I sent a note to Frank Skinner at Absolute Radio, where he does his weekly radio show and podcast:
Hi Folks! Long-time listener, first time commenter...
I first learnt about Bob Ross on Frank’s podcast. I bought all the Bob Ross gear and am looking forward to deploying it. I agree with Frank that Bob paints the same painting 400 times.
But I don’t agree with Frank that Bob is some kind of charlatan for copying the technique from someone else. Yes he did, but the “wet-on-wet” technique goes back to the Italian Renaissance. Bob never hid or denied that he’d learned from Bill Alexander. There’s a great new article in The Atlantic on “Why is Bob Ross still so popular?” It’s a great read. /Snip:
Ross was a force of pure positivity in a world without a lot of it. Later in life, when writing magazine stories became my full-time job, I started watching old Joy of Painting episodes when I wanted some inspiration. Writing can be a lonely endeavor, and writers are prone to self-doubt. Sometimes when I need a bit of outside encouragement, I turn to my old friend Bob Ross. His calming voice helps me cut through the noise of life and focus on creating something new.
It turns out that a lot of other people feel the same way. As long as he’s been on television, he’s had a large, devoted fan base. At the end of the 1980s, Joy of Painting had 80 million worldwide viewers and received 200 letters in the mail every day, according to old newspaper stories. Not long after the show went on the air, the company that Ross started with his business partners created an 800 number fans could call to ask questions about the painting technique: My trees are blurry or My rivers look funny or My colors are mixing when they shouldn’t. Sometimes people would call just to talk about life in general.
