The Joy of Painting



The Joy of Painting was a half-hour art instruction show that ran from 1983 to 1995. Hosted by Bob Ross, noted for his legendarily cheery manner and soft, friendly voice, the show aimed to teach people painting techniques in the amount of time given. Ross worked in oil paints and taught a method called "wet-on-wet painting", where the canvas would be coated with wet white paint and other colors would be laid over it, allowing for a variety of blending techniques. The show was very minimalist, using only a black background and two camera positions. Due to his time spent being stationed in Alaska in the Air Force, all of Ross' paintings were of nature, mostly forests or mountain valleys.


 * And Now for Something Completely Different: Sometimes Bob Ross allowed other artists onto the show. Including Audrey Goldwin, Joyce Hortner,and once his own son. Even more irregular was one guest artist drew a person rather than a landscape.
 * Author Existence Failure: The show stopped when Ross was diagnosed with lymphoma. He passed away from the disease a year later.
 * Catch Phrase: "From all of us here, I want to wish you happy painting and God bless, my friends."
 * He's also known for his "Happy little trees", while only said on the occasion stuck with viewers.
 * The official Bob Ross website even sells a shirt that says "happy trees".
 * Creator Thumbprint:
 * Ross' favorite part of painting was washing the brush, which involved knocking it against various things.
 * Ross also admitted that most of his landscapes were influence by his time spent in Alaska.
 * Drawing trees together since "everybody needs a friend".
 * Drill Sergeant Nasty: According to his own description of his Air Force service, he was one. His actual rank, in case you were wondering, was Master Sergeant.
 * Doing It for the Art: Aside from being a really Nice Guy this was also part of his shtick. Bob Ross just really liked painting, and a lot of the money he made went to various charities. When he died almost every single one of his currently unsold paintings were donated to various non-profit organizations or auctioned off with the proceeds going (again) to charity.
 * Friend to All Living Things: Ross was a really nice guy. This can't be stressed enough. He left his position in the Air Force because he didn't want to become "mean". He sometimes brought small animals on the show, as he usually took in injured ones he found.
 * Funny Afro: Ross had quite the hairstyle.
 * The Joy of X
 * Keep Circulating the Tapes: Averted. You can get every single episode on DVD... for over $1,000 (for 30 3-disc sets, which is 90 DVDs in 30 cases, which goes a long way towards explaining the price tag).
 * Money, Dear Boy: Apart from not wanting to become a mean person, Ross left the Air Force because his paintings soon earned him more money.
 * Mr. Imagination: Subverted. Ross' loosely-controlled imagination spawned such lovely paintings
 * Nice Guy: Ross' whole shtick. More than one person has drawn a comparison between him and fellow PBS star Mister Rogers.
 * Perfectly Cromulent Word: A "cabinectomy" is a word meaning to use a paint knife to cut off the bottom of a painted cabin, giving the image of the cabin having a foundation in the ground.
 * Perpetual Smiler: Both on and off camera, Bob was always said to be a very amiable person.
 * The Treachery of Images: Subverted. Ross was well aware about how his paintings were of his own creation, but reveled in the creative freedom this allowed both him and and the people who watched his show.
 * Throw It In: "There's no 'mistakes' in painting, just happy accidents."
 * Trademark Favorite Food: Iced tea, which he regularly encouraged viewers to have prepared alongside their art supplies. He attributed his love of iced tea to his upbringing in the South.