Awesome / The Joy of Painting

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• Look at his show. He turns a blank white or black canvas into an entire landscape in under half an hour.
• PBS streaming the show on Twitch. 51,000 viewers.
  • 185,000 viewers during the final episode and 3,000,000 total views within a week.
• The official Bob Ross YouTube channel uploaded a random episode from the series every week or so. In January 2017, they finally finished uploading the entire series. All 403 (31 thirteen-part seasons) episodes of it.
• Everybody has it in them to be an artist, everybody. You have it in you to be an artist, you just need to believe in yourself. Bob believes in you. Even if you don't produce masterpieces it doesn't matter because the real value is just enjoying the experience of creating something.
• If you're unaware of the "transparent colour over black" trick the addition of white to a black canvas resulting in an explosion of colour that seems to come from nowhere is pretty mind-blowing. Ross suggested using that trick when painting in front of others without telling them about it beforehand, as it was guaranteed to impress.
• Also counts a moment of Heartwarming Moment, but it fits here too: A fan approached Ross saying they could never paint something like Ross due to being colorblind. Ross' response? Paint an entire snowy landscape with whites, blacks, and greys. All to show that ANYONE can paint.
• Art critics sometimes derided Ross' work as kitschy, with Ross himself good-naturedly conceding his paintings "probably wouldn't hang at the Smithsonian." Fast forward to the present day, and guess whose paintings have been acquired by the Smithsonian American History Museum? Hint: Not the critics!

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