September 20, 2023 – Bob Ross

A painting by the late Bob Ross is going up for auction. It’s called A Walk in the Woods, and it’s one that he painted in the very first episode of The Joy of Painting. The piece is listed at $9.85 million, and it could be the most expensive Ross piece ever to be sold.
Ross was born in Daytona Beach and raised in Orlando. He dropped out of school in the 9th grade, and at 18, enlisted in the U.S. Air Force, where he served as a medical records technician. He rose to the rank of master sergeant and was stationed at Eielson Air Force Base in Alaska. It was here that he first saw the snow and mountains that would become recurring themes in his artwork.
He developed his interest in painting after going to an art class at the Anchorage U.S.O. club. He discovered a TV show called The Magic of Oil Painting hosted by German artist Bill Alexander. Alexander used a painting style known as “wet-on-wet” which allowed him to create a painting within 30 minutes. Ross studied and mastered this technique, and started selling Alaskan landscapes that he would paint on gold-mining pans. When his income from art sales surpassed his military salary, he retired from the Air Force after 20 years.
He became a traveling salesman and art tutor. In 1982, a station in Falls Chruch, Virginia taped one of his art classes, and within a year 60 PBS stations signed up for the show. Ross did the show for free, taping an entire 13-episode season in just over 2 days. He made his income from how-to books, videos, and art supplies. His company eventually became a $15 million business. Ross painted an estimated 30,000 paintings during his lifetime. Original paintings are scarce on the art market, as Bob Ross, Inc. continues to own many of the ones he painted for The Joy of Painting.
Ross died at the age of 52 on July 4, 1995 due to complications from lymphoma. Today, the Bob Ross YouTube channel has more than 5 million subscribers, and reruns of The Joy of Painting still regularly appear on public television. Learn more here.
 

 
(happy little)