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Message
Posted
My name is Fred W Schmale.
My favorite artists are Bill Alexander, Bob Ross, Jason Bowen and last but not least Kevin Hill.
I like to paint landscapes and so now and then I try something different.
I have no painting background education.
I prefer the wet in wet technique. as the most curious person is me when the painting is finished.
I do not yet know how to show some of my work but I will try the + sign with insert
Kind regards
Fred 
W Schmale
W Schmale
Edited
by fredschmale
Posted
Nice decorative work Fred. Arnold Lowry paints scenes like yours so thats an artist you could look up and add to your list maybe.This is mainly a forum so if you want to show your stuff more widely you could put your pictures on the gallery and get more feedback which is normally kind to all styles of painting. meanwhile , welcome to the forum, Fred
Posted
Kevin Hill is a very interesting painter - and Jason Bowen (I think you mean, not James?) has come a very long way since he started out: they've both moved beyond the Bill Alexander/Bob Ross method of working into wet white paint, or "liquid clear": the danger with that approach is that the painting will turn very yellow over time, because of the excess amount of oil in it. Your painting above shows that you've moved on from it too - Bill and Bob got a lot of people painting who would never have had the confidence otherwise, but they were a bit "instant-fix"; probably had to be, to fit their lessons into the measly half-hour they were allowed on television.
I find Kevin Hill fascinating to watch, though - he has a real feeling for colour and tone, and you could do a lot worse than follow his example. You might also like to look up Bill Inman on YouTube - there are many painters on there, some of whom are well worth following, others - not so much.
One legacy of Alexander/Ross though - they developed a very useful trowel-shaped painting knife, different from those that were available before their time: a versatile tool, and well worth getting hold of. They also used big brushes - again, that's a good thing because it stops you fiddling about with distracting detail too much.
Posted
Welcome Fred, good to have you on board. I don't know much about all the other artist's that you mention but of course most of us have heard of Bob Ross and his repeat programmes are indeed still running.
Robert is right when he says that the likes of Bob Ross gave many people the confidence to 'have a go' at painting and for that alone I commend him. However, on the down side his work bears no resemblance to the real outside world and all his followers tend to paint exactly the same type of landscapes ie: snow capped mountains, crystal clear streams with waterfalls and log cabins not forgetting his 'happy trees' which never did resemble any trees around my area.
That said, if one can break away from this mould I've no doubt that having been given that initial confidence to pick up a paint brush it should be possible to develop further and perhaps take a look at the landscape outside and paint from it: you won't see the romantic vision that Bob portrayed but you will find some great subject matter out there in both landscape and industrial.
Edited
by alanbickley
Posted
I did make a similar point to Sylvia regarding moving on and perhaps having a look outside for some interesting subject material. There is no doubt that you are well past the basics Fred, you are showing a high degree of competence in your work so my advice would be to take the plunge and get out there, you may well be surprised and you could enjoy the experience.