Bob Ross
The tragedy of his legacy.
When I was little I loved to watch Bob Ross. I don’t know if it was his calm voice, his love for nature, or the fact that I also loved baby squirrels that drew me to his show. Bob Ross really was a struggling artist after he got out of the Navy. Bob decided he’d save money on hair cuts and just let his hair grow long, and then he permed it. Before he could change it back, though, the perm became his company’s logo — Ross hated it. “He could never, ever, ever change his hair, and he was so mad about that,” Kowalski says. “He got tired of that curly hair.”
According to CNN, in the documentary of Bob Ross “ Rofé digs into some private areas of Ross’ life — particularly his alleged marital transgressions — the real microscope is on Annette and Walter Kowalski, the painter’s long-time business partners who co-founded Bob Ross Inc. and have been involved in extensive legal battles against Ross’ estate and his family over the rights to the artist’s image”. This is so dissapointing, you see the kindness in Bob Ross and you know he would have hoped his family would be able to benefit from his legacy. According to Bloomberg Law, “It strikes me as a big mistake the way Bob Ross allowed the other owners of the corporation to become the owners of his shares instead of having those go to his children,” (LaFrance).
Bob Ross first started painting when he joined the Anchorage U.S.O. Club. It is said that he was a drill sergeant in the military, and that not long after leaving he never wanted to yell again. You could almost fall asleep to the soft spoken artist speaking while doing his painting tutorials. Bob used the ala prima technique, a.k.a. wet on wet technique. He learned from his teacher William “Bill” Alexander , who had his own t.v. painting show painting landscapes in under 30 minutes. The “wet on wet” technique was not exclusive to either artist, other artists who used this technique were Claude Monet and Frans Hals.
Bob Ross died at the young age of 52 from lymphoma. Doctors do not know what causes lymphoma, but I do know that certain paint thinners and mineral spirits are toxic. It has not been reported that that was the cause of his disease, but if you pick up painting be sure to use odorless and non-toxic paint and paint thinners. Oil paints sometimes had toxic ingredients such as cadmium (Cadmium red is an actual toxic metal). With this I will leave you with a picture of Bob Ross and his pet squirrel Pea Pod, who made an appearance on one of his shows… paint safely if you paint! Soyez béni!
