BOB ROSS "Wet On Wet Oil Painting" DVDs & Signature Products

Bob Norman Ross - American painter and television host.

With his calm, patient nature, Bob Ross came to prominence as the creator and host of The Joy of Painting, a long-running television program on public broadcast stations (1983 - 1995) in the United States.

After graduating from Elizabeth Forward High School in Elizabeth, Pennsylvania, Ross spent 10 years in the U.S. Air Force, which is where he first started painting. Bob was living in Florida early in his military career when the Air Force transferred him to Alaska, where he first saw the snow and mountains that later became recurring themes in his artwork. He developed his quick-painting technique in order to be able to create art for sale in brief daily work breaks.

After leaving the Air Force, he studied with William Alexander before becoming famous worldwide with his own television program.

Bob had a son, Steven Ross, who occasionally appeared on his Joy of Painting and is a Bob Ross certified instructor.

Bob Ross' Television show
Ross was the host of the public television series "The Joy of Painting," which ran from 1983 to 1995 and still appears in reruns in many broadcast areas! During each half-hour segment, Ross would instruct viewers in the art of oil painting using a quick-study technique that kept colors to a minimum and broke paintings down into simple steps that anyone could follow!

Ross later founded his own very successful line of art supplies and how-to books, and also offered painting classes taught by instructors trained in the "Bob Ross method." In a 1990 interview, Ross mentioned that all his programs were donated free of charge to PBS stations and that his earnings came instead from sales of his 20 books and 100 videotapes (the total to that date), as well as profits from some 150 Bob Ross-trained teachers and a line of art materials sold through a national supplier. Ross also mentioned on the show "Towering Glacier" (#2341) that he donated all the paintings made on the show to PBS stations around the country to "help them out".

Bob Ross also filmed wildlife footage, squirrels in particular, usually from his own garden. Small animals often appeared on his show, even during some of his trickier works, as he would often take in injured or abandoned squirrels and other assorted wildlife and look after them.

Wet-on-wet oil painting technique
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. 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. 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 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 make mistakes, we just have happy little accidents." Ross was well known for other catchphrases he used while painting as he crafted "happy little trees". In many episodes of The Joy of Painting, he noted that one of his favorite parts of painting was cleaning the brush, specifically his method of drying off a brush, which he had dipped in odorless thinner, by striking it against the thinner can and easel. He would smile and often laugh aloud as he "Beat the devil out of it."

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."

References: Wikipedia

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One of our visitors wrote this in to us:

"Came across your website and saw you have a statement saying that Bob Ross invented the wet on wet technique. This is NOT true. Bob Ross was a student of the person who invented the technique, William Alexander. After years of trying to learn painting by taking private lessons and attending classes Ross eventually came across William Alexander. He then knew that was the technique he wanted to persue, so he studied under Alexander for years. He became an Alexander instructor and taught classes on his behalf. This has all been documented and if you ever see the special PBS did on Bob ross recently, you will see on the show that this has been acknowledged.

"Bob Ross, after he left Alexander, wouldn't even acknowledge Alexanders name. What a... thing to do to your mentor. Its unfortunate that he gets all the accolades from this technique especially when Alexanders painting are so much more real in both color and composition and not to even mention he was the sole inventor of it.

"Just wanted to expalin the reality of it. Have a nice day."