Let's Find Out - (Pt. 1) Bob Ross Deep Dive: His Legacy

Starting point is 00:00:00 You ready to have some fun? Let's do it. I think probably nothing will teach you more than just experimenting. Do as many different things as you have the nerve to do. Shoo, just go for it. The authors of this book, Happy Clouds, Happy Trees, the Bob Ross Phenomenon. They chose an interesting word to end the final chapter of their book. radical.

Starting point is 00:00:31 And it's especially interesting when we take into account who it is, that word is, describing. In fact, throughout the entire book, they suggest that the way Bob chose to present himself was actually way more calculated than he lets on. Maybe even manipulative. Maybe even manipulative. You just sort of make up ideas and drop them in, whatever, whatever, feels good to it shoot it's worth mentioning that you know such a radical claim what might be easily dismissed if we didn't take it into account that the main author here

Starting point is 00:01:12 Kristen G. Congdon two of the three authors are professors and the main author Congdon is a philosophy professor at a major university University of Central Florida and you know their academics and with that implies a generally more rigorous approach to anything that you're going to choose to write a book about so it's not scientific exactly course but it's not also it's also not easily dismissable so it really made me think you know I'd seen dozens of episodes of the joy of painting but I'd never actually sat there and given any more thought than, you know, we all probably do. It's just a painting show.

Starting point is 00:02:06 It's easy to watch, simple. You know, he seems like a pretty relatable guy. A guy who just really likes to paint. But by around page 40 in the book here, all that goes out the window. When they start discussing his charisma, for instance, they make comparisons to gurus. and how he was even known to have a cult-like status in some circles. They start making a connection between his famous style and the legions of students. He was able to attract, ultimately, saying that, for instance, on page 156,

Starting point is 00:02:50 masterfully and consistently, crafted contexts that would enhance his viewer's understanding of his work, and strengthen their connection with his persona. And some of the phrases they use, page 158, they say he manipulated the media. They say he, quote, found a way to navigate the dehumanizing tensions of that same technology, TV, during his time, by creating an image of his personality

Starting point is 00:03:38 that reflected his personal, values. On page 40 where it really kicks in honestly is they say he deliberately chose specific anecdotes and even employed quote ritualistic phrases and these helped create a mythical persona that's quote hypnotic and magical leaving its viewers in a TV trance they compared his performance to a kind of social sculpture And even, quote, teetered towards the erotic. Actually feeling. It's one of the things I like so much about oils.

Starting point is 00:04:33 Gosh, there must be a quarter of an inch thick in places. I love that. Absolutely love it. Areas that are very thick, areas that are thin. Mm. I still get excited about this. There you go. One that, quote, can't be experienced except through complete immersion.

Starting point is 00:04:55 To Congdon, the Bob's legacy. was one that was quote both sublime and seductive. She rounds out this portrayal by insisting that his TV show, page 161 here, was orchestrated, orchestrated as a timeless, darkened void-like studio, which reinforced intimacy with his body and suggested both spiritual We spend so much of our life walking around

Starting point is 00:05:37 looking with never never never seeing and sexual I get excited when I see these they turn me on possibilities it's clear to her and the authors the other co-authors that

Starting point is 00:05:53 Bob what he was doing was consciously shaping the viewer experience all while hiding behind a facade of this ordinary everyday guy the author's even display and almost reverence towards him that uh at what bob was able to accomplish with this image

Starting point is 00:06:13 saying things like um again on one page page uh 161 bob's aesthetic choices are sophisticated and effective 164 we believe quote he felt compelled to engage the real world with incredible intelligence You know, he really was employing actual hypnosis techniques. He spoke softly. Please, a little touch, and just let this sort of play. Me. Did specific, repeated specific words and phrases that became like ritualistic mantras of his. We have some happy accidents sometime, but we don't make any mistakes.

Starting point is 00:07:09 And let's not forget the You know almost subliminal metronome When he's sitting there tapping that he created I guess I'd have to take this out As he's blotting the brushes or you know Making his forests his trees We're having such a lot of fun doing these trees We might as well just keep going with them

Starting point is 00:07:33 Keeping up a soft conversation with us And just Ritualistically methodically creating a whole landscape in front of us but it serves the double purpose of a of an immersive experience a sound stimulus that's just steadily I'd suggest it dissolves people into a state of suggestibility and when you really combine that with the fact that he's over there launching steady a steady barrage of soft slogans all the while maybe we'll have little pink in the I sort of like that.

Starting point is 00:08:30 And in our world, we can do anything that we want to do here. Any old thing. Starts making you wonder what it was that Bob was actually up to. Now I've got to get rid of that. But if you do one of those, you do a cloudectomy and you're in business again. But he was luring us in, wasn't he? I mean, first he had his appearance. He caught our attention with it.

Starting point is 00:08:57 It was an almost oxymoronic fashion sense. He had the white afro, the, you know, 60s, 70s counterculture. But it was just interestingly juxtaposed with his fairly subdued, you know, collared, button-down shirt. Pretty timeless. No frills. I mean, you know, it was the 70s, early 80s when having, you know, bigger the better in some fashion circles. Kept a little sensual keeping the first few. few buttons opened up but he had his collared shirt tucked into his pretty timeless blue jeans

Starting point is 00:09:36 those other than having a few more rips nowadays haven't really gone out of style have they he lured um us in i would say even further with his warm inviting personality kind of got us to stay uh and let our guard down you know instantly i would say disarmed most people to hear someone with such a relaxed cadence of speech, just carrying on a natural, charming conversation. And he was tranquilizing his audience from the get-go with this routine, plain speech, the repetitive introductions that really didn't deviate a lot. Hello, I'm Bob Ross. Hello, I'm Bob Ross. Hello, I'm Bob Ross. I'm certainly glad you could join me today. It's a fantastic day here, and I hope it is wherever you're at.

Starting point is 00:10:29 You ready to do a fantastic little painting? Glad you could join me today. Today I thought we'd do a nice beautiful little winter scene. Hi, welcome back. I'm certainly glad you could join me today. You ready to do a fantastic little painting with me? Super. Hi, I'm glad you could join me today.

Starting point is 00:10:44 Today we're going to do a wonderful little painting. Hi, welcome back. Certainly glad you could join us today. I thought today I'd show you a little painting that is so simple. Hi, welcome back. Certainly glad you could join us today. I thought today we'd do a painting. It's very simple.

Starting point is 00:10:59 I think you'll enjoy it. Hi, hi, glad to see you again today. They make a fascinating narrative out of Bob, but it's fundamentally one of endearment. The thesis at the bottom of this book, the Bob Ross phenomenon, is that through an almost saintly earnestness, even a few possibly even has a few shamanic characteristics,

Starting point is 00:11:26 therapeutic ones, Bob Ross was seducing his viewer, but he was seducing them, even challenging them to experience joy. The carefully chosen descriptor in the title of his painting show. You know, words are often thrown around, especially in the marketing sector, to just, again, get your attention. Bob actually meant joy, true joy, experiencing not his joy, but our joy. And the authors spend an entire book making the case that that's what Bob's covert mission really was. A real, authentic joy of our own. And we could find this in picking. picking up a two inch paintbrush.

Starting point is 00:12:34 It makes painting accessible to everyone. People who take classes with our instructors, they find on the very, on the very first day, they go home with a completed painting. Even people who have never painted. Isn't that fantastic? As Congdon and the boys say about Bob in his seemingly pedestrian paintings, they talk about that too. Bob's paintings are an excuse to practice joy.

