God, we really need Bob Ross

fuzzybuddy

fuzzybuddy

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Location
The Sticks, Northeast PA.
My local PBS channel is showing reruns of Bob Ross, The "Joy Of Painting" guy. The "happy little tree" guy. Watching one episode with him is better than any massage or therapy session. He takes a blank canvass and in a half hour, he paints a beautiful picture. You watch him do it, he says you can do it, too. He does add a happy little tree. And not only that, he says there's a big ol' rock lives right there, and damn, it DOES. He is just so soothing, and you are so awed how he takes paint and transforms it into a real thing of beauty. You know you just might be able to paint. Just.

I had forgotten how much I miss Bob. God, we really could use a Bob Ross, now.bob-ross3.jpg
 

I've watched Bob Ross before and admired his talent and humor. Does he have any reruns that you know of?

There was another man who did the same thing. An older man who made good use of his palette knife.

Can't think of his name. He liked doing mountains and trees. Made it look so easy.
 
Years ago I was sick for quite sometime because of a gluten intolerance. I still worked part time and when I came home the kids were still in school. I would get my lunch together,curl up in my recliner and watch Bob Ross. Even his voice was soothing and I would drift off to sleep for awhile listening to him. I do wonder how many folks took up painting as a hobby because of him. I remember Bob Ross painting kits being available also. Remember the magic white you prepared the canvas with before painting? I admired him a lot.
 

Yeah. Ross liked the technique of painting by William Alexander. He was on PBS before Ross was. He had a really thick German accent, which made it hard to understand him. For me anyway, Ross made it sound as though I really could paint a good looking picture.
A lot of PBS stations are putting him those secondary PBS channels.
 
Do you or have you ever tried painting? If you enjoy watching, maybe you should give it a try. Sometimes we have talent we aren't even aware of! My grandson took an art class in college this past summer, all they did was charcoal sketches but he surprised himself and the rest of us. Anyway, it could be a fun hobby if you have the interest.

I remember watching one of those guys on a Saturday. The cute little bush thing. They actually did a spoof of that on Family Guy.
 
What amazed me was he started with a blank canvas. And 27 minutes later, he had a really cool painting. While I never did paint a pic, he made it seem that I could. Step by step, he guided you. He didn't use fancy French names for the artistic concepts he was using; but he did use them. I always felt relaxed and happy after watching him.
 
I do love Bob Ross. What a wonderful and decent human being he seemed to be. Watching his show can just bring a feeling of warmth and serenity to and brighten up an otherwise lousy day. And he was from right near where I live now. He has said on his show many times that his father was a home builder and that he worked with his dad building houses all over central Florida. My house, having been built in the mid 1950's around the time he was doing that, I often wonder if it may very well have been partially built by Bob and his dad. I so wish that he hadn't died so young. Seems like the best amongst us always do while the rotten ones just seem to fester on and on and on. BTW, he died on the Fourth of July, 1995. How fitting that such a great American who served his country in the USAF would leave this life on the day we celebrate the founding of it. Not a big fan of his son, Steve though. He obviously learned his craft well from his dad, but he didn't absorb any of his dad's warmth and personality. Maybe someday after he gets about his dad's age, some of it will have taken root.
 
RadishRose said:
There was a TV artist named John Gnagy that I vaguely remember.
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Yes,RadishRose, I had a drawing kit of his when I was a kid. He did mostly charcoal. The kit had step by step instructions in a booklet as to how to draw pictures. There were pieces of charcoal,some type of wadded felt like paper shaped like a crayon. You used that to smudge the charcoal for shading. An eraser also. After reading this post I remembered my Mom had saved a scrape book of my drawings and I found them. I remember she hated when I used the kit because it was so messy. These I drew when I was maybe between the ages of 7 and 10. Not very good but gives you an idea of the pictures you were supposedrawings (800x600).jpg to learn to draw from his booklet.
 
I sadly finally threw out my gray Bob Ross t-shirt, it must have been 15 years old. Loved that shirt! He was such a cool guy. I didn't know he had a son so I'll watch his video and see what I think.

Radish Rose and Ruth n Jersey, I have 2 of John Gnagy's art instruction booklets. They are new and I can't recall where I got them. They are in a plastic container in my storage shed behind my house. I tried to sell them on eBay but didn't get any bites. They are out there with all the stuff my kids told me they don't want to inherit.

Ruth n Jersey, your drawings are really good. I hope you are still doing art work. I paint but haven't drawn in years.
 
I got a "Jon Gnagy Learn to Draw" set for Christmas one year and faithfully watched his show on TV. Unfortunately, I've never shown any talent for drawing but it sure was fun to do the step-by-step drawings. I met his daughter Polly Seymour once here in Orlando (her husband was the President of Rollins College in Winter Park for many years).
 
Ruth n Jersey said:
Yes,RadishRose, I had a drawing kit of his when I was a kid. He did mostly charcoal. The kit had step by step instructions in a booklet as to how to draw pictures. There were pieces of charcoal,some type of wadded felt like paper shaped like a crayon. You used that to smudge the charcoal for shading. An eraser also. After reading this post I remembered my Mom had saved a scrape book of my drawings and I found them. I remember she hated when I used the kit because it was so messy. These I drew when I was maybe between the ages of 7 and 10. Not very good but gives you an idea of the pictures you were supposeView attachment 37222 to learn to draw from his booklet.
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Ruth, I failed to see this before. These are incredible by one so young! Good for you.
 
With great affection, my 30-something yr. old niece does a perfect imitation of Bob Ross.

Ruth, you are very artistic, as your drawings show from when you were a child. Did you pursue a profession where
you used that talent?
 
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