Looking this morning at Bob Ross’s website made me reflect again on the difference between creating art and the effort of getting one’s art known. I know so many truly talented people in whose work outshines most of what is generally known and praised. For me, these two areas, the work and the promotion of the work, are almost completely antithetical. When I’m writing well, I have no energy at all for “sending things out.” When it’s not going as well, I make desultory attempts to get things into print. As for Bob Ross, he lives on the north coast and has been sketching, painting, and making collages since the sixties.
I remember reading an interview with Bob years ago, I think it was in a publication of the Mendocino Art Center. Bob said something like, “You sit down and draw for a few hours every day for ten years, and you begin to get better at it.” By now Bob’s been doing this every day for decades, and his work is extraordinary. One of the oils (among many) that particularly charmed my eye is this rather formal nude with an asian influence, entitled Spring.
We’re lucky for the internet, where little known treasures can be ferreted out and enjoyed!