The Joy of Painting is aptly named. The shows are 30 years old and Ross himself died in 1995 but their popularity remains undiminished. Part of the reason for this is Ross himself, a gentle, permanently smiling man with a voice like a soft drawer-closer gadget and a 'fro that Shaft would 'pop a cap in yo ass' for.
Now, I'll be first to admit that I'd never hang a Bob Ross painting on my wall. But that's not due to snobbery. Ross was a very competent painter. However, as we've discussed in previous blogposts, taste in art is a very personal thing and Bob's paintings are just not to my taste.
But I do love to watch him paint. It's so relaxing. It's like a comfort blanket. It's like therapy.
And on one particular episode I was so struck by something that Ross said that I wrote it down. It was this:
‘I got a letter from somebody here a while back, and they said, 'Bob, everything in your world seems to be happy.' That's for sure. That's why I paint. It's because I can create the kind of world that I want, and I can make this world as happy as I want it. Shoot, if you want bad stuff, watch the news.’
It reminded me that, a few years ago, I did the same thing as Bob. I stopped watching the news. You see, I'd realised that, if I looked at my life, almost everything that made me sad or angry or frustrated and impotent happened somewhere other than where I live. And it was nearly always something that I had absolutely no degree of control over, like war or crime or politics or global pandemics. And I asked myself ... how I would feel if I only looked to my own immediate environs? What if I stopped reading newspapers? What if I stopped watching TV news? Would the loss of knowing what was going on elsewhere diminish my life? There was only one way to find out.
So I stopped being a news junkie. And I suddenly found myself in a much happier place.
I'm no longer an infomaniac. I've left Twitter. I don't visit any newspaper websites or follow clickbait headlines. I don't watch current affairs shows. I don't watch confrontational reality shows. And, at the moment, I'd rate my personal happiness and satisfaction as about 9/10.
Ignorance truly is bliss.
That Bob Ross knew a thing or two I reckon.
Watching an episode of The Joy of Painting is a very good way to unwind. It's gentle, relaxing and it fills you with a sense of calm. In fact, college students have latched onto the show as a way to cope with stress. There was a recent Radio 4 programme all about the phenomenon. You can hear it on BBC Sounds by clicking here.
Me? I get even more enjoyment out of the show by playing Bob Ross Bingo. I created a Bingo Card especially for the purpose. Ross's shows are littered with catchphrases and oft-repeated idioms and you'll get a good sprinkling of them in every episode. See how many you can spot over a week of shows.
Oh, incidentally, even if I did want to own a Bob Ross painting I'd probably have a job finding any. There are simply none for sale anywhere, which is amazing if you consider that he painted at least 26 canvases per series (2 per episode as he always did one off camera as practice) and there were 31 series of The Joy of Painting.
But, finally, we now know where they all are, as explained in this documentary:
Watch Bob Ross instead of the Nine O'Clock News.
You'll be a happier person for it.
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