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

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

[hellinahandcart]

I went to art school. You had to watch "The Joy of Painting" stoned.

[Guvmint_Cheese]

My wife paints, and she'd always talk about the "Happy Trees" guy. I had no clue who she was talking about.

I had hair like that in the 70s...

[waverna]

No, that was The Frugal Gourmet. A shame too, he taught me to cook.

[joan]

I believe you're mistaking him for the "Frugal Gourmet" guy who had a show on PBS as well.

[martin_fierro]

Getten sie über hier!

[shezza]

tap-tap-tap-tap...happy little clouds bump

(My husband used to have me tape Bob Ross for him as "relaxation therapy" to help him unwind after a hard day at the office. Does wonders for the blood pressure.)

[HairOfTheDog]

He inspired me to paint! I watched him every day and painted mountains and happy clouds and happy trees!

I hated my final product, never did paint a landscape I wanted to keep, but it was a lot of fun.... and the joy of oils is when I was done, the paint was still wet and I could scrape it off and try again tomorrow on the same canvas...

Here is my only painting that survived..... Not a very happy sky, but trees in the background very much inspired by Mr. Ross...

[martin_fierro]

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

As Bob himself says:

"There are no mistakes -- only Happy Accidents."

<|:)~

[babaloo]

And I thought I was the only one that did that! When his show was on here on Saturday afternoon it was naptime for me. What a soothing voice.

[presidio9]

New Tagline!

[skeeter]

Bob Ross helped me through many a Saturday babysitting my infant son - he came on right about at the kid's naptime & the effect of all the 'happy trees' & 'indications of sticks & twigs' was narcotic.

[vikk]

I've been wondering what a Bob Ross original goes for these days. Prices always go up when the artist dies, and that's a pretty nice conversation piece to have in the hallway.

[Labyrinthos]

The series, called "The Joy of Painting," was taped for 11 years, until 1993. It continues to run on more than 200 PBS stations in the U.S.

Sounds like a free infomercial -- thanks to the US Taxpayer -- for a multimillion dollar corporation. Only in America.

[VadeRetro]

"You take ze MIGHTy brosh... Some OCHer ... Leetle PROSSian blue..."

I used to watch Bill Alexander just to listen to him talk, never mind how he painted.

[Old Professer]

I like it.

[Constitution Day]

Ah, Bob Ross.
I have fond memories of watching him with my college roommate while partaking of certain proscribed substances.

Now his voice is still just as relaxing.
Whenever I see him on, I simply must stop and watch.

BTW, my daughter thinks his hair is a riot.

[Sloth]

http://www.greenspun.com/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg.tcl?msg_id=007Je7

[martin_fierro]

You always know when Bob is (was) vamping to fill time on his show when:

• He'd bring on the latest baby squirrel that he'd saved from starvation; or
• He'd throw in one of those God-awful cabin/outhouse things.

<|:)~

[grannie9]

I started out with Bob. I loved that man. I never see his show anymore, but have taped most of his shows and still love his fun style.

[Graymatter]

There are Bob Ross videos on ebay.