Where Are They Now? Bob Ross

This is something I will be doing from time to time. "Where are they Now?" will focus on celebrities that have been out of the spotlight for a while and find out what they are or have been up to. This edition features Bob Ross, the mellow, soft-spoken artist and host of The Joy of Painting, with an afro so huge, Big Bird would be happy to nest in it.

The Joy of Painting was a public TV show that had Ross crank out a finished landscape in a half hour, all the while explaining in his soothing, almost hypnotic voice, that you too could experience this same joy and achieve the same kind of results as him by following his simple instructions.

Many times I would be flipping through the channels and happen to catch Bob working on yet another "assembly line" painting. I couldn't help but watch. I had to see how it looked when he finished. Plus his voice would put me in a trance and relax me after a hard day's work. Sometimes I thought he was doing a nice job, then he would say, "I think I'll put another happy little tree right next to these other happy little trees" and I would yell at the TV, "no Bob! That's too many happy trees!!!"But in the end Bob always knew what he was doing and the paintings always turned out surprisingly well. One of Bob's favourite things to do was to "beat his brush". No, that is not a euphemism you sicko! That is how he cleaned his brushes. One of his favourite brushes was the fan brush.

Sadly, Bob died July 4th, 1995 of lymphoma and has gone to that big, "happy little cloud" in the sky. May his halo be as big as his afro.



Believe it or not, a Bob Ross video game is being released soon.

Bob Ross Links

1. More of Bob here.
2. Some joker has a little bit of fun at Bob's expense here.
   Note: Bob beats his brush at the very start.
3. Bob Ross parody song and video. Very catchy!
4. Bob Ross on Family Guy