Bob Ross.
Just his name brings a calm.
The soft-spoken painter who didn't make mistakes, only "happy accidents," painted on PBS stations
in the 1980s and 1990s.
His untimely death in 1995 at the age of 52 occurred just when he was exploding on the
pop culture scene.
He even appeared in a hip MTV spot back when MTV was hip.
"MTV, the land of happy little trees."
There's a lot people don't know about Bob Ross, so get ready for some surprises about
the guy with the sweet pipes and sweeter 'fro.
"If this is your first time with us, let me extend a personal invitation for you to drag
out your brushes and paints, and paint along with us.
I think you'll enjoy it."
Wet rivals
To the viewer, Bob Ross is that happy guy who paints happier trees and clouds and rivers.
To the artist, Bob Ross is a guy who paints in a very specific and unique way: wet on
wet, where paint is applied on a still-wet coat to create the finished piece.
Ross himself began painting in Alaska and learned his technique from a famed wet on
wet painter, Bill Alexander.
The German-born Alexander appeared on public television before Ross ever did, in the 1970s.
Ross dedicated an episode of his Joy of Painting program in Season 2 to his teacher and mentor.
"I would like to dedicate this show, to my beloved friend, and teacher, whom we've all
watched and loved for many years on public television, Bill Alexander."
But things soured from there.
By 1991, Ross wouldn't even mention Alexander by name.
As for Alexander, he said: "I invented 'wet on wet.'
I trained him, and he is copying me what bothers me is not just that he betrayed me, but that
he thinks he can do it better."
Hard to imagine anyone being mad at Bob Chillpants Ross, but it goes to show you: everyone has
a rival.
Someone out there probably hated Mister Rogers, too.
"hahaha."
Master Sergeant
Bob Ross is the last guy you'd expect to be angry with anyone, but he wasn't always a
soft-spoken painter.
Ross was born in Daytona Beach, Florida, and made his home in Orlando.
If you're wondering how a Florida man made it up to freezing Alaska, he did it the honest
way: by joining the military.
"I spent half my life in the military.
And I used to come home, take off my little soldier hat, put on my painters hat."
Bob Ross enlisted in the Air Force at age 18 and was stationed in Alaska.
Ross served 20 years, achieving the rank of master sergeant, before retiring.
Ross wasn't the softy we know and love during his time in the military.
He explained:
"I was the guy who makes you scrub the latrine, the guy who makes you make your bed, the guy
who screams at you for being late to work."
After Ross left the Air Force, he vowed never to yell and scream again.
"Shoot, that's the joy of painting.
That truly is the joy of painting."
Unnatural fro
As recognizable as his sweet voice, the afro Bob Ross sports is the stuff of legend.
It's a meme in itself.
But Bob's fro is as real as his rivalry with Picasso.
The trademark hair is just a perm.
He initially got a perm to save money no need to waste precious cash on a haircut when it
will all just grow into a big ball of awesomeness.
And he hated it, but he couldn't undo his money-saving strategy.
The afro became the logo for his company.
His business partner Annette Kowalski said:
"He could never, ever, ever change his hair, and he was so mad about that.
He got tired of that curly hair."
Still, you can't call it a mistake.
"We don't make mistakes, we just have happy accidents.
So that anything that happens here you can work with it."
Going for broke
Bob Ross achieved fame for his PBS show, but it didn't pay the bills.
In case you forgot, PBS stands for Public Broadcasting Service as in a nonprofit station
that gets 15 percent of its funding from the government.
So obviously Ross wasn't swimming in it as a PBS star, but he had to make something,
right?
Well, not really.
Ross said that he never got paid for his Joy of Painting program.
As in nothing.
He said:
"People see you on television and they think you make the same amount of money that Clint
Eastwood does.
But this is PBS.
All these shows are done for free."
Ross made his money teaching, and selling books, and of course selling some of his paintings.
Ross also sold videos of his painting system which were really three-hour workshops that
went into more detail on his style.
"Shake it off, hehe, and just beat the devil out of it."
Happy little statistics
In 2014, the statistical website FiveThirtyEight finally answered the paradox that has kept
mortal man up all night: What exactly did Bob Ross paint?
Joy of Painting aired 403 times Ross only painted 381 times, since the other episodes
featured guests.
You know what Bob liked?
Trees.
A whopping 91 percent of his paintings contained at least one tree.
And if Ross painted a tree, there's a 93 percent chance he'd paint a second tree.
Because trees shouldn't be alone, obviously.
"A nice way to make a happy evergreen… let's give him a friend."
He only painted palm trees 2 percent of the time, but what do you expect?
They're everywhere in Florida.
He was probably sick of 'em.
Surprisingly, for a guy known for his "happy little clouds," his paintings only featured
clouds 44 percent of the time.
"And we'll go right up in here, and maybe… and maybe there's a happy little cloud that
lives right there, all you do is just tap."
And the only thing he hated more than palm trees were people.
In his 381 paintings, only one featured a person.
It was a silhouette against a tree a lonely cowboy.
"In technical terms, that's known as laziness."
Cash on cash
Actually coming across an original Bob Ross isn't as easy as it seems.
In the 381 programs he recorded, he painted three per show one he painted on camera, one
beforehand that he used as a guide, and one for close-ups and photography later.
That means he produced 1,143 paintings during his show.
Where are they?
For starters, he donated most to PBS stations, who auctioned them off.
But if you have a lot of cash around, you can purchase an original Bob Ross and they
ain't cheap.
A Ross can run over $10,000.
That's a whole lot of happy trees.
"Maybe these sons of a gun… there they go!
Go right on off the top of the canvas here."
Medically mesmerizing
Let's be honest.
The reason Bob Ross became so popular wasn't a sudden interest in wet on wet painting.
He had a unique look, and his soothing voice just sent people to their happy place.
"The chickens grew up, and they became my friends."
There's something about watching a guy paint clouds and trees in a pacifying voice that
relaxes people.
Ross once said in an interview: "We've gotten letters from people who say they sleep better
when the show is on."
And that's the truth.
There's this thing called Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response, or ASMR.
What people with ASMR get when they hear Bob Ross is "the tingles" a calming, pleasing
feeling that is usually associated with intercourse.
"God was really having a good day when he made Alaska."
We'll let you decide if the phenomenon is real or not, preferably by listening to him
alone in a darkened room.
"Whoo!
See what happens?"
Overseas star
When you think of the fame of Ross, you don't consider it on a global scale.
Yet, somehow, Bob Ross has a following worldwide.
There are certified Bob Ross instructors around the world, but for some reason, Japan in particular
took to Bob Ross.
Japanese television station NHK aired The Joy of Painting twice a day for years, and
despite a Japanese voiceover translation something most foreign countries airing the show did
not use the smooth pipes and relaxing mannerisms carried over perfectly.
"(speaking Japanese)"
Family palette
Of all the Joy of Painting episodes, the most frequent guest was Bob's son Steven.
"Thanks dad.
Hi, glad you could join me."
With his hair-band looks, Steve certainly didn't look the part of painter, but his technique
without a doubt was on par with his dear old dad.
These days, Steve doesn't have a lot to do with the Bob Ross empire.
A falling out of sorts happened after his father's passing, and Steve left Bob Ross
Inc.
Steve Ross still paints, as does his half-brother Morgan Ross.
The two maintain a low profile online, but Steve is best known for making enough double
entendres in one of his Joy of Painting appearances to become a short-lived meme.
"Push nice and hard.
If your wrist is wore out by the time you're done doing this you know you did something
right."
No wonder he keeps a low profile!
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