Bob Ross said he was like a drug dealer

In today's episode of The Joy of Painting with Bob Ross (Saturday 7:30 am on KAET Chanel 8, in the PHX market) Bob proclaimed that they (his company?) were just like drug dealers.  They know that they get us hooked on painting, and then we will want more and more of it.


Well he couldn't have been more right.  It has been less than one year since I started painting with Bob Ross and The Joy of Painting series.  Really.  I didn't grow up with it, I discovered Bob in July 2009 when MiMi came to live with us and I looked for quiet, easy going television to entertain her.  After watching for a few months, I decided to purchase supplies and DVDs and give it a try.  That was in October of last year.


Since then I have gravitated in and out of oil, watercolor, acrylics, and now I a little hooked on pastel.  I have not been sitting idle all of these weeks, I've set up my studio(s) and pretend like I'm going to get something done. Every now and then I do, but when I sit at the computer I wonder who wants to hear about any of that.


However with the anniversary of my oil painting career coming up, I suppose I should try to GET BACK TO OIL PAINTING.  After Bob initially got me hooked,  I started out strong.  5 paintings in one week, then my first Bob Ross paint along, and then my blogging idea and here we are 5 paintings in to that project an I am getting bored with it.  I TOLD YOU this could happen.


In my defense, it is a little more than just painting.  It's video taping my painting and then editing it for YouTube and then writing about it . . and in case it wasn't exactly clear, I have a company to run, teenagers to raise, an 84yr old Mother In Law to care for, a beautiful grandson, and a couple of other blog projects in addition to this one (what was I thinking) so I could have guessed this wouldn't be easy.

Anyway, today's post is for a couple of reasons.  ONE: To invite anyone who would like to do an episode of Bob Ross' Joy of Painting (painting along) on video tape for me to highlight here, PLEASE LET ME KNOW.  I would send you a camera, I'd buy you one of those kits you see there (or send you some of my stuff) so you could give it a try.  I'll edit the video and post it (unless you are in to that sort of thing) and everything.


Number TWO reason for this post is to let people know about my other projects that you may have run in to on my YouTube channel.  A friend of mine wrote an iApp that is in the iTunes store.  In order to get people to download and use the App, we came up with a contest to give away an iPad and some other cool stuff.  It is working great.  Mostly because of my video on YouTube that I am promoting (ie: advertising) that tells about the giveaway.

A lot of folks have downloaded the App and we now have "stats" in the iTunes store that help us understand how the Apple Marketplace works . . because we have a much better App in the works that is a tie in to my charity Thank You Blue and its work with the 100 Club of Arizona.  So we need to know how iTunes store works.

In any case, I'd hate to give away an iPad without giving the followers of this blog an opportunity to get in on the giveaway.  So if you are interested visit TheTEXTupProject.com or watch this video and DON'T laugh at my voice.  It's weird, I know.

The Joy of Painting with Bob Ross or Family

Water Colors and Pastels vs Oil Painting with Bob Ross
Patricia played with pastels, perfectly pushing pigment on paper.  Palette pale with pinks and purple, Patty places peaches in paintings pulsing with pleasure. 

I spent the week with one of Jim's sisters (estrogen overload perhaps!) More specifically, she spent the week with Mimi and we didn't go anywhere.  We stayed home except to go pick up Jamie from Horse Camp (which was fun).  Even more fun is the fact that Patty is an artist.  A pastel artist who has a gallery opening next week in Santa Fe New Mexico, where she lives and works.

She not only brought some pastels and paper (we went to Jerry's Artarama and I purchased some of my own) she worked on a watercolor painting for a class she was taking.  So we both had a great time playing and learning new mediums.  After just watching her, I feel more confident in trying both water colors and pastels.

I know I know . . it's not Bob Ross style.  But I think Bob wants me to learn about everything that interests me, using him as a starting point and becoming my own artist.  I don't intend to stop painting with Bob.  In fact I can't wait to get back on to the easel and apply liquid white. (I know I still have Episode 6 on a black canvas that is half finished.)  However it has been so hectic around here that painting with oil seems nearly impossible.  I get only a few minutes here and there to play with something.

I find that I really like having pastels on the table so I can just pick up a color and experiment while Mimi naps or watches.  She thoroughly enjoyed watching Patty and I this week.  If her arms and hands were working she'd have joined right in.  As it were, we just got a lot of smiles and thumbs up signs (which she can still manage to put together ;)

Today (really Today? .  . wow) marks ONE YEAR since we picked Mimi from the floor at the assisted living facility where she was, and brought her home to be with us.  What a year it has been.  Remember that I discovered Bob Ross and the Joy of Painting on television when I installed a TV in the kitchen (where I was spending a lot of time all of a sudden) so that MiMi and I could be entertained.  We didn't hook up a cable box and only got basic channels from the hookup.  Low and behold, one day on channel 8 (public access) I found Bob Ross.

His slow gentle voice was just what Mimi needed and his style of painting a complete landscape in 1/2 hour was intriguing to me.  So far the rest (this blog and my entire painting career) is history. His story and My story,  Her story and probably Your story.  The world is so amazing.  I know very little about practical application and or the history of the masters and Patty knows so much (art degrees and all) but we both learned from each other.

What she learned from me (besides how to care for her mother in her new phase of life ;) was how I am using the internet for companionship and inspiration.  How she might do the same and even sell a painting or two online.  Help me SHOW HER and the gallery owner who has her work that you support their art. Visit their web site, or better yet, visit them in Santa Fe.

Mill Fine Art and the artist P.E. Baldwin.  It's pastels today, and watercolor tomorrow.  Who knows maybe next time she comes we'll do a "throw back" weekend and I'll teach her to understand Bob Ross and the wet on wet Oil technique.  Talk about JOY!  I can't even think about it right now.  It's Monday morning and I have work to do.

Over "Joyed" by Family and Friends

The past couple of weeks feel like months, yet they flew by.  As odd as that sounds, I'll bet you can all relate somehow.  MiMi is home now for 2 weeks and we have found some sort of normal for this phase.  She may not be able to communicate much but you can see in her smile, she is not in pain.  She's happy and comfortable.  Hospice folks come and go 2 times a week for now and there has been a steady flow of family coming to share and understand.  It's happy and sad, exhausting but enlightening, confusing yet very clear what we have to do.  So we do it.

But I broke out the paint this week while I had the time and strayed away from "watching Bob Ross and painting with him" I decided to take one of my favorite photos and paint from it.  I wish I'd have taken more photos while I painted  (or video taped it, but I didn't) but here's where I am now.

I LOVE My Rocks (or mountains if you will) These are rocks that I've seen and touched in my life (back in our rock climbing days . . or should I say MY rock climbing days, since my husband still gets out there whenever he can) and we have always loved Yosemite Valley.  

Here's my reference photo, and so you see I'm now going to work on the foreground, from the land mass on the other side of the river to the rocks up close. I have a few more trees to add as well, to cover the bottom of the waterfall, as you can't really see it in the view.

I'm AFRAID.

I like my big rocks so much, and my trees, while not perfect, are reflecting of a style that I have been working on (used only the knife) and I think I did well with them.  I need another layer of trees and then the WATER.  I'm not sure how to "start again" now that the paint is dry.  So the underlayer of the river is there.  I even put in a rock or two underwater.  But now I need to "wet" it again so that I can complete the foreground.

When I wet the canvas now (or I'm really wetting the dry paint) I know I'm not going to make that paint wet again, but that will now be my base layer.  Upon which any new paint will need to slide to make it look like water. . . . I'm afraid to start again. . . but I will.

Help me share the Joy . . . Kay