Bob Ross
1942 – 1995 · United States
Known for: The gentle painter of happy little trees
“We don't make mistakes, just happy little accidents.”
Biography
A retired Air Force sergeant who vowed never to raise his voice again, Bob Ross spent eleven years and 403 episodes of The Joy of Painting teaching the world that anyone could paint, and, quietly, that anyone could be kind. In half an hour he would conjure a whole mountain landscape from a blank canvas, murmuring encouragement to millions.
He gave most of his paintings away and earned little from the show, because his real subject was never the trees, it was permission to try, and gentleness with your own mistakes. Decades after his death he is bigger than ever: a meme, a comfort, and a reminder, in a loud world, of the power of a soft voice.