Starting point is 00:13:18 And that's where future generations are going to detect the art in Bob's life. He created a meaningful, complicated art practice that supported a simple yet accessible vision of happiness. It's an Emersonian back to nature, almost rigorous notion of simplicity and goodness. And we'll elaborate on that and much more. the rest of the video. So I can understand it almost sounds like a portrayal of Tony Robbins, some self-help guru or someone even cheaper than him. That's just out to sell books, you know. But Bob and the net were selling books, but they were only patent structure,

Starting point is 00:14:20 uh, instruction books, at least back then. And we'll be getting into that as well later. but that's not the focus of this video. The books he was making, they were bare bones just had a little, you know, introduction and biography on Bob, but actually tracked down a couple of them. They were, first and foremost, paint instruction books. I see a little portrait of Steve there. There we go. Steve makes an appearance, too.

Starting point is 00:15:10 Steve's appearance on Bob's program have become a very popular addition to the joy of painting. Not only does he display an extraordinary ability to paint, having trained at the knee of the master, but his good luck's charm and wit have made him a fan favorite among students across the country. Having mastered this technique of painting in a very early age, it's no wonder that Steve has become one of the most popular Bob Ross certified instructors. Kind of interesting that, um, either Annette or her daughter Joan probably wrote that little blurb on Steve. But other than that, a little intro by Annette, a little about the artist section.

Starting point is 00:16:10 Probably also by Annette. These books weren't self-help books, you know, they weren't psychology books. they weren't advice other than in the actual embodiment of creating art you know throughout bob's life he'd found a deep source of meaning in painting and when we break down what he was actually doing with his life and see why spreading joy uh we're gonna see why when spreading joy sincerely and sincere joy is always radical. He didn't want to teach an art class. He wanted to lure people into art class

Starting point is 00:17:14 so that could radically transform their perceptions of themselves. This wasn't a cavalier attitude towards art and teaching. Bob knew that most people actually believed they were useless, that they weren't creative at all. When it came to art, at least some people took it further. And that you had to be born with talent to become an artist. That's not true at all.

Starting point is 00:17:47 And Bob thoroughly believed that. And he often expressed it, saying that talent is a pursued interest. And I think that's beautiful. And this book elaborates on so much more than that. Gives evidence, puts art, Bob in the context of the greater art world compares them to some other artists on one side Andy Warhol for the more fine art crowd

Starting point is 00:18:17 and on the other side Thomas Kincaid for the much more I guess much less niche audience of the Christian consumer and they find that Bob has a place in a lane all of his own And they interestingly wrote this book in 2011, well before, you know, over a decade ago, recording this in May of 2022 to date it. Way before social media and even YouTube, although they make remarks about YouTube, became what they are today. They were much less, you know, today they are much more platforms.

Starting point is 00:19:08 of personalities. I mean, it's really what I'm doing here. You know, finding out about things I'm interested in and just trying to relay the joy and the genuine interest, the excitement that I have for, even though it might not sound like excitement, certain topics that I find personally meaningful, meaningful to know more about in the world.

Starting point is 00:19:36 Bob knew that most people were quick, to beat themselves up. But he thought this is all baloney. I can't draw a straight line. I don't have the talent, Bob, to do what you're doing. That's baloney. Talent is a pursued interest. In other words, anything that you're willing to practice, you can do.

Starting point is 00:20:01 You know, Cognin shows throughout the book that Bob really believed that people, everybody had something genuine, a unique perspective, something uniquely and deeply creative to offer the world. All they had to do was let their guard down long enough to swallow the self-actualization. Bob was steadily and subtly pushing. He did it through a constant stream of encouragement peppered throughout his instructions.

Starting point is 00:20:39 And since this is your world, you can do anything in your world that your heart desires. Just let your imagination take you to places that you never dreamed you could kill. He stressed the vital importance of creating something for ourselves and not just passively watching others create although he understood

Starting point is 00:20:58 quote passively watching him was exactly what a lot of people most 96% apparently as we'll get into later was uh we're tuning in for but that was fine too we'll get letters from people say they just sleep better when the show's on that's all right so I thought today we'd do a happy little painting One did it'll really make you feel good in here. Because 4% of hundreds of thousands of people,

Starting point is 00:21:25 still thousands of people that Bob was helping do more than just relax. He was helping them create a deep sense of identity, something they could really anchor their self-belief, self-worth into. He wanted others to see that the moment they decided to join in on the painting, They'd see something beautiful happening. They'd see that they're making something beautiful. And he knew from experience how powerful that feeling was, just like his mentor, Bill Alexander relayed on his show that Bob was so influenced by.

Starting point is 00:22:17 Tell yourself, you are wonderful. Then you get in that almighty swing, that has to... There is so much power in a human being if you just ask for that. We'll be talking about Bill too. Page 13 or page 37. Says that Bob, quote, makes the viewers believe that. Like him, they too can be great painters. They can take control of their lives.

Starting point is 00:22:56 It doesn't need to be complicated, but it does take practice. On 143, the goal for Bob was problem solving. It was a process clearly, that was clearly one of his missions. When you make decisions about what goes on your canvas, you gain control of your life. You recognize that you're powerful. And this newly gained power can manifest itself in other parts of your life. I think Bugg is having some fun out there with Mama. If you're wondering what that little toddler sound is out there, that's my baby girl.

Starting point is 00:23:50 Just living her best life. I think this is the whole, really this, the point in this book is, realizing that Bob had been through a lot in his life. He had a lot of trauma, a lot of tragedy in his life. And another thing will be going over his, as much as I could find about his life with a pretty fine tooth comb. So there's so much that was interesting to make to round out and flesh out and his character. Who he was, make more clear his motivation for doing what he did. with this. It was a lifelong passion of his. He didn't always make money with it.

Starting point is 00:24:50 And that might be the point of this whole book. Is what Bob was able to accomplish both materially and spiritually. He recognized and he even passed it on to his son how important, meaningful, getting even that 4% of his audience to recognize how, how much how powerful of a feeling and how it can emboldened you when you create art genuine art from your heart from inside from a place that you may have never tapped into ever prior to that you know so when he could see the smile and the genuine warmth and satisfaction and pride people got in creating that art most of the time something they never even knew was inside of them

Starting point is 00:25:56 that made Bob's life that made his life meaningful and he often said that too one of the sentiments bob often used from his mentor bill Alexander you know in painting there's there's a lot of technical concepts that I don't actually know but light is a huge one you want to have contrasting light and dark so that they accentuate the other and Bob and Bill but Bob really took it to heart they related that the metaphor of light and dark applies pretty aptly to life in general Bob would explain how you know, the importance of dark colors and making the light ones really shine through. It gives depth and richness to a painting, and it's clear that he passed on this metaphor

Starting point is 00:27:15 as it relates to life to his son, Steve, that even during the darkest of times, the act of creating can help us discover something profound about ourselves. You can't have light in a painting unless you have dark. as I've mentioned before it's just like in life you really you really can't know happiness I don't believe unless you've known

Starting point is 00:27:39 a little sorrow in your life otherwise you wouldn't know when the happy times come Bob was doing something both simple and complex at the same time at its core his actual surface level instruction was just providing a general direction a general design outline

Starting point is 00:27:55 of what to paint how to paint it and you know on top of that he was also offering an affordable set of tools you didn't need to buy a thousand paints and tools you know you just needed a few basic supplies to get you up and running and that was all he wanted to do he just wanted to get our foot in the door nuanced interpretation of what he was doing was that he was making something intimidating look easy he was transparently

Starting point is 00:28:38 impatiently walking us through even the smallest steps for us to be able to succeed. Most importantly, he was lowering the barrier. This is a huge concept to entry, the barrier to entry into the art world for millions of outsiders. He was making it look fun. He was always encouraging us to bring a sense of play to it. That's really important, really important. We're going to elaborate on that in an entire. section of the video video later about how life without a sense of play lacks a lot a lot a

Starting point is 00:29:20 lot of depth bob wearing the barrier bob making it look fun and easy was crucial in simply just bringing to being the possibility in people's minds that they could do it there's an article and Far Out magazine talking about Bob's one of Bob's classic lines. Let's get crazy. Let's take some Van Dyke Brown, dark scene.

