# So Bob Ross. He's a good painter, but he sucks, right? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** arts-crafts\ **Created:** [October 30, 2019, 5:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-bob-ross-hes-a-good-painter-but-he-sucks-right/842690 "2019-10-30T05:27:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2019, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-bob-ross-hes-a-good-painter-but-he-sucks-right/842690/61 "2019-11-02T15:01:48Z")
A Science major says “Hmmm, let’s find out how that works.” An Engineering major says “Hmmm, let’s find a way to build this.” A Business major says “Hmmm, let’s decide how to finance this.” A Fine Arts major says “Hmmm, let’s put a happy little tree right here.” And a Liberal Arts major says “Hmmm, would you like fries with that, sir?” ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2019, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-bob-ross-hes-a-good-painter-but-he-sucks-right/842690/62 "2019-11-02T16:34:46Z")
> [@Gorbag](#): > > There is, in fact, a difference between science and engineering, which has to do with the goals of the two professions, and thus, how that knowledge is employed (or which branches of knowledge are learned). > > Engineers start with a goal - something they want to build, and a set of specifications, parameters or characteristics they wish to achieve. They then look at the stuff they already know about, and figure out how to combine those things in order to get what they want. This may involve inventing something new. > > Scientists start with a thing - something they observe, and try to determine the relevant characteristics about that. That is, they try to derive principles, laws, or relationships from something that is unknown or at least not fully known. And that’s why there were no scientists working on the Manhattan Project or on the Apollo Program. ---
**Author:** ![Sir\_T-Cups](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ed655f/32.png) [@Sir\_T-Cups](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sir_T-Cups)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2019, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-bob-ross-hes-a-good-painter-but-he-sucks-right/842690/63 "2019-11-02T17:59:15Z")
Bob Ross taped every one of his shows at my college. Going to the studio where he painted was definitely a surreal and cool experience. ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2019, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-bob-ross-hes-a-good-painter-but-he-sucks-right/842690/64 "2019-11-03T19:42:44Z")
> [@Rough\_Draft](#): > > I think this sums it up nicely, and I see it as a compliment to both men. I would agree. Not Leonardo da Vinci or…Leonardo da Vinci. But guys who made art and science approachable for the masses. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2019, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-bob-ross-hes-a-good-painter-but-he-sucks-right/842690/65 "2019-11-03T20:03:11Z")
> [@MrDibble](#): > > We can only \*really \*see what TurbanDude is painting, and it doesn’t even appear to be any of the paintings in front of him. So I think you’re reading way too much into that aspect of it. Look again. The people in the center are painting an object on the left wall. The people by the urn can’t see the Mona Lisa due to their angle. The woman to the right has her back to it. The three people in the doorway can’t see it, either. All have been more impressed by other artwork on the scene. Morse clearly didn’t give it any more prominence than any other artwork in the room. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2019, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-bob-ross-hes-a-good-painter-but-he-sucks-right/842690/66 "2019-11-03T20:25:07Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > Look again. > > The people in the center are painting an object on the left wall. > The people by the urn can’t see the Mona Lisa due to their angle. > The woman to the right has her back to it. > The three people in the doorway can’t see it, either. > > All have been more impressed by other artwork on the scene. > > Morse clearly didn’t give it any more prominence than any other artwork in the room. This is not a logical conclusion to draw from what is depicted in a painting. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2019, 8:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-bob-ross-hes-a-good-painter-but-he-sucks-right/842690/67 "2019-11-04T08:23:12Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > Look again. > > The people in the center are painting an object on the left wall. > The people by the urn can’t see the Mona Lisa due to their angle. > The woman to the right has her back to it. > The three people in the doorway can’t see it, either. > > All have been more impressed by other artwork on the scene. Like I said, TurbanDude _is_ facing that wall, but he isn’t painting any of the paintings on it. So I don’t think you can infer anything from which way people happen to be facing. Even if this were a photograph, which it is not. > [@](#): > > Morse clearly didn’t give it any more prominence than any other artwork in the room. That tells us only about Morse’s attitude, not art circles in general. Especially since that is not _actually_ a painting of what the room looked like, but just Morse cramming copies of paintings onto one canvas as a project. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2019, 8:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-bob-ross-hes-a-good-painter-but-he-sucks-right/842690/68 "2019-11-04T08:33:17Z")
