Before The Joy Of Painting

Robert Norman Ross was an American painter on television. He was the host of the show The Joy Of Painting. When Bob was in the 9th grade he dropped out to help his dad doing carpentry. When Bob turned 18 he enlisted in the United states air force. For twenty years Bob was in the air force and eventually was a master sergeant. Having held military positions that required him to be, in his own words, “tough” and “mean”, “the guy who makes you scrub the latrine, the guy who makes you make your bed, the guy who screams at you for being late to work.” Ross decided that if he ever left the military, he would never yell or raise his voice again.

He lost part of his left index finger when he was a kid in a woodworking accident while working with his dad, who was a carpenter.In 1995 he married his wife Lynda Brown, they were married for around 2 months before Bob died of lymphoma. Bob had lymphoma for for about a year before. 

Interesting Details

Lifetime Paintings
TV Show Episodes
On Air Paintings

Painting Facts

Occasionally he would strike the brush hard on the trash can saying he “hit the bucket” and then on the easel. He would smile and often laugh aloud as he said to “beat the Devil out of it”. Many of his paintings were landscapes he’d seen in Alaska  while he lived there.  There is a conspiracy theory that he  was a serial killer and  all his landscapes and places he’d painted was where he hid the bodies. I don’t think that but it’s funny to hear. His paintings are now sold for around 5-10,000 dollars. 

Joy Of Painting

Blue Ridge Falls

“I can’t think of anything more rewarding than being able to express yourself to other through painting”

Bob Ross

How Many Was That?

When painting he would usually make one painting before filming and copy it when he was filming for a reference. He obviously painted the second painting on screen. Then after filming he would create a more detailed version to put into an instructional book. It is estimated that he painted around 30,000 paintings. He was known for his happy little trees and happy accidents. Though I don’t think he made any accidents based on how many painting he’s made. 

Life Outside Of TV

 Bob first got married in 1965 to Vivian Ridge. They had two sons, Bob jr. and Steven. In 1977 he divorced her and got married to Jane Ross. They were married for 15 years until she died of cancer. In 1983 Bob started the Joy of Painting. Bob loved animals, he was almost always taking care of a baby squirrel or his famous raccoon. He also took care of injured animals or armadillos, snakes and alligators.


Bobs technique was different from a lot of other painters. He would put a wet layer of white oil paint and continue painting with other wet paint. He called this wet on wet painting. From the beginning, the program kept the selection of tools and colors simple so that viewers would not have to make large investments in expensive equipment.

Why I Admire Bob Ross

I admire him because he was a great painter and he loved taking care of animals. He painted a ton of paintings and he made them really fast. He got to take care of so many cute animals too.

View Bob’s Artwork