Artwork

Background

I have been a fan of Bob Ross since I was a child - I have memories of sick days from school spent on the sofa with Bob Ross on the TV and now that there are so many episodes freely available on YouTube, I often put him on as background.

When lockdown started, even though I was lucky enough to be able to keep working, I decided to finally have a go at following along! I bought a small starter set of paints and brushes (along with some liquid white!) and one of the art teachers gave me a pack of small 8" canvases.

I greatly enjoy it and have painted quite a few now. I'm getting better slowly but as Bob says, there are no mistakes, only happy accidents!

The first four

These were the first oil paintings I ever attempted (and the first painting full stop since art lessons in school using acrylic paint). They were on small 8"x8" canvases and loosely-based on various Bob Ross episodes. As I had four canvases I decided to try one for each season.

Summer - Heart Lake

Autumn - Lakeside

Winter - Icy Wonderland

Spring - Mt Fuji Cherry Blossoms

The first full-sized ones - plus my first Star Wars one

After completing the four above, I wanted to step up to a full size canvas! These are my next attempts. The first three are also loosely following Bob Ross episodes, but the fourth was just me playing with a black canvas (and I had to add some Star Wars!)

My first fullsize canvas - I decided to try adding in some flowers.

Winter landscape - this one was for my mum as she liked the small Winter one I did.

Sunset over the bay - one I painted for my partner. I wanted to try another sunset (plus some birds!)

Star Wars - Rebel night attack on an Imperial base! (You can see a closeup here)

The next batch, plus a timelapse

The next batch are some of my favourite ones to date. Two more black canvases and two more of the traditional Bob Ross styles, with clouds, mountains, rivers and of course some happy little trees!

Grassy mountain - I think this is my personal favourite to date. I recorded a timelapse of this one which you can see below.

Some swampland - more tree practice!

The Northen Lights - this was donated to my school.

The bay at night. Somewhat loosely based on the coast around Aberystwyth.

Some minis!

I bought some mini (2") canvases from Tiger and thought it would be fun to do some mini-paintings.

All five together (for scale).

A classic Bob Ross - sky, mountains, river and a happy little tree!

A Star Destroyer approaching a planet.

Another classic Bob Ross winter scene.

The Northen Lights, but in miniature.

A colourful landscape.