90s | 80s | 70s | Celebrities | TV | Pop Culture
Bob Ross Painted Thousands of Pictures, But This One Had A Special Message
Bob Ross was the type of television personality that actually made you feel good when you watched him.
It wasn't some crazy drama you needed to follow, or elaborate plot that would change and evolve, it was just a calming half hour of television that would help you learn how to paint.
People loved this show. Bob Ross' calming tones were basically the best thing you could watch when you needed something comforting, and his painting skills were on a whole different level. The things he could do within 30 minutes was nothing short of incredible.
He had fans all over the country, some of them were painters who used his show on PBS as a tutorial, while others were just people who needed something to watch. How many of you remember watching his show when you were home sick from school?
Bob Ross did a lot of events and tours where he got to go out and meet his fans. He used these experiences to help decide what to paint along with his own life experiences out in the world.
His life is super interesting, but there was one moment that stood out above the rest that really proved not only how talented he was, but how kind of a person he was. While he had fun with his work, he made sure that it felt inclusive for everyone, even if that fan was colorblind.
He actually dedicated an entire episode to one fan who couldn't see colors, and changed how he painted just for him!
Bob Ross was known for being kind and compassionate to his fans. At one of the events that he was painting at, a man told him that while he enjoyed Bob's paintings, he would never be able to recreate them because he was colorblind.
Ross didn't like that there was someone who believed they couldn't paint, so he planned an entire show around painting a gray scale picture.
He said "Just recently I was doing a demonstration in a mall, and I had a man come to me and he said, 'Bob, I could never paint because I'm colorblind.' So I thought today we'd do a picture in gray, just to show you that anyone can paint."
He changed up his usual pallet of reds, blues and yellows, and replaced them with different shades of gray. He knew that while color was obviously a big part in painting, the it wasn't the most important thing. He said "Any color will work, as long as you use the basic method."
Ross painted a mountain scene in the winter, with beautiful trees in the foreground surrounding a lake. The image is truly inspiring and remarkable. It has so much life to it even though there are no colors at all.
Obviously Bob Ross is more talented than most of us, but it's nice to see him prove that painting is for everyone. You can still follow along to this entire video, or even just put it on to relax!