[presidio9]

[Support Free Republic]

Donate Here By Secure Server

[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...."

<|:)~

[rageaholic]

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

[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.

[sharktrager]

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

[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.

[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.

[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.

[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...

[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...

[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.

[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.

[Graymatter]

There are Bob Ross videos on ebay.

[martin_fierro]

OTOH, I personally cannot STAND Donna Dewberry.

The woman has ONE STROKE that she flays over and Over and OVER.

Her voice is like nails on a chalkboard ("Ehhh? Ehhh?") and she acts like she's God's Gift to the art world.

IMHO, she's the anti-Bob.

[Saturnalia]

I think the "Bob Ross coma state" is a transition from beta
to alpha brainwaves, as in the feeling you have after a
good bit of excercise, light-headedness, etc. It is strangely relaxing...

[MEGoody]

Bob Ross was terrific. I still watch him from time to time.