Robert “Bob” Norman Ross, through his television show The Joy of Painting on PBS, made art accessible to a generation of Americans and Canadians and taught them how to paint. The show ran for 31 seasons, a total of 403 episodes, from 1983 until 1994. Today (October 29, 2012) would have been Mr. Ross’ 70th birthday and Google produced a special doodle in his honor. He passed away at the age of 52 after suffering from lymphoma for several years.
Mr. Ross joined the US Air Force after high school and began his painting career while still in the military. He began developing his quick painting techniques in order to produce more canvases during his short work breaks. Once he progressed to the point where he made more money selling his artwork than working in the military, he left the Air Force to become a full time artist. He studied with German artist and television host Bill Alexander (who hosted The Magic World of Oil Painting for PBS) and fully developed the wet-on-wet painting technique with his mentor.
While serving in the Air Force, Mr. Ross had to take on positions where he shouted at lower ranking individuals and forced them to complete chores, scrub latrines, and screamed if they were late to work. He reported that, once he left the military, he would never scream again. Indeed, Mr. Ross became iconic in American culture for his soft voice and gentle words on The Joy of Painting. The show still has a large internet presence on YouTube. He is still teaching people to embrace art and paint “happy little clouds.”
To read more about Bob Ross: click here & here.
Forsyth Galleries Blog 
Who hasn’t watched Bob Ross !! Classic!!!
Isn’t he great? He makes me smile every time I see him. 🙂
He’s on the Google Doodle today. Happy Birthday, Mr. Ross!
I love that they featured him!
Oh Rachael, I love it that you have such variety in these posts. When they were little, a painter friend’s children used to love that show – and always wanted her to use a “fan brush.” We thought Bob Ross was soothing – much like Mr. Rogers for one’s art neighborhood – maybe it was his no yelling philosophy. Thank you, Katy
Thank you so much! I also found him soothing when we watched his show in art class. ~Rachael
His show was always a nice quiet moment for my kids as well – they were always fascinated by the fact that he would use a house painting brush and could complete an entire painting in such a short time!
Thanks for sharing the information with us, I will return every week to read more.