Bob Ross Is Dead, But He Still Paints Happy Little Clouds

The Wall Street Journal ^ | Friday, April 2, 2004 | CHRISTOPHER RHOADS

[presidio9]

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[martin_fierro]

Bob Ross is one of my guilty Saturday-morning TV-watching pleasures.

[martin_fierro]

William Alexander!

Now THAT guy was entertaining!

"Unt you haff here ze ALMIIIIIGHTY WHIIIIITE...."

<|:)~

[Mamzelle]

Me, too--there's a place for motel -room wall art in my heart. As therapy goes, this is cheaper than Prozac. I have a couple of nice brushes with his name on them.

[rageaholic]

Great thing about this country, you can wake up with an idea one morning, quit your job, reinvent yourself, and become a success.

[The G Man]

LOL!

I remember in college me and my roomates would drink beers on Friday afternoons watching him and just laugh our arses off. He and Bob Ross were something else.

[irish guard]

Awful to admit, I have some 4 inch brushes and putty knives at home, but can't even use them effectively for their intended use, much less that painting anything resembling scenery.

[Trust but Verify]

Und ze 'Van Dyke Brown'!

"Fire it in!"

[martin_fierro]

"Unt you are ze ALMIIIIIIGHTY CREAAAATORRRRR...."

Brilliant! <|:)~

[kenth]

You can't not watch him if you see him while flipping around - 'least I can't.

[martin_fierro]

www.alexanderart.com

[sharktrager]

Wasn't he the one who had accusations of having taken certain liberties with his male staff?

[martin_fierro]

Ditto that.

[Who dat?]

He developed his famous "wet-on-wet" painting technique under the tutelage of another TV painter, William Alexander.

There’s the name – William Alexander.

I wasn’t a big Bob Ross fan but I’ve seen him quite a few times. William Alexander always used “un mighty brush” and a palette knife. Bob Ross had a collection of every brush made, but old William used about a 4” flat brush and palette knife and that was pretty much it.

I’d heard that he (Alexander) was one of very few people that were actually successful artists in that he could sell enough paintings to live on. Though today he probably makes more from books/supplies/tapes or something – that assumes he’s still alive… he was getting up there the last time I saw him.

[BibChr]

He was really great. He'd paint something pretty... and then splat something on, and you'd swear he'd RUINED it! But then he'd piffle around with a brush, and slice here and there with a blade -- and it was more beautiful than before!

And if you didn't know he'd done the whole thing in like thirty minutes, you'd swear he'd taken DAYS individually dotting in all those trees, or flowers, or waves.... Very creative, talented.

Dan

[Richard Kimball]

European sales, which account for a third of the total, are expected to double this year.

Wow, and they accuse us of being adolescent? Actually, I always kind of liked old Bob. He did very good behind the sofa paintings, and it was always kind of fun to watch him just whip out a painting.

[presidio9]

Bob Ross had a collection of every brush made, but old William used about a 4” flat brush and palette knife and that was pretty much it.

Bob could have painted with just one brush and a knife, but he was a shrewd businessman.

[Tailback]

I have never been interested in painting and probably never will, but watching Bob Ross' show is great therapy. I had a dentist who had a voice just like Bobs, he'd talk to me while working on my teeth and I'd just melt into the chair.

[Teacher317]

LOVE his show... I don't paint, but every time I surf through and find it on, I lie back on the couch and have him talk me to sleep. VERY soothing, and far cheaper than therapy.