Starting point is 00:29:57 I'm just mixing them on the brush. Here we go. Yep. There's one big monster. Let's give him a friend. You know me. I think everybody needs a friend. Even a tree.

Starting point is 00:30:11 Even an old tree. It's enough to make even the stupiest watcher. Loosen up and let the warm. warmth of Ross's Florida tones wash over them. And then once we recognize that nuanced aspect, we can take it even deeper, the layers of what Bob was doing with the show and the joy of painting. Once we recognize that Bob was roping us in effectively, by making something barely complicated, look easy,

Starting point is 00:30:53 and change the perspective of the perspective of the perspective that most people have of what it means to be an artist, we can see that there's psychological, deeper psychological levels that open up like as we're painting. If we paid close enough attention to what appeared on the canvas, I believe that we really discover something we could call our own, something we could anchor our sense of self into, as I mentioned earlier. Yeah, in the magazine here. There's a section on one of the current Ross instructors. He had some turmoil in his life of his own,

Starting point is 00:31:45 and he recognized that some of the things that he noticed in his paint instructions was giving students a renewed sense of agency. and that was important that was really important to have a sense of effectiveness of having a possibility

Starting point is 00:32:12 to do something and make an impact and even to stick your neck out there and try something new and seeing where we unconsciously went when we were painting with our own personal visions of these pristine mountainous landscapes

Starting point is 00:32:32 Bob gave us a general direction towards. We'd learn something about ourselves. We'd learn what we, we literally find ideal by how we crafted our own version of that variation of that landscape. We'd learn also, though, that the horizon of possibilities with what we could do with our own lives just blew wide open. And I think more than creating, artists. Bob wanted to create self. He wanted to create individuals to use a psychological term.

Starting point is 00:33:15 Once people realize they could paint, what else, where would it stop? What else could they do with their lives? And if that horizon of possibility really blew wide open, maybe even enough to an almost frightening degree for some, you might realize, oh, it might make sense that it's just safer to pretend you don't have talent. Let's let someone else take that risk. Not me. And that's dangerous.

Starting point is 00:33:54 Condon's final book point in the book is that if we're lucky enough to have such a life-changing, altering experiences that we could honestly say then that Bob showed us the joy of painting. And the documentary, Steve has a revelation. And then they painted, of course, artistically, dramatically. It's a documentary. It's like writing or film. They have to have an accentuated

Starting point is 00:34:34 drama to it. But it was artfully done, skillfully crafted. And by all accounts, it seemed to be a truthful revelation Steve actually had. When he, was dealing with the loss of his dad for 20 years he had a renewed sense of agency sparked by encouragement from those around him primarily Dana Jester his Bob's painting friend and Steve's as well and he said it's important he realized what painting picking up a brush again did for him and his psyche and his general sense of well-being, I guess. It's important to express yourself through that kind of symbolism to get out those emotions.

Starting point is 00:35:38 And we may not realize it, but that's exactly what it is. When human beings create something from nothing, often maybe, if not always, there's a layer of symbolism to it that we might not even be. consciously bringing to it. It might be under wraps, unconscious, but it's there. And it's revealing about, it's revealing something about ourselves that maybe we didn't realize. Bob would just make them so happy it's unreal. There's a lot going on besides painting. We're aware of that and they enjoy that. The authors ended the book beautifully by commenting on this general experience in its relation to Bob's legacy.

Starting point is 00:36:34 They say could have been a despot Exploiting those who bought in Those many people who bought into his comforting vision But from all we've learned He used that power to heal and inspire Rather than repress And deny Bob leaves behind hundreds of artists

Starting point is 00:37:13 Who will now navigate their own worlds Crafted by their own sensibilities And their own desires And whether they treat selfish expression as ironic or incomplete or invaluable. Bob taught them that painting is an occasion for joy. They always said that. Bring happiness to it. Clear your mind. Lead with your art. Bring a sense of optimism.

Starting point is 00:37:42 Boyancy. In the last paragraph, to put it in proper context now is, that is Bob's legacy. It's joy. It's sublime, seductive. But it's inspiring. It can't be owned. It can't be ironic because it's immersive. It's something you can't keep at a distance. Something you have to either experience or tune out completely.

Starting point is 00:38:11 Or you just don't understand it. It's healing. It's connecting. It's beautiful. And most of all, when it's sincere, joy is radical. And it really is. It's an experience that you don't walk away from feeling like you've, you know, easily, it's easily written off as a trivial experience.

Starting point is 00:38:39 It can change you and change your perspective of both the world and yourself and what you, what the possibilities of both really are. You know, I thought that was beautiful and that really launched me into the rest of this video. wanting to know more about Bob primarily from the documentary on Netflix but also there there was an article written by all Austin okay I guess I had it right Alston to Ramsey sex deceit and scandal the ugly war over Bob Ross's ghost by Austin Ramsey written for the Daily Beast.com it was a really extensive he interviewed dozens of people Steve and Dana Jester the

Starting point is 00:39:50 Kowalskies and it actually came out before the documentary on Netflix came out I use those to along with this as my main sources for this video but I wanted to like I said I'm gonna get into some of the more sensational details but that's not the purpose because ultimately although it's kind of interesting and it's sad and i do uh with many people uh one of which um knew steve personally i was able to contact alexander cruz he was a really nice guy and we'll be talking about his testimony and his own perception of what happened with bob ross incorporated definitely not the same as Bob Ross later I was able to find just a sense of respect for Bob that I

Starting point is 00:40:58 didn't want to make the dramatic sensationalism of the documentary the main focal point of what I did because I probably couldn't do it nearly as good as both of these sources did anyway and I'm personally, obviously, with what I'm doing here. I'm very influenced by what Bob did and his legacy. And this book pointed me in the right direction. I'm going to be heavily relying on it when we start talking more in depth about Bob's legacy in his relation to the wider culture in general.

Starting point is 00:41:41 Bob Ross's warm voice first hummed out of flickering bulbous glass TV screens. In 1982, just another low-budget TV painter, an obvious successor to Bill Alexander. And his first attempt definitely was low-budget. But as the 80s carried on, more Americans and eventually the world began to pause when they stumbled across that trademark Afro. His charming Florida drawl invited the men to join them

Starting point is 00:42:42 as he mosey happily along through a deceptively efficient painting demonstration, and by the early 90s as his health declined, his popularity soared. 80 million regular viewers would ultimately welcome him into their homes, glad to have his companionship in the anonymity of the sprawling suburbs of late 20th century of America. 14 years after his debut on TV, he died, tragically, at only 52. He was receiving hundreds of letters a day by then. And four decades on, this rural Floridian painting Alaskan landscapes is still reaching millions, though. And now he's been uploaded to the internet.

Starting point is 00:43:38 He's still teaching, still entertaining, still soothing. his voice, artistry, and his humble philosophy importantly, is endearing him to an entirely new generation, born since he even passed, and through that gradual, mysterious cultural process of appraisal, denial acceptance, Bob Ross is becoming the stuff of legend. His life proves that he had always, pursued his passion and it pursued and pursued a means of capitalizing off it and the skills he

Starting point is 00:44:20 cultivated while doing so but it didn't mean he was necessarily destined for TV actually actually it had not been for the pioneering techniques of earlier and a little bit different TV artists most importantly his mentor his direct teacher Bill Alexander his almighty teacher. Bob might have remained in obscurity, actually. He could have been fated. And this is my little fictional fate of Bob Ross if he hadn't appeared on TV

Starting point is 00:45:12 to make an honest but modest artists living with a home base in rural Fairbanks, Alaska. He might have been just another day. guy selling novelty paintings, Alaskan tourists, to augment his military pension. His life legacy might have only amounted to the memories of a few thousand students if he did start teaching in the sales of some competent landscape paintings that quietly hung in the living rooms of a few hundred people until with time. and of course the arbitrary tastes of new generations of those original patrons of his.

