Do you ever recall skimming through channels (probably good and well before
you had cable) and coming across a funny, fast talking man, with an brownish-orange
afro swiftly making beautiful strokes on a canvas? Yep, though he passed only two years after to my birth, I remember seeing his amazing work on PBS as a toddler.
His name is Bob Ross. He was both the creator and host of PBS’ show, The Joy of
Painting. Ross said that he had painted more than 30,000 paintings throughout
the course of his lifetime, but where did all the paintings go? He did not sell
them all, that’s for sure.
For every single episode of The Joy of Painting, Ross would
create three identical paintings. The first
copy always hid off screen, and Ross referred to it while the cameras rolled
(none of his on-air paintings were spontaneous). Ross painted a third copy when
filming finished. This time, an assistant would stand behind him and snap
photos of each brushstroke. These pictures went into Ross’ “How to” books.
In an
interview, Ross told viewers that many of the paintings he donated to PBS
stations and often times the stations would auction them off to make a pretty
penny! As Ross was also a painting instructor, he would give free paintings to
his students and of course he sold some for himself. Once a burglar stole 13
paintings from his van.
Ross died,
July 4, 1995, as a result of battling lymphoma with his last episode of The Joy
of Painting airing on May 17, 1994.
Do you
have an original Bob Ross painting? How’d you get your hands on it?
[Story inspired by Mental Floss]
[Story inspired by Mental Floss]
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