Bob Ross

Bob Ross was on our PB channel today using his famous black gesso. I have some store brand black,gray and white. So far I have only used the white. I have two pieces now drying done completely in the Bob Ross style. After they dry I will load them to my site. I just put up two new W/S pieces done wet on wet, impasto. I think that is what you would call it. Bob was a kind of impasto painter as I understand the meaning of the term. I might be wrong.

My site. www.edwardreinhart.com

Bob Ross is a wet on wet painter. I love watching his program. No to correct you but just as a matter of curiosity I looked up impasto. Impasto is an art term used to describe thickly textured paint that is almost three-dimensional in appearance. Van Gogh is used as an example of impasto. Something like this:



I would like to try the try his method. Can you explain a little further how you achieve the Bob Ross style?

I don't mind being corrected, I tend to interpret these terms loosly. Never cared for much of Van Gough. To me any one who paints wet on wet and alla primo is using the Bob Ross style. They may not use Bob's liquid ground coat but does that really matter. However, the way I do it is to start off with a ground of gesso ( have only used white so far), then I lay down a thin coat of " liquid white, " which I make out of Titanium White and W/S thinner ( not watery but like soft butter ). Then I do the sky ( not very good yet), then I do the back ground ( Mts, foot hills), then the middle ground base ( water, or fields, etc), then the ground for the trees, bushes, etc on the sides and foreground. Then I do the leaves and branches to trees, bushes, and put in other things like paths, etc. Of course when I am laying down color on top of another color I have to get it to stick so I thin with W/S thinner and or Linseed oil as needed. I mix colors on the palette not on the canvass. Once I have got the color mixed I want I lay it down on the canvass, using whatever tool I need or whatever works for me. I'm still working at it, I'm still learning what I can do and can't do. If you look at my site I've got four pieces, River Bluf # 2, Mountains of the Mind, Wilderness of the Mind, and River Front Park are examples... back later

sorry, hit an errant key and got slowed to a crawl, ok now. To continue, Mountains of the Mind and Wilderness of the Mind were done alla prima and I tried to follow Bob all the way. I've got two more examples drying, should have them up on my site in a couple of weeks. The biggest trouble I'm having is getting the grassy parts like Bob does. I think the my problem is in handling the loading and handling the brush properly. Another problem I am having is that I can't afford to use paint like Bob does. He goes through about $10 worth of paint on each piece. I have to be conservative and that is a problem. You have to remember that Bob's method was developed over a period of 20 years, not over night, it requries practice and it was developed using traditional oils. W/S's do handle a little differently and we have to ad lib the liquid grounds, which means trial and error but I think I'm getting there. A lot of folks don't like Bob because they say he ignores the rules ( and he does a little) and because his method can't be used on every subject, to which my answer is, modify the method where you have to. But I like Bob's stuff and would be overjoyed if my pieces looked as good as his. I have pretty good taste in art and if I like it I'm sure the public will to, whether they would ever like it enouth to buy it is another question. I don't think I have reached that point yet. But keep at it, if it looks good, if it pleases you, if people like, it that's all that matters.

we were tallking about Bob Ross at work today and how at the end of his lesson, you feel so mellow. I loved listening to him

Bob Ross was responsible for me getting brave enough to use oils, and I really learned a lot about painting from him.

The one thing about Bob Ross oils is that they are made specifically to work with his method. The consistency is specifically designed to help maintain the "fat over lean" rule. If you listen to him, you will hear him say that you have to "thin" the paint to make it stick to the under layer. "Thinning" is by making the paint "fatter" by adding more linseed oil.

I don't know why oil painters didn't come up with different terminology to explain this rule. It sure gets confusing.

Ed, I'm glad you listed the new paintings on your site by name because when I first looked, I wasn't sure which they were. Also, in your description of some of them, you mention Impasto. You might want to correct that.

Judy

Linus, thank you for sharing your process! Beautiful paintings looks like the Bob Ross method is working very well for you.

There are several Bob Ross episodes on line, google Bob Ross paintings or videos etc. I think I lost a post some where. To recap, I think we are talking about using W/S's to imitate his style. Here is how I do it. Apply white or black or gray gesso the way you want, then apply a liquid ground. I make my liquid white by adding W/S thinner and a drop or two of W/S linseed oil to it. If I need liquid clear I apply a squirt of W/S thinner to W/S linseed oil. Both work fine for me, I did a piece with black gesso today and applied my home made liquid clear and it worked out fine, except I found out I don't really like black gesso, I would rather start on the liquid white.

Quite a few folks debate the merits of Bob Ross but I notice today that one of his on line videos had 54,000 hits. Hard to argue with that. Of course his style isn't suitable for every piece one wants to do. But for me it is ideal because great precision with the brush isn't required and I don't have to wait days or weeks to finish a piece and it gives me good results in a short time. Also, you can modify his method to suite your own abilities and if you want to allow some drying time to put in a few finishing touches that's fine too. In fact I don't know why you couldn't use his method along with traditional methods to get the result you want. Each one has to work out what is best for them on a particular piece.