Starting point is 00:46:11 They'd inevitably be lost to history. And just like that, none of us would have ever had the opportunity to experience what Bob, this amazing person, was trying to communicate the joy of painting. His trajectory was to become much, much, much more. than that and to reach a far greater number of people. He was to become the Bob Ross, the artist, entrepreneur, celebrity, teacher. And even as Congdon Blandy and Cooleyman argue in their insightful book, we just talked about, a therapist and a healer, could be argued, and it will be.

Starting point is 00:47:30 I think convincingly so, actually. Like all legends, Bob has an interesting backstory. And to understand old Bob, it's important to follow his journey from his humble beginnings through to his tragic end, with lots of highlights and bursts of color and success in between them. He had luck and opportunity, and surely at least some artistic, innate, genetic instinct. and talent, but he wouldn't have achieved the status he did without any serious dedication that he had. And he put into his passion more than anything else, I'd say.

Starting point is 00:48:19 And we'll be tracing all these variables with the focus on Bob the man that summed up to see the individual we see in his shows now. But the tipping point definitely came with his introduction to Bill and his following mentorship. We'll see he left Florida, moved to Alaska and a few other places working in the Air Force. In a fateful series of events and a determined sense of individuality that characterized Bob led him these doors. And it's the same doors that he wanted to open for other people. with his joy of painting series. If you listen to Bob throughout the first six seasons,

Starting point is 00:49:26 you'll interestingly note him promoting and using magic white, magic white. That made the, it was crucial integral to make the wet-on-wet technique work, to make these beautiful paintings in just 26, 27 short minutes. and by about series six or seven a couple years later and he did about three to four a year you'll notice him switch technique that bill had been demonstrating on a show for years was really the key that opened the doors for bob and this is an important point and that's what success pivoted on and it's beautiful because of that to see him pay homage pay homage to Bill in the first episode of season two.

Starting point is 00:50:34 And Bob following in Bill's footsteps, as we'll see later, also relied on Bill and Bob working under him as his actual employee for a couple years on their in-person classes across the country to earn a living. And his wet-on-wet technique was crucial for teaching well before TV so in-person classes so quickly, which allowed them to finish sooner, sell more, and that's always good for business.

Starting point is 00:51:07 Now every article about Bill and Bob, make sure to remind us the general concept of a la prima, meaning, I guess Latin or Italian, for first attempt, meaning you could do it all at once in your first attempt rather than make layers of oil, you know, the background, let it dry, revisit it a few days later, taking weeks and months to finish in the more standard traditional style of painting. We're always told that that was around 500 years old, invented in Italy and Europe during the Renaissance

Starting point is 00:51:53 because Bill somewhat legitimately later claimed to have invented the Alapriamette, the wet-on-wet, as he called it, descriptively. From what I was able to learn was, in fact, owed that recognition, and that's why I'm making a point to recognize him the way I am as a key player in Bob Ross and who he, became in his successful TV show and business model. Because Bill actually was able to streamline and popularize the technique, and we'll be getting into a whole little section on Bill in his own interesting life. Very determined, marked by exceptional determinism and determination, determinism. Possibly a little bit of that, too. but just hard work in effort towards for Bill,

Starting point is 00:53:10 towards creating this technique. Bill stripped it down, usually apparently involved hundreds of supplies, and Bill was able to radically reduce the number of materials needed for it. So I'm not sure, and it's not entirely clear that Bob actually would have been able to come up with this or stumble upon it If Bill hadn't paved the way, been a traveling art instructor, developed his own magic white, that Bob in the Qualskies,

Starting point is 00:53:45 would later almost rip off. But you can't quite say rip off. That's a little manipulative. It wasn't, Bill wasn't the only one doing it, and it wasn't as magic as Bob or Bill would have, would have people to have believed. What I understand, there is a possibility that without Bill there would be no Bob

Starting point is 00:54:17 and I want to give him his due. This, I feel like it under, I feel like it highlights Bill's precedence that on PBS in the early 70s, that without which is another factor in Bob's popularity and the standard by which Bob had to go off of. You know, without both Bill and later, even the Kualski's savvy schemes I'll be getting into to give them,

Starting point is 00:55:00 you know, the devilers, the devilists do, to give them their due diligence, their fair perspective. Bob wasn't a solo act. He had events around which his life. pivoted and relied upon to make the joy of painting as successful and the legacy it has and continues to have so we can safely say that that chapter of his life definitely opened the doors to his success exiting the military going into a risky changing lanes, uh, becoming a paint instructor reaching out to Bill, finding him being determined to find and become a student of Bill after seeing him on TV. We'll be getting into all of this

Starting point is 00:56:04 in the detail later, but that's certainly a significant chapter in Bob's life, meeting the Kowalskys and that teaching her in a class in Florida. And, uh, probably, her having a background of going into risky business adventures with her husband, a CIA agent, who clearly knows a thing or two about negotiation, and having a supportive wife, a charismatic son, who played an important part in Bob's image on TV that he cultivated. All these factors went in to... make Bob's complicated legacy, his nearly, you know, 15-year run on TV, as great as it was,

Starting point is 00:57:19 and allowed him to reach as many people as he did. We'll be arguing that he is, in fact, cultural phenomenon. I'll be elaborating on it pretty extensively. And hopefully you guys will walk away with a, or wake up maybe, with a sense of, understanding Bob at a much deeper level, having more respect for the guy, having an impression of Bob that you didn't quite get with the documentary or even reading the article. If I did my job, I'll be able to have Bob make sense as a human being and a great one. Impress upon you the importance and the beauty of what Bob actually did.

Starting point is 00:58:22 and was able to accomplish with his 52 short years. The magic of oil painting was Bill's show. Bill pioneered the outward premise of Bob's show, the joy of painting. Drop the magic, drop the oil. Place the magic with joy. This was the art of producing a beautiful oil painting in just 30 minutes instead of the more usual 30 days,

Starting point is 00:58:52 like I said, that most traditional oil painting techniques took. I'll be telling Bill's own story, but, you know, it's Bob's magic that accelerated beyond, added to and accelerated beyond, I'd say, to what Bill was ultimately able to accomplish on his own. Bob's TV presence went beyond interesting painting techniques. It went beyond even a reverence for nature. in that glimmer in his eye that even Bill was known to have. Bob's magic, I'll argue, was an additional layer of depth that Bill never quite was able to tap into. And maybe it was a language barrier, but I think it's more a personality trait.

Starting point is 00:59:48 It swelled up in Bob's quiet charisma. his reserved optimism. It was in the understated, endearingly old-school American charm with which he taught Bill's technique. Bill was great, but Bob was a clear improvement on Bill. You better, you better become round.

Starting point is 01:00:15 See, they're all the happy little tricks I show you. Just have a good feeling and be happy and in love with life and your world and sat down and began playing. The title of The Joy of Painting, I think it says something in and of itself. On his painting show, Bob didn't speak to the camera lens. He spoke to the individual. He spoke to us, the one person sitting in the room right next to him, being taught by him.

Starting point is 01:00:47 He deliberately held a personal conversation. He explicitly stated that he curated the experience to be able. close private lesson in a comfortable space with someone who he personally cares about and that was new that was novel for TV in the early 80s later we learned even that he he modeled this on how he might talk to a woman in bed one-to-one interesting and perceptive given that his student base was largely women. Later, he spoke calmly, softly.

