by Tim Suddeth @TimSuddeth
“Now then, let’s come right down in here and put some nice, big, strong arms on these trees. A tree needs an arm, too. It’ll hold up the weight of the forest. Little bird has to have a place to sit. There he goes.”
If you haven’t watched the Joy of Painting on YouTube, you have probably caught a glimpse of the show featuring Bob Ross on PBS. The soft-spoken artist with the afro aired on PBS from 1974, beginning with The Magic of Painting, to 1994. You can still catch his shows on reruns and YouTube. Each episode showed Ross painting a landscape in thirty minutes.
Not only was Ross a talented painter and instructor, his viewers found him to be an incredible source of peace and calmness. During the COVID lockdowns, many turned to him for an escape from all the stress they were encountering.
On his shows, his goal was to show that painting was a talent that anyone can learn. Many of the tips he shared can also pertain to writers.