I couldn't find any other post under black gesso of your's that I didn't transfer. You have a similar post above just under Janet's picture of what Impasto is, but you go into more detail in this new post.

It sounds fun how you are experimenting with trying to duplicate his mediums.
When I'm doing reflections in water like he does, I just put a thin film of walnut oil on the water before painting the reflections. I do try to be sure that the water has been drying for a few days so I don't lift too much of the paint in the water. I haven't completely succeeded yet in matching his technique with WS oils, but I'll keep trying and follow some of your suggestions.

Judy

Judy, it is fun. The piece I did today took under two hours - with brakes - and all done. Looks like just the thing for those " daily " folks.

I probably forgot to hit send on the missing post. Doesn't matter.
Hope more folks chime in on using W/S's for the Ross method.

We'll see. It might be just us "Golden Oldes" but you never know.

As far as forgetting to hit the send button, I do that all the time. I look at the preview and then forget to go back to the original and hit send.

Judy

Sleepless again.
One thing about Bob Ross, he never felt that his method was " the " way to paint. He made money with it and it was popular and it suited his personality. He included in his series of instructions other types of artists, people who could do things he couldn't do. And among the things I have done there are graphite ( which is actually my favorite), water color( guache), and acrylic as well. And there things I would like to do in oil that can't be done with his method.

This talk about Bob Ross takes me back about three years when I couldn't sleep and Bob Ross visited me in the early hours. Unfortunately the originals have been destroyed but i still have four photos. I'm attaching one. This introduced me to shapers as opposed to brushes. With them I created a background in acrylics, black, white, and grey. Then overpainted with WSO.
It was a fun experience but wasn't going anywhere.

Jack

Jack,
Can you explain a little more about shappers as opposed to brushes?

Judy

Hi Judy
Shapers are just bits of stick with a sponge on the end in varying sizes. Can't say much else. They were used to create the underpainting.


Jack

Here some shapers for anyone who's curious about them:

http://www.aswexpress.com/discount-art-supplies/online/1769/art-supplies/4

Yours are very posh shapers Callie. Mine are not so delicate but have big lumps of foam or sponge on the end.
Jack

Jack - Have you got your house-painting tools mixed up with your oil painting stuff? (I've used those "sponge brushes" for covering larger canvasses as well as painting baseboards)

Back to Bob ...Never was a fan of his painting style, but I love to watch his show. I know someone who paints large, almost abstract pieces - very quickly - and she likes to paint with Bob Ross on, says he helps her relax and concentrate. I wonder how many painting careers he's launched

CALLIE
Whilst I am not a fan of BR I do think he did a lot to introduce people to painting. But he was a one off. A few years ago i went to an art show and there was one of his 'trained'????? minions teaching people and they were gazing in awe at what i considered to be ******* sorry about the expletive. Then they all bought these special Bob Ross packs.
Like those brushes that are sold specially for painting leaves and grass!!!!! I must stop ranting.
The one thing I detested about the Bob Ross shows was his insistence upon introducing those cabins into a decent landscape. Finger down throat.
I wonder if i can get sponge brushes to paint a wall???
I did find this marvellous acrylic paint for house decorating. Now they've stopped making it. Oh woe is me.

Jack

But that's the high point of the show - He has a pretty decent painting going, then... Wham! He puts a big, black tree right through the best mountain, or covers up a snowy hillside with the ugly little shack. Waiting to see how he's going to ruin the painting is half the fun!

What a money-making machine the Bob Ross name has become! I just looked up "how to become a BR certified instructor". Each certification (landscape or floral) has 3 levels and each level training session (5 days) is $375 (plus supplies and lodging/food).

Sponge brushes for walls:

I agree his paintings don't do much for me either but picking up many different techniques is always a great idea. I find myself not using one specific technique in a painting but usually several depending on the subject. I think being armed with choices makes for control of your medium. I never tried the shapers or sponges yet but looks like a good idea. It would be interesting to see what affects you can get.

Thanks Callie and Jack for the info on the shapers.

If it wasn't for Bob Ross, I never would have ventured away from acrylics. Once I saw I could do oils as well, I got brave enough to try all sorts of different media. Although his paintings are all very similar, he took the stuffiness out of painting and let us commoners start to enjoy it.

Judy

I really like that piece Jack posted. Reminds me a little of Bob's " Enchanted Forest."

I noticed that Bob Ross Inc is forcing the sites to take off their Bob Ross images so if you want to see any of his videos on line you better hurry up. Pretty soon they may all be gone.

I finished ( well need to add a few strokes after drying ) a piece Friday and it is three dimensional around the edges where I painted over the black gesso. It makes it look like you are looking through the woods at a flat picture. I don't know if it will show up when it is scanned, won't know that for about a month or so.

Yes, what are shapers?

One of the other two pieces still drying was done entirely wet on wet, Bob's way, through completion. That's the first one I didn't have to touch up.

One thing about the Bob Ross technique I referred to earlier it is so easy and so quick it is good for a period of relaxation away from painting normally. It is possible to create these in about half an hour and that includes the acrylic drying time.
So I've just posted another example. Eerie forest scenes.