Starting in 1983 and continuing until just a year before his 1995 death from lymphoma, Ross brought us The Joy of Painting. As the host of TV's best-loved painting instruction show, he shared the "wet-on-wet" painting technique he used, layering oil paint on top of older layers that hadn't yet dried to quickly create a scene – generally, for Ross, a landscape. And he exuded calm, almost mesmerizing his viewers as he described his methods.
Even all these years after Ross's death, his show is still a cult favorite. And it gained new legs with this year's "remix" by Melodysheep and PBS Digital Studios, in which they used autotune to turn Ross's instruction into a seriously catchy song.
Bob Ross's gentle demeanor was irresistible. He was proud of it, too – as he once commented, "I got a letter from somebody here a while back, and they said, 'Bob, everything in your world seems to be happy.' That's for sure. That's why I paint. It's because I can create the kind of world that I want, and I can make this world as happy as I want it. Shoot, if you want bad stuff, watch the news." Shoot, Bob, we would rather watch you paint. Written by Linnea Crowther
