Bob Ross Painting Experience

I have long been an admirer of the Artist Bob Ross. During lockdown the BBC have been repeating his many series of shows ' The Joy Of Painting'.
There is something very special about his landscapes,  the use of colour and the ease in which he paints.
Add to that the most friendly , kindly and calming demeanor you could ever wish to come across.

Bob used the 'Wet on Wet' technique in which the painter continues adding paint on top of still-wet paint rather than waiting a lengthy amount of time to allow each layer of paint to dry.

A typical 'Bob' painting

The show ran from January 11, 1983 to May 17, 1994. Bob was famous for his catchphrases ,, such as 'Happy little trees or clouds'. 'This is your world and it can be however you want it to be'. Perhaps most famously of all 'we don't make mistakes only happy little accidents'. Among many more. Very sadly Bob died at the age of 52 on July 4, 1995 due to complications from Lymphoma.

I have only ever dabbled in ' watercolour ' painting but really wanted to try the 'wet on wet' technique. There are various ''Bob Ross' painting workshops taking place throughout the country. So my wife very kindly booked us both in for one just over the county border in Leicestershire.

I will admit to some nerves beforehand. Although 'Bob' makes the style seem very achievable I knew it wasn't going to be easy.

Our tutor lady showed us many different completed paintings and asked us to select one that would act as our template. After a bit of deliberation we settled on the one on the left.
I really wanted to include a mountain , some water and trees.

We settled ourselves outside in the garden, under a gazebo on what was a scorching hot sunny day. All paints and equipment provided  and the canvas set on the easel.

 First up was to coat the canvas in quite a thick layer of 'Liquid White' to form a base covering. Then it was a case of filling in the sky colour. I had opted to go with the northern lights type of sky blending into the blue. Marina was going for a more Summer approach with wispy clouds.

Next step was to use the palette knife and very roughly edge out some mountain shapes. Just simple triangles initially that could be worked on and fine tuned. It was tricky having never used the palette knife before but some basic mountain shapes gradually emerged. Adding shadow then provides further definition. Distant tree shapes were added using the dark blue on a 1" brush and then blurred to give the illusion of distance. A further row of nearer bushes were then added . Again at this stage just basic dark shapes. Blue is added quite broadly for the water using the 2" brush , leaving a gap for the light reflection.It is then just a case of building up the picture adding in layers to create perspective.

Almost finished

With the man himself

I enjoyed adding in the little island jutting out with the pine tree. Again building up from a dark basic shape and adding in the colour. The foreground added even more perspective and allowed me to put in some bushes and vegetation. The hardest part and the bit I was dreading was adding in a big silver Birch tree. This was mostly done with the palette knife and was a real leap of faith...
I'm not totally happy with it but it's ok for a first attempt.
It was a really enjoyable experience and think the 'Old Master' himself would have approved.
Hopefully the first of many as I hope to continue going forward. 

Peter's finished work

Marina's finished work