Bob Ross
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| Bob Ross | |
 Bob Ross at his easel |
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| Born | October 29, 1942 Daytona Beach, Florida |
| Died | July 4, 1995 (aged 52) New Smyrna Beach, Florida |
| Nationality | American |
| Field | painter |
Bob Norman Ross (October 29, 1942 – July 4, 1995) was an American painter and television host.[1]
With his calm, patient nature, Ross came to prominence as the creator and host of The Joy of Painting, a long-running television program on public broadcast stations in the United States. Ross died of lymphoma at the age of 52.[1]
Contents |
[edit] Biography
[edit] Personal life
After graduating high school Ross spent 10 years keeping medical records[citation needed] for the U.S. Air Force, which is where he first started painting.[2] Ross was living in Florida early in his military career when the Air Force transferred him to Alaska, where he first saw the snow and mountains that later became recurring themes in his artwork; he developed his quick-painting technique in order to be able to create art for sale in brief daily work breaks.[3] Having held military positions that required him to be, in his own words, "mean" and "tough," "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," Ross decided that if he ever moved on from the military, "it wasn't going to be that way any more," and "vowing never to scream again."[3] Ross discovered after beginning his sideline in painting that he was soon able to earn more from selling his work than from his Air Force position. After leaving the Air Force, he studied with William Alexander before becoming famous worldwide with his own television program.[1]
Ross had a son, Steven, from his first marriage to Lydia. Steven occasionally appeared on The Joy of Painting and is a Bob Ross-certified instructor.[1] Ross and Lydia's marriage ended in divorce in 1981. Ross married again, this time to Jane. Jane died of cancer in 1993.[1]
[edit] Television show
Ross was the host of the public television series The Joy of Painting, which ran from 1983 to 1995 and still[update] appears in reruns in many broadcast areas. During each half-hour segment, Ross would instruct viewers in the art of oil painting using a quick-study technique that kept colors to a minimum and broke paintings down into simple steps that anyone could follow.[2]
Ross later founded his own successful line of art supplies and how-to books, and also offered painting classes taught by instructors trained in the "Bob Ross method." In a 1990 interview, Ross mentioned that all his programs were donated free of charge to PBS stations and that his earnings came instead from sales of his 20 books and 100 videotapes (the total to that date), as well as profits from some 150 Bob Ross-trained teachers and a line of art materials sold through a national supplier.[3] Ross also mentioned on the show "Towering Glacier" (#2341) that he donated all the paintings made on the show to PBS stations around the country to "help them out".[4]
Ross also filmed wildlife footage, squirrels in particular, usually from his own garden. Small animals often appeared on his show, even during some of his trickier works, as he would often take in injured or abandoned squirrels and other assorted wildlife and look after them.[3]
[edit] Painting
Ross utilized the wet-on-wet oil painting technique, in which the painter continues adding paint on top of still wet paint rather than waiting a lengthy amount of time to allow each layer of paint to dry.[2] Combining this method with the use of large painting knives and fan brushes allowed Ross to paint trees, water, clouds and mountains in a matter of seconds. Each painting would start with simple strokes that appeared to be nothing more than colored smudges. As he added more and more strokes, the blotches transformed into intricate landscapes.[5]
Ross noted that the landscapes he painted - typically mountains, lakes, snow, and log cabin scenes - were strongly influenced by his years living in Alaska, where he was stationed for the majority of his Air Force career. He repeatedly stated on the show his belief that everyone had inherent artistic talent and could become an accomplished artist given time, practice, and encouragement, and to this end was often fond of saying, "We don't make mistakes, we just have happy little accidents." Ross was well known for other catchphrases he used while painting as he crafted "happy little trees". In many episodes of The Joy of Painting, he noted that one of his favorite parts of painting was cleaning the brush, specifically his method of drying off a brush, which he had dipped in odorless thinner, by striking it against the thinner can and easel. He would smile and often laugh aloud as he "Beat the devil out of it."
When asked about his laid-back approach to painting and eternally calm and contented demeanor, he once commented: "I got a letter from somebody here a while back, and they said, 'Bob, everything in your world seems to be happy.' That's for sure. That's why I paint. It's because I can create the kind of world that I want, and I can make this world as happy as I want it. Shoot, if you want bad stuff, watch the news." After his death, Bob Ross Incorporated donated most of his paintings to charities and public television stations.
[edit] References
- ^ a b c d e "Bob Ross, 52, Dies; Was Painter on TV". The New York Times. 1995-07-13. http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=990CEFD7143BF930A25754C0A963958260. Retrieved on 2008-01-31.
- ^ a b c Bob Ross Bio - Bob Ross Biography - Bob Ross Stories
- ^ a b c d Linda, Shrieves (July 7, 1990). "Bob Ross uses his brush to spread paint and joy". The Orlando Sentinel: pp. E1.
- ^ Series 11 Disk 2 (DVD) Episode "Towering Glacier" http://www.bobross.com/detail.cfm?prdID=524
- ^ Thill, Scott (2008-09-05). "Annuals + Bob Ross = Such Fun". Wired. http://blog.wired.com/music/2008/09/annuals-bob-ros.html. Retrieved on 2009-01-25.
[edit] External links
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Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Bob Ross |
| Persondata | |
|---|---|
| NAME | Ross, Bob |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | |
| SHORT DESCRIPTION | painter |
| DATE OF BIRTH | October 29, 1942 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Daytona Beach, Florida, United States |
| DATE OF DEATH | July 4, 1995 |
| PLACE OF DEATH | New Smyrna Beach, Florida |