Starting point is 01:01:36 Most importantly, I'd argue sincerely, though. Being so vulnerable was exactly what allowed us, the viewer, to drop our guard when we watched him, and follow along with his premise,

Starting point is 01:01:54 just wandering through his happy little world as he created it and encouraged us and compelled us to believe that we, if we just picked up our happy little brush, could create our own too. I'd say it was a masterful display of skill to be crafting both a painting

Starting point is 01:02:19 and an experience the way Bob did throughout a whirlwind display of painting in and of itself. It was a masterful, very professional expert demonstration. He was able to maintain a wit, a natural conversation, an effortless and positive exchange with us. He was constantly affirming our fellow painters and the students of his, painting along in our living rooms, our creative choices, affirming them, not negating them. He was constantly coaxing us away from our self-deeming. preconceptions. He was always demonstrating to us how to keep an open mind. Bill could whip up

Starting point is 01:03:13 some masterful landscapes and many think he was even the better painter of the two, but it's clear that Bob's magic, I think, was his empathy, his deeply genuine, caring personality. You need to listen to an episode to just hear it in his voice. He felt love for everything. in his world. Each little bush, each little happy, happy little tree had a story of their own. They needed friends. They were homes to little forest critters,

Starting point is 01:03:48 you know, especially like his little squirrel, Pee Pee Pott Jr. And then Bobbett. Everything in his world, importantly and uniquely and sincerely, authentically, deserved

Starting point is 01:04:07 consideration and that's that's what made him endearing and to have a lasting legacy the way he did he really believed that he told it to us you know and maybe the most cherished bit of bob's philosophy that we the the viewer and hopefully fellow creator artist student person he could you know the person touched by his attempt to inspire the general audience. We deserved consideration too. I think that's the therapist part about him. He wasn't from a privileged background. He was a working class guy.

Starting point is 01:05:03 He understood the slog of daily life. The monotonous 9 to 5. He knew that most weren't tuning in to actively follow the detailed painting instructions. He knew that most people were just watching him like they watch we all watch TV and now YouTube and whatnot to take a break to check out, you know He knew most were there for an escape to relax and he was okay with that over the years as an instructor He taught thousands of students he on the road, put in the work for years teaching at hundreds of venues all across America,

Starting point is 01:05:56 thousands of students, sometimes only one showed up, sometimes the classes were packed, and his show was a huge conduit for getting that message out. But that had an important effect in shaping his understanding of who, he was actually talking to on the show. He actually had an example, a demonstration, an instance, he understood who his viewer was, his average person. He knew their struggles. He knew the obstacles getting in the way of picking up the paintbrush. And even the ones after they did pick it up, he was making that sincere connection with his students, that, that made him who he was really Alexander Cruz I mentioned before I reached out to plenty of people

Starting point is 01:07:09 as many as I could including his son Dana Jester didn't get any responses I did get one back from a former student of Bob's so Alexander was kind enough to respond to me and he only reinforced. I was, reinforced my positive image of Bob. Actually, he added depth to it, which is exactly what I was hoping for. It was really cool and really, um, I'm really grateful that Alexander allowed me to, you know, to not only hear another story, but also tell you guys a story about him and Bob in the 90s. watching a space launch happily enough I guess for my channel being

Starting point is 01:07:59 mostly astronomy based so this just made me like him more but also gave me a lot more respect for just being an example of Bob's vision and his forward thinking

Starting point is 01:08:19 his progressive his imagination his just the way he lived like and what positivity and clearly how he was able to impress the people he interacted with. Cruz says that he was only 17 years old when Bob took him under his wing and taught him the real joy of painting. He was his mentor and he said he was like a father to him. He would take any chance.

Starting point is 01:09:00 any opportunity to teach him life lessons as well so he was a student and he would he he lived uh bob taught in detona beach florida around there um the shop is in new smyrna which is not far away from there and that's fairly close within say about an hour 45 minutes from kennedy space center with a rocket and a lot of rocket launches in Florida Cape Cape Canarrel is and so you could see rocket launches all the time and they were at a hotel convention the first CRI certified Ross instructor reunion at a hotel on the beach and Alexander says how Bob was always putting big dreams big dreams into his head anytime He could. So he said we were at the convention. We had a blast there the whole week. It was scheduled. There was a rocket launch scheduled during the same week. And so they all, of course, went out to the beach, out to their hotel balconies to watch it. And he was saying he was 17. He was there with his mom in the room and he looked down and saw Bob motion him from his balcony to come join him. So he turned around, asked his mom and said, hey, I'm going down. with Bob Bob and he said he went in sat down and Bob started talking about the current

Starting point is 01:10:43 events and things and when we saw the rocket he told me quote how wonderful it is that men can achieve something like this just imagine you Alexander could be the first artist to paint the earth from the moon how beautiful is that how impactful must that have been to hear your mentor tell you you could do something so astounding so unimaginably futuristic you know how far into the vision how expansive does that make your sense of possibility with your life i thought that was so beautiful And he said, remember that this is the guy who I admired. Yeah, and he's telling me to dream big.

Starting point is 01:11:40 That conversation, says Alexander, that stood with me in my mind and in my heart very palpably since then. He said, like I said, he always had advice for me, tips for life. That's one of the things I loved about him. And he says he's got many more stories like that. And there's one more in particular I'm going to share with you guys later on. That was also a great example of another aspect of Bob's mentorship. And who he was as a person spoke a lot in volumes about his character. And I think I chose to put that there talking about Bob's empathy and personality beyond in addition to.

Starting point is 01:12:35 It wasn't a substitute for his lack of mastery and skill and discipline and competence as both instructor and painter and TV show host which is probably probably not easy to do. You could see in the first couple seasons he's a little shaky, a little, it's kind of like me now. He's a little, you know, unseasoned in his ability to be at ease with the screen. It's cool watching over, what was it, 11 seasons, something like that. Him get more and more comfortable and at home, talking to us at home. By the time Bob had started his show.

Starting point is 01:13:34 and 82. Even though there was a learning curve for him to develop his TV persona, he'd already honed his teaching style. He had already been on the road. His wife, faithfully, he and his wife, faithfully partnering with the Kowalskys, Kowalskis we'll be talking about soon. They took a huge financial risk at the start of their venture. This wasn't any guarantee.

Starting point is 01:14:04 success by any means but Bob had recognized along with the people around him to support him what he had and he'd climbed out on a limb in search of the fruit that he always proverbially yeah proverbially encouraged us to do as well as well so now in 22 of course we have the advantage of hindsight his YouTube channel has over half a billion views probably a lot more if you know by the time you're watching this we see that the tacit experience the the unspoken experience going on there between Bob his audience was went far deeper than the match I mean the liquid white liquid white his landscapes rested upon in fact it could be argued as

Starting point is 01:15:09 concton does there's two by the way but he painted landscapes specifically was not just a thoughtless mechanism of medium for him to transmit his message it was actually maybe possibly the most apt medium and subject matter Bob could have chosen for it so as he walked us through his own imagination he used the developing scene as it appeared on canvas with all its understood intricacy and ecology to help us appreciate our own creativity and to have gratitude for even the smallest bushes

Starting point is 01:16:14 all the most crooked trees and to have a gratitude for all the analogous moments in our own lives that's not to say though he couldn't have expressed it through you know different mediums I just think it it made

Starting point is 01:16:32 and makes sense the more we'll be stringing that argument together later you know there's plenty of other examples music cooking dancing maybe even I thought

Starting point is 01:16:48 carpenter I watch a lot of I've been renovating we've been remodeling our house recently and I I've been watching a lot of YouTube artists and DIYers and and people teaching how to general advice,

Starting point is 01:17:08 work on your car, construction, a lot of tradesmen and tradespeople. And I was thinking I could definitely imagine a carpenter, you know, a soft-spoken woman or, you know, an old, griseled old man, doing it teaching us in a Bob Ross style, softly measuring, scribing and cutting the wood. piece by piece guiding us through the process of you know putting together an end table something

Starting point is 01:17:39 just a few ingredients sprinkling throughout of their personal musings about beauty and life anecdotes from their own lives i'm definitely tuning to that you know so it's not necessary that painting is the medium but i'll argue and congden makes a great point that it helps and it helps get the message across. And it's perfectly just harmonious with what Bob's, Bob's own philosophy was. It's within this frame of helpful instruction and his apt choice of grand natural landscapes

Starting point is 01:18:26 that Bob's legacy fully forms. I think it's most apparent in the companionship he offered the viewer. his earnest message of hope that might have had the most lasting effect especially on those who need it because he understood that his overtly cheerful attitude that's so many found endearing

Starting point is 01:18:52 it wasn't an artifice and that's the beautiful part about Bob from what I've learned about him so far over dozens of like dozens of as much as I could read and find about him It actually came from a place of serious concern and understanding for those in pain. Old Bob really believed the folk wisdom he often shared with us.

