Bob Ross
Bob Ross | |
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 Bob Ross at his easel |
Bob Ross (October 29, 1942 – July 4, 1995) was an American painter and television presenter. He was born in Daytona Beach, Florida, and spent a 20-year career with the U.S. Air Force in medical records, stationed mostly in Alaska, before his painting career and television program made him famous worldwide.
Television show
He was the host of The Joy of Painting, which captured higher ratings than any other art program in history, year after year during its run.[1]
With a bushy afro hairstyle and calm, soothing voice, Bob Ross taught viewers to paint "happy little trees," "happy little clouds," and "pretty little mountains." On occasion, after cleaning his two-inch brush in paint thinner, he would "beat the devil out of it" and laughingly remark on his enjoyment of that process (i.e., knocking the paint thinner off the brush by rapping it against the easel). He believed that everyone has inherent artistic talent and, given half an hour, anyone could paint a landscape by following his instructions and words of encouragement, including his popular phrase "we don't make mistakes, we just have happy accidents." To account for his attitude toward painting, Ross explained, "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." The TV series also provided Bob Ross a platform to introduce his own and other people's "little rescued rascals" including squirrels, owls, and robins.
He utilized the wet-on-wet oil painting technique, which is the application of wet paint on top of wet paint, as opposed to the more traditional waiting period for each layer to dry. Combining this method with the use of large one-inch and two-inch brushes allowed Ross to paint trees, water, clouds and mountains in a matter of seconds. On the show he often credits Bill Alexander for teaching him this method.
Ross took up painting while stationed in Alaska in the Air Force. The geography of Alaska is visible in much of his later work on The Joy of Painting: mountains, lakes, snow scenes and log cabins were favorite subjects. Although it is commonly believed that Ross had no formal artistic training, he said during one episode that, "as a pup," he attended art school.
He later expanded his show into a multi-million dollar business that included "how-to" books, a line of brushes and paints, and classes in which instructors were trained in the Bob Ross method.
The series was taped for twelve years, up until 1995, and is broadcast in many countries worldwide.
Video game
In March 2006, Bob Ross Inc. announced plans to license rights to develop a Bob Ross video game. At the time, it was reported that AGFRAG Entertainment Group would receive the license and planned on developing the game for PC, the Nintendo DS, and Nintendo's next-generation video game console, the Wii. The Wii was chosen because its Wii Remote is unique in its ability to sense 3D control, allowing the player to use the remote like a paintbrush, aptly suited to The Joy of Painting.
At first, the announcement was believed to be an early April Fool's Day joke. However, it was confirmed by several websites including IGN.com, the official Bob Ross website and the AGFRAG homepage.
On December 5, 2006, it was reported that the game had been cancelled. A short while later, however, the company announced that those reports were inaccurate, and that they were looking for another development company, as AGFRAG had left the project. [2]
Trivia
- Ross stated that his favorite part of painting is cleaning the brush.
- Ross appeared in a couple promos for MTV in which he worked on a painting that turned out to be the MTV logo. One declared, "MTV. It's all fluffy white clouds." The other called MTV, "The land of happy little trees."
- Ross grew up in Florida and stated he did not wear shoes to school until the sixth grade (Series 15, Episode 10).
- Most of his mountain scenes are based on actual mountain ranges in Alaska, where he was stationed during his years in the U.S. Air Force.
- Ross was a devout vegetarian.
Spoofs and parodies
Television
- Ross was spoofed on the Fox television show Family Guy. In the opening of the second season episode "Fifteen Minutes of Shame," he paints a bush and tells the viewer, "We're just gonna put a happy little bush down in this corner, and that'll just be our little secret. But if you tell anybody that bush is there, I will come to your house and I will cut you!"
- On the cult series Mission Hill, Andy French tried to guess what Bob Ross was going to paint next. When Bob hesitated, Andy yells "A happy little tree!" at the screen, gets it right and kisses the screen, proclaiming "I love you man!"
- On the Dana Carvey Show, Ross is portrayed by cast member Robert Smigel painting a double portrait of the Menendez brothers embedded into a frosty mountain typical of Ross's style while saying, "They're going away for a long time; give 'em a tree."
