Perhaps like me, you grew up watching Bob Ross teach his wet-on-wet oil painting technique on PBS. I just loved watching him. It didn’t matter what mood I was in, by the end of the show I’d be in a good mood and itching to create. He had such a positive personality and was full of encouragement, trying to make us realize we were all capable of such amazing and beautiful things. He is just as relevant today as he was when he first aired. We need more people like Bob Ross.

I did try my hand at oil painting a few times, and though it never became a habit, I was still very influenced by Bob Ross and his work. I can see commonalities between his style of painting and much of photography today. I felt he was a painter for the people. He painted what he loved in a way that made him happy, and he shared these experiences with the world. Today everyone is capable of creating photographs in much the same way he created paintings. The quality of cell phone cameras increases each year, and with them more people have cameras than ever before. People are creating beautiful photographs that have meaning to them and are enjoyed by others. It strikes me that’s what Bob Ross was all about.

So having said all that, you can imagine how excited I was when my folks let me know they’d reserved 3 tickets to the first exhibit of its kind of original Bob Ross paintings, held at the Franklin Park Performing & Visual Arts Center in Purcellville, Virginia. I would get the chance to actually see, in person, some of Bob Ross’ paintings. How amazing is that?

Our tickets were for a 1 pm opening. When we arrived there was a short line outside the Arts Center, which was a beautiful building laid out like a barn. Just inside was a small theater with stadium style seating showing a Bob Ross documentary. It brought back some great memories hearing various celebrities talking about how they also grew up with Bob Ross and what impact he had on their lives.

Moving into the exhibit hall I was really impressed with how they presented Boss Ross’ work. Most of the paintings were well lit and arranged in a very pleasing way. Though it was fairly crowded at times, people were mostly polite and there was enough room to move around and not feel crowded. By waiting long enough portions of the exhibit would completely clear of people, as you can see in some of these photos.

I very much enjoyed finally getting to see original paintings by Bob Ross. It was fascinating viewing them both from a distance and up close, seeing the scratches from the palette knife, the fan brush trees, a small little building in a meadow, waterfalls, mountains, and even seascapes. And, of course, each with that red Ross signature.

This exhibit ran from September 10th through October 15th, 2019, at the Franklin Park Arts Center.

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