Starting point is 01:19:19 You know, it wasn't just a cheap gimmick. It was his gimmick, but it was sincere and true to him and his character. He apparently lived, laughed, and loved with the best of Cairns. But during that living, he'd also been touched by tragedy. as the joy of painting series progressed from 82 to 95 Ede especially in the early 90s you can see it like when he puts the dead tree in episode 5 of season 28 I think was about 92

Starting point is 01:20:02 what is a pitiful looking old tree he had a rough life he's like me and by 92 he had definitely been there often during filming he actually was there and he was there 52 years um he'd experience divorce rifts serious chronic health issues we'll be addressing that later to multiple losses close to him most of this it was all um some was before but a lot of it was during his run at the joy of painting and somehow he fused it he didn't let it define the show but he definitely artfully incorporated it into his message and his persona so I think from this his personal aim was more nuanced than just a money-making machine of an army of painters and students you know he

Starting point is 01:21:12 was interested in that too he was a trying to support his family but he travel all he traveled all across America like I said because he'd put in the work because he'd put in the work because he'd put in the work, I think he really had his ear to the ground. Because he was an outsider himself, and he knew how to sit back and perceive what worked, what didn't, what people really were like, what spoke to them, and he was able to. He, to me, from everything I read, everything I saw about him, all the stories, the anecdotes, He was just a salt of the earth guy. He was down to earth.

Starting point is 01:22:00 And he had a sense of how liberating learning to paint for the average person really could be. That paint on that canvas, you are doing something that up until that moment was in a couple of tubes and a blank canvas. And you're taking those same exact things and full of just a little bit of energy. You've taken this and made it into a creative and a wonderful thing. His mission was about demystifying this whole thing. it seems so formidable to many intimidating like i said earlier it's um not something people lightly think oh yeah i could do that i could i could i could paint let's let's go sign up for a class and i'm sure i'll it'll be a success his mission was to tell us that yeah you know it it really

Starting point is 01:22:45 isn't that hard and when you start yes it's something you got to work at build your skill doing but it's worth it he once remarked on his ambition to spread joy and where it comes from to an interview saying quote saying we've been brainwashed to believe that Michelangelo

Starting point is 01:23:09 had to pat you on the head at birth and well we're showing people that anybody can paint a picture that they're proud of and he says you know might not hang in the Smithsonian which they made a point in the documentary that he actually does he is part of an American cultural history exhibit nowadays in the Smithsonian.

Starting point is 01:23:31 So he had in a TV appearance denied that he would ever, you know, his art would ever be good enough to merit that. But very, I keep using the word apt, but it is perfectly cohesive with the narrative of Congdon and really just the truth about. Bob it wasn't necessarily his painting it was more so his interaction engagement and then what he used the instruction of painting for that made him who he was never stops to amaze me as we travel around teaching this method to watch people

Starting point is 01:24:12 who've never painted in only a day or two produce a painting that just they can't believe it and it's appropriate that he would be featured at the Smithsonian in the Smithsonian as an icon in a cultural figure as well as an artist maybe I should say so the joy painting season 29 episode 7 for instance any person who is ever wanted to put a dream on canvas you can do it and that was his message you don't have to go to school half your life you know drown in debt you don't have to know Leonardo and Da Vinci as a personal friend. You can do it. You see them, their eyes light up, and they become so excited, and they can do it, and you can do it. All you can do is pick up a brush

Starting point is 01:25:06 and try. Like Bill, just like Bill, Alexander's mentor, Bob wanted to remove the barrier to entry. You do it, that's all it is. That's the whole idea about that TV series here. Don't cry, don't cry, you finish it yourself. But then you know the power of yourself. Okay. So that those of us without access to mentorship, so many of us don't have that luxury, you know, would be encouraged to take that first, intimidating first step in through the door.

Starting point is 01:25:47 He thought he taught thousands of students and thought, that's all it took was to get your foot in the door. and once in we too could experience the same joy he did when we were watching him on his show create and all the while encourage us too and to me that applies to so many things in life it's what i'm trying to do here you know i'm just trying to relay what gives me joy and it's not only the content but it's being able to communicate and hear hear back from you guys too uh what you guys found interesting about my my own interests how we can relate or what you your own interests that might not necessarily overlap with mine and that's a beautiful

Starting point is 01:26:39 thing that we can have this evolving dialogue about what interests us and that anybody I always encourage people to make their own YouTube channel and you know do do this do this yourself in the same way by wanted people to paint I think it's it is an unprecedented availability that we have this technology right in our hands in our pockets don't need anything to get started you can work your way up get equipment these were donations and I'm eternally grateful I freely am for all of you guys but before I get on too much of a the me show

Starting point is 01:27:25 get off my soapbox get off my soapbox I talk too much sometime shoot I do have a lot of respect because of that in what Bill and Bob both how they've

Starting point is 01:27:42 preceded me they're my predecessors and how they've influenced me a lot in what I'm doing here so by this point you might think I'm painting too, going a little too heavy on the Elyzeron crimson there

Starting point is 01:27:59 and painting too rosy of a picture. Maybe you think I'm laying on that old Elyzeron crimson a bit too thick. I did want to acknowledge the obvious being that I am so influenced by, you know, I'm going to have an obvious inherent bias. And so it might be prone to overlook any negative aspects about Bob. I specifically, because of this, tried to remain objective and uh because i knew the rant i ran the risk of of leaning too far into his

Starting point is 01:28:51 squeaky clean public image that bob ross ink has so meticulously crafted over the years for decades now in fact you know but after a few books uh two documentaries dozens of episodes probably hundred at least um that i have watched which is still not even tip of the iceberg with his 400 episodes that he made dozens of articles couple interviews comments forums you know Alexander Cruz and there's one other person that interacted with him and knew him as an acquaintance I was able to talk to and we'll mention later I found that you know we have full license to get as sappy as one of Bob's happy little trees about him in his legacy. Yeah, that was kind of lame, I know, but... Because he's as stand-up of a guy as we all probably thought he was to begin with.

Starting point is 01:30:07 I want to just understand what drove him, what motivated him. We're going to get, like I said, a little bit into the truth that's out there about his company's relationship with him. in their legacy a little bit but primarily this is all about Bob I did in all fairness

Starting point is 01:30:37 I want to talk about Bob's the sad little maybe some of the great clouds hanging over some of him in his legacy he was married three times I thought for sure

Starting point is 01:31:06 when I found this out initially you know it'd be a smear on his character the first wife Vicky who actually appears in the documentary at Steve's mom Vicky I'm sure like any divorce

Starting point is 01:31:23 especially with a child involved it's not going to be pretty but she had nothing but glowing remarks to say it still does apparently as we'll see so nothing

Starting point is 01:31:38 too negative there his second wife he was married three times he would assume he's been divorced twice second wife died of cancer in 1992 that was more of a tragedy than anything Steve admits in the Netflix documentary that you know his mom and dad had a shaky parts of the relationship referencing his second wife but um He says he recalls Bob and Jane worked it out. It was heartbreaking to hear Bob's gratitude for her and the for the condolences given to her in his 1992 one of his episodes that he'd mentioned the previous season in the following season. He'd got so much, so many letters, so many call-ins, so much of a warm response to his tragedy.

