Bob Ross

Bob Ross was thrice married. His first marriage was to Vivian Ridge in 1965 and and had a son, Steven Ross. Like his father, Steven was a talented painter and had mastered senior Ross’s technique. He even became a Ross-certified instructor on ‘The Joy of Painting’. Ross and Vivan divorced in 1977.

He then married Jane Ross in 1977, who eventually died of cancer in 1992.

In 1994, Ross was diagnosed with lymphoma. The illness forced his early retirement. He was last seen in the final episode of the show that aired on May 17, 1994.

Bob Ross was born on October 29, 1942 in Daytona Beach, Florid,a to Jack and Ollie Ross. While his father worked as a carpenter, his mother was a waitress. Young Ross spent much of his growing up years in Orlando, Florida. He had a half-brother, Jim.

Bob Ross studied only till class 9, after which he dropped out of school to assist his father as a carpenter. It was then that he lost a part of his left index finger. The loss, however, was inconsequential when it came to learn the art of painting.

At the age of 18, Bob Ross was enlisted in the United States Air Force, where he worked as a medical records technician. Subsequently, he rose to the rank of ‘Master Sergeant’, serving the U.S. Air Force Clinic at Eielson Air Force Base in Alaska. The lofty Alaskan mountains and the scenic landscapes became a muse for many of his works.

During his military career, he developed artistic skills after attending an art class at the Anchorage USO Club. He used his break time to create art and worked on his painting technique. In his 20 years of military service, his painting skills improved significantly. He mastered the ‘wet-on-wet’ painting style that allowed him to finish painting on the inside of novelty gold pans in less than 30 minutes.

Ross became more and more involved in painting to the point that he started earning more by selling his painted gold pans than he did at his military job. It was then that he retired from the Air Force, as a ‘Master Sergeant’, completing 20 years of service, in 1981.

Immediately after retiring from the military, he started promoting his painting technique. However, the effort did not pay off well. After two years of struggle, Ross finally launched his flagship television show, ‘The Joy of Painting’, as an attempt to cater to a wider audience. The show had its first run on January 11, 1983.

‘The Joy of Painting’ provided a resurgence for Ross’s career graph. Through it, he taught his viewers a quick-study technique in oil painting that used a restricted palette of paints, and broke down the process into simple steps.

Bob Ross’s greatest contribution as a painter has been his effort to resurface the historical art form ‘alla prima’ or ‘direct painting’ which is more popularly known as ‘wet-on-wet’ technique. Though oil painters have used this technique since the 16th century, the art form lost its popularity during the later centuries until Ross made efforts for its resurgence. What’s more, he not only popularized the technique, but marketed a special line of paints and stationeries to make it handy for new painters.