BOB ROSS (1942-1995)
A tree is not just a tree, not when it’s Bob Ross’s tree. He painted happy trees and happy clouds. Even a simple snow-capped mountain glistens and the river streams joyfully on his canvas.
Bob Ross, the Air force veteran turned painter and PBS television host, has a cult-like presence in the internet and his “Joy of Painting” show is considered the most-recognized, most-watched art show in the world.
It’s not just the painting. Just watching the bushy-haired and mellow-voiced Bob transform a blank canvas into a beautiful world of landscapes with an occasional squirrel provides a peaceful respite from the crazy world.
It is some kind of therapy; a reminder to pause in our fast paced daily existence to enjoy the simple things in life.
I had a curious fascination with Bob as he charmingly instructs us on his wet-on-wet technique of dabbing vibrant colors, often changing his mind where his happy little trees and bushes reside.
“We don't make mistakes, we just have happy accidents.”
“I can't think of anything more rewarding than being able to express yourself to others through painting. Exercising the imagination, experimenting with talents, being creative; these things, to me, are truly the windows to your soul.”
“There's nothing wrong with having a tree as a friend.”
“The secret to doing anything is believing that you can do it. Anything that you believe you can do strong enough, you can do. Anything. As long as you believe.”
NORMAN ROCKWELL (1894-1978)
Norman Rockwell painted Americana. It is his artistic legacy.
Norman Rockwell’s warm and humorous depictions of small-town 20th-century America had given the world a wistful glimpse of a much simpler and innocent time.
He is the quintessential American who had inspired genius filmmakers like Steven Spielberg and George Lucas to collect their own Rockwells.
His vivid illustrations on the Saturday Evening Post covers showcased ordinary people in a nostalgic frame of naivete and simple joys. His paintings were charming anecdotes of the time, but he had also chronicled more serious themes such as his famous Four Freedoms and Civil rights series.
"Maybe as I grew up and found the world wasn't the perfect place I had thought it to be, I unconsciously decided that if it wasn't an ideal world, it should be, and so painted only the ideal aspects of it," he once said.
“The secret to so many artists living so long is that every painting is a new adventure. So, you see, they’re always looking ahead to something new and exciting. The secret is not to look back.”
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