Starting point is 01:32:53 It was really sad to hear that. In the last series I happened to mention that I had lost my wife. I have received hundreds and hundreds of cards from people all over the country from the bottom of my heart. Thank you for sharing my grief and for making my wife a very special person in your life too. Despite the ups and downs, as all relationships have, Bob cared very much about her, Jane, his second wife.

Starting point is 01:33:24 His third wife was a last-minute marriage. It was his nurse, reportedly, Linda, Linda Brown. You know, certainly surrounded by peculiar circumstances, most of which is honestly better watched in the documentary in the Daily Beast article by, Ramsey um they make that pretty clear it was regarding his deathbed legal feud that will i'll touch upon him i'll elaborate upon actually more than touch upon we'll get into the details on that but although i couldn't find much about that relationship per se and she seems to be all but non-existent as far as internet present It doesn't say anything negative about Bob or her

Starting point is 01:34:25 For wanting to protect his name and likeness from people He apparently at the end of his life Tragically had been partners with and had a falling out with subsequently Ultimately, I think the biggest smudge I saw on Bob's reputation And it was a little gray cloud hanging over his relationship with his mentor Bill Alexander and Bill seemed like such a sweetheart of a guy so it was sad to hear this there's a few you look at a lot of Bill and Bob's videos on YouTube you'll see a lot of people referencing Bill and his influence on Bob and there was some potential

Starting point is 01:35:17 subversion going on with the Bob's Bill's prologue. partnering with the Kowalski's while he was traveling for Bill's company and starting his own business and eventually shifting into creating his own of oddly you know closely oddly oddly oddly oddly oddly oddly similar products as Bill but the story's not clear cut there's no and there's some conflicting accounts as we'll see but um i think yeah i put in some examples here it was sad and they clearly had a falling out and never reconciled given i would say mostly given bob's unfortunate health declining health pretty rapidly but i'm going to make a case that you know bob wasn't ultimately deceitful fundamentally showed character and concern and

Starting point is 01:36:43 greatly revered and paid proper homage to Bill as Bob ascended the ranks of TV cultural stardom, even if towards the end he wasn't willing to mention Bill, as he quote, quoted to a New York Times article columnist, he's our biggest competitor now, and he was. He was because Bob's business model, Bob Rosson, it still is to this day was a direct competitor to Alexander Art. But I don't think you can say anything truly, you know, scathing about Bob. It was an unfortunate business conflict, we'll say. You know, Bill possibly even, I found him one comment on a video here, encouraged Bob and his partners to start selling their own lines.

Starting point is 01:37:58 He encouraged him to... quote when commoner says to start his own art supply company because he literally couldn't keep up with the demand and bill was pretty uh bill was getting pretty successful with his own art instruction and the model bob and the koalski's copied was to have the show which promoted for free which promoted the um gave him exposure and promoted his traveling art classes in all across the nation in which bob would not only teach one-off students but would also actually create his own certified bob ross instructors that was alexander's exact model and they added profit to their company by selling

Starting point is 01:38:54 making and selling their own paints and paint supplies so there was a a certain amount of attention there because Bob was greatly profiting Bill through Bob's own exposure and promotion of Bill's products like we said the first few years as the joy of painting radically and rapidly accelerated and exposure and was getting getting you know getting taken on I guess being showed by an increasing number of an exponential number of PBS stations across the country I guess every local station has their own rights to their own right to choose what their program is they just mostly all tend to copy the programming schedules and the same programs that others do so it was interesting that at a certain point there was you know Bob never reached

Starting point is 01:40:07 a hundred percent pvs exposure i guess there was a few holdouts and there was like five percent or something like that that for one reason or another i guess they decided they're either they had a personal vendetta against bob or someone in his company maybe or they just didn't have the demand locally i guess So there is that. And we could even see here, Bill actively promoted. Turning over Bill Alexander's technique and his legacy to Bob Ross. I hand over now that almighty brush to almighty man and that is Bob Ross.

Starting point is 01:40:50 Thank you very much, Bill. So they clearly, you know, had an act of a very, what's the word, reciprocal relationship you know but you know Bill was sad about that and you know he cried apparently heavily he said he betrayed me I invented wet on wet I trained him and he is copying me it's not what bothers me is that he betrayed me but that he thinks he can do it better it was sad to hear that's why I'm spending so much time talking about it but whether as teacher or television personality or friend or father builds bitterness towards Bob's imitation, was the only negative remarks I could find about Bob across all these sources.

Starting point is 01:41:59 And I'll argue that regardless of the origin of Bob's company, it's not enough to undermine Bob's solid reputation in my eyes. Where Bob and the Kowalski is a little too liberal in their inspiration from, you know, or Bill Alexander, probably, most likely they were, but Bill purposely publicized his technique, and this was one part, again, that reinforces my opinion on it. He says in his own documentary that he was well aware of the risk of imitators. ...once in my lifetime, either I teach or I paint and don't show the technique.

Starting point is 01:42:39 I would like to dedicate this show to my beloved friend and teacher, whom we've all watched and loved for. for many years on public television, Bill Alexander. So I decided to teach and I became an almighty teacher and I could show my technique to everyone that wants to see it and I made a lot of people very, very happy. And years ago Bill taught me this fantastic technique and I feel as though he gave me a precious gift and I'd like to share that gift with you. I think if someone wanted to create a smear campaign, not against Bob Ross, Incorporated,

Starting point is 01:43:18 and it doesn't seem too difficult to do but about Bob should be a much more demanding task It would be the profit motive even back then with Bob you know at the end of the day I would suggest that we all need money to purchase products and and in be able to live and raise our support our family and raise our children You know Bob even have leisure um you need you need money um you know a step beyond just basic necessities to pursue your interest to to have leisure to take vacations and experience and travel you need to have disposable income to do something more than you know have some sort of sense of self identity and life experience

Starting point is 01:44:16 beyond just what we quote do for work. So I'm not in the business of knocking anybody that's not only making a profit, but being able to do something almost, what's the word, the promorphic, but philanthropic. Almost philanthropic. I mean, it's just a beautiful, larger gift to humanity by making his show

Starting point is 01:44:51 free on public television. It's no stretch to say that almost anything can be commodified, which is what I'm getting at. And it's abused quite a bit. And I'll make a point that Bob, that's the one area you criticize him on, is that he was making a profit. He's doing it in a much more ethical way than some examples here. I thought I'd throw out. Bob was encouraging his customers, and clients to create something of their own not just consume something of his he was teaching a skill as much as he was developing a product and selling a product and um yeah the beautiful part was his business model integrated self-development at its core i think there's plenty of worse ideas for business models out there uh business enterprises center around

Starting point is 01:46:02 centered around ecology, ideology, and even spirituality, unfortunately enough, go far more profoundly into the absurd than one could ever say a Bob and his company and his self-aware wholesomeness. Some examples I found was the Che store, Che Guevara, the communist dictator. A literal anti-capitalism online store Didn't see a shred of awareness and self-irony either Or self-awareness and irony Apparently even the sacred is for sale To one New York Times columnist Went to New York, sorry, New York Post

Starting point is 01:46:47 Who went on an ayahuasca retreat in Costa Rica And had his eyes open for only $3,500. Sort of maybe $2 million of inflation now but uh yeah so you could sell pretty much anything and bob very much on brand was happy to be capitalizing and his ability to support his family pursue his dream and promise joy as an endeavor that he really found consolation in and he did it on a variety of levels his company relied on selling paint products and classes but what most don't realize is like I hinted at earlier is that both the show and the several versions of his completed paintings that he did for each show he did one as a

Starting point is 01:47:50 reference painted it before the program started in fact he did all 13 episodes of the season in a few short days he just recorded them in bursts so he would paint 13 paintings and then have them there as references out of frame so he knew how to follow along where to go you know wasn't as spontaneous as he let on and he painted one for this book in fact so for this one this he did an episode on this one but this actual painting in the photographs here was a third painting reference the tv show and for the book here for that. Another thing. A lot of people ask us what we do with all these paintings that we do on TV. Most of them are used to go into the books that we do.

