The last two weekends I was painting at the Game Fair in Anoka MN. It is a very large hunting and outdoor equipment festival that celebrated it's 30th anniversary this year. I was invited to paint at the Hunt the North booth and the Art Barbarian's building. Both weekends I started a painting on Friday morning and finished them on Sunday afternoon. Working in front of so many people was very enjoyable. The looser style of my work allows me to paint very fast, and people really seem to appreciate seeing it turn into something before their eyes. Everyone who paints live like that is very familiar with the comments we hear all the time. "I can't draw a stick person" "how do you do that?" "I can barely write my name""Do you do dog portraits?" "Do you remember that guy on TV that finished a painting in a half hour, you know, the one with the big afro?". I probably heard these a dozen times each. The last one always gets me the most. They are referring to Bob Ross, a subject of great humor and confusion to most in the art world. He is the victim of much ridicule and negativity towards his paintings. Bob Ross..........what a unique individual. We all have memories of him and his little quirky manners and sayings. "Tell you what let's do, let's put a big ole tree right.....here, and he needs a little friend cause no one wants to be in the woods alone". "Shoot....I think....yep, we need a little cabin right.....here". "maybe we need a little path right.......here, cause we need a way to get to our cabin", and who could forget the way he slapped that big brush of his on his easel to dry it off (he did that move for twenty years and always giggled at the camera like it was the funniest thing he had ever seen). Bob Ross......what can I say about him. I could tell you that his paintings are awful, that he wasn't an artist at all. That he was a joke, and ruined the public's opinion of what painting really is. Maybe I have thought those things before, but I can also tell you that I may not be an artist if not for him. When I was two years old Bob came to my hometown to teach a few classes. In attendance was my Grandmother, she absorbed what she learned and took up oil painting as a hobby afterwards. Her and I were very close. Our visits were some of my best childhood memories. The paintings she did amazed me at a young age. How could she paint such a beautiful mountain, or trees, or reflections?! The answer was......Bob Ross. His assembly line style of painting (doing the exact same painting many, many times) lent itself well to people that had an interest in painting whether they possessed the talent to do so or not. Because of that fact he is not thought of very highly by other artists, but I was mesmerized by him. When I was about 5 or 6 my Grandma started teaching me to paint in the style she learned from him. I can remember like it was yesterday, the first time I dragged that big pallet knife on the canvas and created a mountain, a MOUNTAIN! For years I did little paintings like that and never missed a chance to watch Bob on TV. A few years ago I got my wife hooked on him. His show was on at 10:00 every night and we always felt uplifted and at peace after watching. Every episode ends with Bob looking at the camera and saying "thanks for watching, I hope you enjoyed the painting, take care....and God bless my friend" When he said that he wiggled his fingers at the viewers in such a manner that you felt like you were literally getting blessed by him. What a nice way to end a day and go to bed. It was his peace, and gentleness that should be applauded, if not his art. He understood one very important thing about painting, it should be fun, or at least fulfilling. The name of his show was "The Joy of Painting", and he seemed to exude that joy in every brushstroke. You got the feeling watching him that at some point in his life he was in a dark place and was saved by art, or a higher power. None of his techniques are used in any painting I do today, but my experiments as a youth probably formed my love of painting, and art. Bob had such a gentle heart. Remember his little squirrel friend "Pea Pod, the Pocket Squirrel"? How he put it in his (always unbuttoned) shirt pocket and kissed it's head. He always said he loved hunting but only did it with his camera. Throw away his paintings, burn them, discard his work, they really aren't what he left behind. What he left us is a legacy of kindness and a true love of painting. Anyone can learn to paint like him, and that is what he wanted, a chance for us all to feel the exhilaration of creating a world from nothing. If you have ever had any interest in painting, I encourage you to give it a try. With his style you can forget painting from photographs and freely invent your own world. Thank you Bob, for indirectly teaching me to paint with joy and courage. Take care, and....God Bless my friend.