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Bob Ross
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Message
Posted
I don't have Netflix, but I have a lot of Respect for Bob Ross. I don't know whether the attitude he displayed in his show was a tv persona or part of his real personality, but his calm demeanor and encouraging words got a lot of people interested in taking up painting as a hobby, and that's an admirable achievement.
Edited
by Lucian Hodoboc
Posted
As a human being, there was a lot to be said for him. As a painter - not so great. As a teacher of painting - the snag has always been that the methods and materials he used were specific to him, and the brand of oil paint his company sold and the Wilhelm (William/Bill) Alexander company (which still exists) introduced, with help, I believe, from the US paint-makers Grumbacher. Ross himself emphasized that the effects he obtained "will not work, they absolutely will not work" with regular oil paint.
So fair enough as an introduction to painting - but of little if any help to those who want to paint with any paint other than the Alexander/Ross brand. The company itself ran away from Ross's control quite early on - I saw the documentary about him, and knew a few things anyway: it's a story of exploitation right enough; but without that exploitation by commercially-minded people, it's doubtful that the Ross legend would ever have made it beyond its birth to the size the company is now.
All a bit sad, in the end: but either way, I would discourage anyone interested in oil painting from ever using Bob Ross products - because you'll either have to throw the lot away when you start painting "properly", or be stuck in the world of Ross for the rest of your painting career. Why that would be a very bad thing is a longer story which I won't bore anyone with now, save to say that the paint and the thinners specifically required by it are the problem.
Posted
Interesting about the materials Robert. There is an unsubstantiated suggestion from one interviewee in the film that his use of thinners and the way he used to flap his brushes about in some way lead to eventual death by cancer, however the film doesn’t attempt to rebuke the idea. It’s not a perfect documentary, but i found it an interesting cautionary tale.
As you say, a sad story.
Edited
by Andrew Roles
Posted
Ross himself emphasized that the effects he obtained "will not work, they absolutely will not work" with regular oil paint.Not having watched the show, but rather just some bits and pieces of his online videos, I don't think I've ever heard him say that. What effects was he referring to? I've seen a trend on YouTube consisting of people following random Bob Ross tutorials, and I don't think all of them used his paints, and the results turned out pretty similar to the original works.
Posted
Hmm. Yes. He was hardly the originator of the fan brush, though, was he?
And it's still true that his method doesn't work with conventional oils, which does rather limit its appeal. And apart from that -- just look at his paintings. You don't want to paint like that. You really, really don't.
Posted
I’m not a fan of Bob Ross I watched a couple of his videos years ago and thought not for me. I did buy a fan brush but like a lot of things it ended up at the bottom of the box until I gave it away , just couldn’t get on with it.
I don’t know about his paint system and could not comment either way , but I personally would listen to Robert as I know he has spent a lot of time studying these thing. Its always best to pick bits of techniques that you like and develop them into your style , which I think suddenly come to you after practice.