- The Seattle Television show Almost Live spoofed Ross in a holiday skit. Comparing the shades of colors he is using, he remarked that they reminded him of "big, fat Uncle Ed" choking on a turkey.
- In the "Riley Wuz Here" episode of The Boondocks (originally "Joy of Graffiti" after Ross's show), a parody of Ross appears as a deranged art teacher from which Riley is forced to take lessons after he is caught vandalizing a neighbor's house.
- On the UK Channel 4 series "Peep Show" Ross was referred to as "God" as Jeremy watched his show and asked "Blimey, what's God up to now?"
- The comedy program Hard Core TV (which aired in the United States on HBO in the early 1990s) included a spoof called The Joy of Tattooing. It featured a Ross-like character tattooing people with colors like Suffocation Blue and Gang Green.
- The May 22, 2006 episode of Attack of the Show included a trailer for a nonexistent movie called The Bob Ross Code (a spoof of The DaVinci Code). It discusses how Bob Ross left clues in his painting concerning "Happy Little Twees."
- Nickelodeon's Doug once fantasized about being a painter resembling Bob Ross.
- Mexican comedian Eugenio Derbez has a character called Bob Atroz (atroz meaning "atrocious"). His sketches consist of Bob teaching how to paint and saying things about the "happy trees" and "happy clouds" while cursing, all in a soothing voice. In these sketches, Derbez speaks English and viewers hear a "translation" in Spanish that isn't totally accurate and tones down some of the things Bob said.
- In Road Trip, a motel clerk (Andy Dick) watches The Joy of Painting behind the reception desk, and attempts to imitate Ross using a ballpoint pen and a pad of paper.
- An episode of MADtv in which Michael McDonald, acting as Ross, tells the story of being arrested for setting his house on fire during a nervous breakdown through a series of drawings.
- In an episode of Dilbert the characters watch the show and try to paint along.
Songs
- Gym Class Heroes have a song titled "To Bob Ross With Love" on The Papercut Chronicles, in which they thank Ross for "all the happy little trees."
- Folk singer Ben Wilson wrote and recorded a song entitled "Bob Ross Indefinitely " for his 2005 album "Songs for Naked People."
- The German band Blumfeld mentions Ross in their song "Strobohobo." The lyrics say "Oblomov is painting with Bob Ross."
- The Brooklyn, New York band Sacred Monkeys of Bali had a song titled "Bob Ross." It can still be heard on the Internet.
- The Barba brothers of New York, New York created a music video tribute entitled "Why I Don't Paint People," in which Bob Ross inspires others through dance and song. This musical parody is currently available online.
- Avante garde hip hop group cLOUDDEAD mention Bob Ross in the lyrics of their self-titled album in the song 'And All You Can Do Is Laugh (Part 1)'.
- UTB, a Michigan hardcore music band, have a song titled "Bob Ross".
- Andrew Morency of the Sheckies recorded a song titled "Bob Ross" in his first band Abnormal Adolecents
- The Dutch band Cafebar401 recorded a song titled "Bob Ross on Drugs" on their self-titled album, in which the singer claims "You know how I feel like I’m Bob Ross. On drugs...".
Other
- Dana Carvey spoofed Ross in a deleted scene of his movie The Master of Disguise, appearing briefly painting the evil henchmen chasing him while murmuring, "Oooo... Isn't that refreshing?"
- The Brothers Chaps pay homage to Ross on their popular Homestar Runner website. On the "toons" page, passing the mouse cursor over a video tape on the shelf shows the character Marzipan in full Ross gear. This is documented in the Homestar Runner Wiki.
- One of Gary Larson's "Far Side" cartoons depicts a tree that has fallen through a house onto a woman who was obviously painting a landscape while watching Ross's show. Ross is saying: "And always make your trees look like happy trees."
- In the DVD horror/comedy Andre The Butcher aka Dead Meat, Sheriff Cooper Terry Mross enters a hunting lodge searching for escaped convicts. He spots a landscape painting on the wall and mutters to the attractive homeowner, "...reminds me of that painter guy on TV, Bob Ross. The white guy with an afro..."
- Comedian Patton Oswalt joked about Bob Ross (and his mentor, Bill Alexander) on his album Feelin Kinda Patton, calling Ross a "Human Qualude".
References and notes
External links
