Mesmerized gazes behind the television were enthusiastically watching Bob Ross’ entertaining painting classes. For many he was the first and only art teacher who easily and with sweet verbal poetry created the most beautiful natural landscapes.
The Joy of Painting was the program in which the painter Bob Ross taught simple painting techniques with a subtle narration of each element that he incorporated into the landscape, as well as accompanying it with a very peculiar phrase that added a humorous and sarcastic touch.
During the show, Bob would make three versions of each painting; the first served as a reference, the second was the one he painted during the episode, and the third he painted shortly after to include it in the educational books he promoted.
Today, according to the NY Times, some of the paintings are stored at the Smithsonian Museum, which says it has no plans to exhibit them, and 1,165 are stored at Bob Ross Inc.
The art of painting was as creative and free as his cheerful personality and extraordinary afro. All this accompanied by a casual conversation with the unknown apprentices who were looking at him from the other side of the screen.
- It is a crooked tree. We’ll send it to Washington.
- The only thing worse than yellow snow is green snow.
- I like to hit the brush.
- In painting you have unlimited power. You have the ability to move mountains. You can bend rivers. But when I get home, the only thing I have power over is the trash.
- It takes darkness to show the light.
- Look around. Look what we have. Beauty is everywhere, you just have to look to see it.
- Just go outside and talk to a tree. Make friends with it.
- There is nothing wrong with having a tree as a friend.
- The trees cover a multitude of sins.
- They say that everything looks better with an odd number of things. But sometimes I put even numbers, just to annoy the critics.
- How do you make a round circle with a square knife? That’s your challenge for the day.
- I remember when my dad told me when I was a kid: if you want to catch a rabbit, stand behind a tree and make a noise like a carrot. Then when the rabbit comes, grab it. It works pretty well until you try to figure out what kind of noise a carrot makes…
- Sometimes we tell people: we’re like drug dealers, we come to town and make everyone absolutely addicted to paint. It doesn’t take much to get addicted.
- The secret to doing anything is to believe that you can do it. Anything you think you can do strong enough, you can do. Anything. As long as you believe
- The water is like me. She’s lazy… Boy, she’s always looking for the easiest way to do things.
- Oh, if you’ve never been to Alaska, go there while it’s still wild. My favorite uncle, Uncle Sam, asked me if he wanted to go there. He said if you don’t go, you’ll go to jail. That’s how Uncle Sam asks you.
- I really think if you practice enough you could paint the Mona Lisa with a 2 inch brush.
- If I paint something, I don’t want to have to explain what it is.
- Artists are a different breed of people. We are a happy group.
- We don’t make mistakes. We just have happy accidents.
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