Starting point is 01:48:46 Now to book. One of these for each season. In this book is a best of, greatest hits. Kind of. All these paintings were, and the show were free. Any paintings he ever sold were given the charity, donated. usually to the local PBS stations, different various ones. Largely he advertised this in his show. But all the rest of them, we donate them to PBS stations all around the country into charity organizations for them to make a happy buck with. They were based on participation, viewers calling into the show, wanting to purchase a painting in which the shows would,

Starting point is 01:49:44 You know, he would keep track of the stations to which viewers called in looking for a painting, and he would donate some of his paintings. So if you would like to have one, one of the easiest ways to get it is to call your PBS station and say, hey, you know, get one of Bob's paintings for your next auction, and we'll be glad to donate one to him. And it helps everybody out. You get better programming that way in the PBS station. He puts a happy book in his pocket.

Starting point is 01:50:14 where he saw there was a demand and they would auction it off the profits of which would just go to supporting the local channel which is largely government funded and you get a you get a painting so keep that in mind if you want one just let your station know and even the ones he didn't give away he generally generally just gave them to friends and families. The certified Ross instructor, the business model was essentially, you pay about $400, get certified over a couple weeks, to become an instructor

Starting point is 01:51:03 who was legitimated and could teach Bob's style, his company's style. And the business model was that he, you were encouraged because you were taught using Bob's simplified toolkit of paints you know only about a dozen paints made all the paintings a lot of times as we'll see with Thomas Concade you have hundreds at

Starting point is 01:51:31 least dozens multiple dozens of paints Bob used one dozen oftentimes only you know no more than a handful per painting simple tools used two-inch brush which is almost unheard of for someone painting somewhat fine art like he did it was a very low startup cost for him and the instructors were heavily encouraged to you know use their products so although they reaped profits from the products that they were able to sell during their own teachings They didn't have to pay any residuals, no royalties, after becoming certified, and they themselves could branch out and teach. It could be misconstrued as a pyramid scheme because it's like the head of the pyramid is Bob Ross Incorporated.

Starting point is 01:52:40 They make all these little lower rungs that go out and then themselves teach more certified instructors. But they were teaching not only instructors. but teaching others to paint and encouraging them to go home and just paint themselves and continue and they unlike a pyramid scheme Ponzi scheme their model wasn't based on continuing to paint with with with the instructors their model was encouraging them to continue to buy the Bob Ross paints but also the self-developed development that comes in the self-actualization that comes with just getting your foot in the door with Bob's landscapes and floral paintings as a beginner level introduction to painting and as we'll find out Bob actually

Starting point is 01:53:42 encouraged a ton of professional artists people to go into art schools that probably never would have young children to paint and And, you know, these didn't become Bob Ross instructors. They became artists. And their life was probably much more enriched because of it. It's a beautiful thing. So in the end, the point is that this whole business, it really pivoted on Bob's personality more than anything else, I'd suggest. A huge aspect of the likability that he gave away for free on public.

Starting point is 01:54:24 television. Was his frankness, his authenticity, his plainness of speech? You know, he didn't dress his technique up in any fancy terms, as we'll put here. I think maybe we need some trees that are even closer. By putting all these layers in your painting or planes, as they're called, it helps create that illusion of depth and distance in your world. Once again, back to the old fan brush loaded full of color. And he didn't sell you the rest of the lesson after you paid him a check and you know put up a paywall to uh you know get access to the rest of the content he deliberately dressed it down and gave the whole instruction away up front he sure he had other instructional videos that were longer than 25 minutes and went into

Starting point is 01:55:16 more detail because of that he had in-person classes that you could pay four hundred dollars for which was a large sum of money back then. That wasn't necessary to get started. He gave you everything you needed to get started up front with his free show. He made it so that you could actually follow along with the show. Bob was simply making the happy buck, like Bill Alexander often said, prided himself on to doing good in the world.

Starting point is 01:55:56 his business it definitely profited from the exposure to the show like I said about the business model but the experience he was offering on it the joy he was offering was pure he's remembered so fondly today because of this reason he was authentically glad to be sharing his experience of joy with us and authentic is the exact word that's that's in vogue term these days marketable you know to be a authentic YouTube personality um authentic uh I don't know

Starting point is 01:56:38 Instagram influencer but that's what Bob was when it's real it is marketable because it's an enduring it's an archetypal ideal of the human

Starting point is 01:56:53 personality is to be authentic not to have two thick of a persona, not be concealing a more genuine self. But being who you are in public, I mean, oftentimes, a mark of a, a stand-up person, is the gain of their status in proportion to how similar they act in public and with strangers as they do with people they know and behind closed doors so to speak one of the most beautiful i got a whole bunch of quotes from them but um a really emblematic one of this is that he said you can

Starting point is 01:57:44 have anything you want in the world there you go with the encouragement up front but he follows that with once you help the people around you get what they want and that's so true and i'll elaborate on in the future. You know, Steve, his son said, that was the whole idea behind Bob Ross, that he was going to teach people that they could be valuable, that they could be important in the world. In a world that's so oversaturated with, you know, cheap technology and in a devaluation of labor continually with automation and AI and industrial mechanisms. And just the overpopulation in you know putting 35 students in a classroom with one teacher you can't expect that teacher to be able to relay give the one-on-one time that's there and needed and relay the

Starting point is 01:58:44 be able to detect and relay to the student their value and their own unique skills and work on that you know it has to be a very unfortunately generic curriculum and it takes a rare breed for a teacher to be able to you know have the energy and have the determination and dedication to be able to give the individual instruction that's required to really let a lot of people know that they they got a lot to offer and that's what Bob was doing. I think he was supplementing this lack in the culture in American, clearly all around the world. The empathy, the individual instruction, and communication of hope, most importantly. Everyone I saw interviewed about Bob, who knew him, said that he was the genuine, the genuine article. said he loved seeing people's reaction to learning to maintain a gesture being an important one here In the documentary also

Starting point is 02:00:07 Quote to me the first step in accomplishing Anything is to believe that you can do it And I know you can do it that's that's a whole other Level of encouragement It's not just say hey you should do this, but to say I know you can do this I get so many letters from people that are very that have tried this and it's working for him and whole new worlds have been discovered it's a beautiful thing and even if he was able uh he was known to have borrowed some of his sayings and rehearsed his sultry style

Starting point is 02:00:44 even if his live paintings like i said weren't as spontaneous as they let on his belief in the good that's in all our hearts in his genuine manner that he encouraged and promoted and especially my young friends. There's so many young people all over the country who write and you can't believe what they're painting. Just absolutely can't believe. Believed in us to be able to be good. And it creates an interest in art and a caring for nature and any time you can instill

Starting point is 02:01:24 that in a young person it's so fantastic because they're the greatest people in the world. Help out. Create something good. Be someone good. It's what really mattered. And that's what really showed through. Steve said on the documentary,

Starting point is 02:01:41 he said, what we do here now, he said that bit Bob said to him, what we do here now, people will remember forever. And for a lot of things that's televised and made digital, recorded, it's true.

Starting point is 02:01:56 It really is. And we got to keep this old planet together, boy, because it's all we got at this point. Maybe one day we'll have something else. Right now, though, this is it, so we have to take care of it. But Bob's legacy is, you know, not Bob Ross, the painter, Bob Ross, the paint salesman, the instructor, Bob Ross, the TV show host. I think it's Bob Ross the friend. I think everybody needs a friend. Even a tree, even an old tree, deserves a friend.

Starting point is 02:02:36 Thank you more than anyone. For enjoying and watching our show, we sincerely hope that we teach you something here. Have a super day. God bless. We look forward to seeing you again. Bye-bye. Get off my soapbox. I talk too much sometime.

Let's Find Out - (Pt. 1) Bob Ross Deep Dive: His Legacy

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