted—typically mountains, lakes, snow, and log cabin scenes—were strongly influenced by his years living in Alaska, where he was stationed for the majority of his Air Force career.

He repeatedly stated on the show his belief that everyone had inherent artistic talent and could become an accomplished artist given time, practice, and encouragement, and to this end was often fond of saying,

"We don't have mistakes here,

we just have happy accidents."