About Me
BOB ROSS (1942-1995)Bob Ross is best known as the host of the public television series The Joy of Painting, which ran from 1983 to 1995. During each half-hour segment, Ross would instruct viewers in the art of oil painting by painting an entire landscape over the course of the program, usually also providing a running commentary on the process as he worked. He was known in particular for, like his predecessor Bill Alexander, frequently anthropomorphizing the inanimate subjects of his paintings and describing them in such terms as "happy little trees" and "pretty little mountains". Ross acknowledged that the appearances of the landscapes he painted (typically mountains, lakes, and 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 accomplished artists given time, practice, and encouragement, and to this end was often fond of saying, "We don't make mistakes, we just have happy little accidents." Ross later founded his own successful line of art supplies and how-to books, and also offered painting classes taught by instructors trained in the "Bob Ross method". When asked about his laid-back approach to painting and eternally calm and contented demeanor, he once commented: "I got a letter from somebody here a while back, and they said, 'Bob, everything in your world seems to be happy.' That's for sure. That's why I paint. It's because I can create the kind of world that I want, and I can make this world as happy as I want it. Shoot, if you want bad stuff, watch the news."
Ross utilized the wet-on-wet oil painting technique, in which paint is applied on top of still-wet paint (as opposed to the more classical method of waiting for each paint layer to dry before applying more paint). Combining this method with the use of large painting knives and fan brushes allowed Ross to paint trees, water, clouds and mountains in a matter of seconds. On the show he often credits Bill Alexander for teaching him this method.
Bob also filmed random wildlife (in particular squirrels) footage, usually in his own garden. This was often featured, even during some of his trickier works.
Nickname
Bust 'em up Bobby
Trade Mark
-Frizzy perm
-Soft, encouraging voice
Trivia
-Retired from the Air Force. [1981]
-Has a son, Steven.
-Had a pet squirrel named Peapod.
-Stated that his favorite part of painting was cleaning the brush (specifically, the act of knocking paint off the brush head by rapping it against the easel frame).
-Bob Ross can be seen smiling and even laughing out loud consistently during this practice as he, in his words, "Beat the devil out of it".
-Appeared in two self-parodying promos for MTV which featured him working ..ings of the MTV logo and describing MTV as "all fluffy white clouds" and "the land of happy little trees".
-Stated in one episode of The Joy of Painting that he did not wear shoes to school until the sixth grade (Series 15, Episode 10).
-Though he never studied at any upper-level design academies or fine arts schools, he did admit that he had attended art school "as a pup" (contrary to the popular belief that he never received any formal artistic training).
-He studied engineering in college.
-Although he adopted and rehabilitated numerous wild animals, Bob Ross did not believe in keeping them as pets. He released every animal back into its natural habitat, despite his loving bond with said critters.
-Bob Ross was a vegetarian.
-Painting
-Saving Animals
-Teaching Painting Techniques
**In an episode of The Joy of Painting, Ross explained his preference for painting landscapes over portraits or people:
"Any way you paint a tree, chances are, somewhere there's a tree that looks like that. Years ago, I tried painting portraits, and I had a hard time. Number one, I couldn't capture the essence of what makes a person an individual. The other thing was, if you paint a landscape, and it doesn't come out just right, somebody else will come along and say, 'Hey, I've seen that place, maybe I used to fish and play there.' If you paint a portrait that has one eye square or something, I guarantee everybody's going to notice it. So I gave up portrait painting. My portrait teacher told me to go paint bushes and trees, because that's where my heart was."
In March 2006, The Bob Ross Inc. announced plans to license rights to develop a Bob Ross video game. At the time, it was reported that AGFRAG Entertainment Group would receive the license and planned on developing the game for PC, the Nintendo DS, and Nintendo's next-generation video game console, the Wii. The Wii was chosen because its Wii Remote is unique in its ability to sense 3D control, allowing the player to use the remote like a paintbrush, aptly suited to The Joy of Painting.
At first, the announcement was believed to be an early April Fool's Day joke. However, it was confirmed by several websites including IGN.com, the official Bob Ross website and the AGFRAG homepage.
On December 5, 2006, it was reported that the game had been canceled. A short while later, however, the company announced that those reports were inaccurate, and that they were looking for another development company, as AGFRAG had left the project.