[More on the painting.](http://www.seattleartmuseum.org/exhibitions/morse) Note that many of the figures are likely actually just Americans Morse knew in Paris and put into the painting when he finished it back home in America, not random people who happened to be in the Louvre copying paintings one random day in 1831. Note that Morse _does_ pick _Mona Lisa_ as one of 38 paintings to include. It absolutely doesn’t support\*\* RealityChuck\*\*'s argument in any way, shape or form. ---
**Author:** ![Ale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@Ale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ale)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2019, 5:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-bob-ross-hes-a-good-painter-but-he-sucks-right/842690/69 "2019-11-06T05:23:38Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Bob Ross is an excellent artist. But his artworks aren’t paintings. His artworks are TV episodes of painting. Even if the paintings he produced were absolute garbage (they’re not), the show would still do a very good job of conveying the emotions he wished it to convey. He’s calm and peaceful, and when you watch his shows, you become more calm and peaceful. That’s art at its best. A definition I use for Art is: a masterful display of skill. What you described was his skill, the whole thing not just the picture on a canvas at the end, and he was pretty masterful at it, no doubt. ---
**Author:** ![aksiram](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/848f3c/32.png) [@aksiram](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aksiram)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2019, 5:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-bob-ross-hes-a-good-painter-but-he-sucks-right/842690/70 "2019-11-06T05:30:18Z")
The speed at which he can knock out a legitimate landscape painting is astonishing, and if you follow him step by step you can actually also create a decent looking painting with little experience. Anyway, I can’t believe this website still exists. I thought everyone has moved on to reddit by now. ---
**Author:** ![pkbites](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pkbites/32/204_2.png) [@pkbites](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pkbites)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2019, 11:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-bob-ross-hes-a-good-painter-but-he-sucks-right/842690/71 "2019-11-06T11:05:17Z")
Is there any truth to the stories online that he was a Master Sergeant in the Air Force for 20 years and a real hard ass? ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2019, 11:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-bob-ross-hes-a-good-painter-but-he-sucks-right/842690/72 "2019-11-06T11:31:39Z")
> [@pkbites](#): > > Is there any truth to the stories online that he was a Master Sergeant in the Air Force for 20 years and a real hard ass? (Wayback Machine) [Before they were famous, Airman edition](https://web.archive.org/web/20170417170925/http://airforcelive.dodlive.mil/2015/01/before-they-were-famous-airman-edition/) By Senior Airman Michelle Patten Air Force Public Affairs Agency > [@](#): > > Who knew those “happy little trees” were based on those seen around Eielson Air Force Base, Alaska? Ross developed his quick painting techniques to finish works of art while on breaks from work, before bringing his skills to “The Joy of Painting” television show where he taught others how to paint. Known for his soft-spoken and caring nature, it’s not surprising Ross did not enjoy the times in the military which required him to yell or that he served as a first sergeant. Ross was in the Air Force for twenty years before retiring as a master sergeant. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2019, 12:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-bob-ross-hes-a-good-painter-but-he-sucks-right/842690/73 "2019-11-06T12:01:24Z")
> [@Gorbag](#): > > There is, in fact, a difference between science and engineering, which has to do with the goals of the two professions, and thus, how that knowledge is employed (or which branches of knowledge are learned). > > Engineers start with a goal - something they want to build, and a set of specifications, parameters or characteristics they wish to achieve. They then look at the stuff they already know about, and figure out how to combine those things in order to get what they want. This may involve inventing something new. > > Scientists start with a thing - something they observe, and try to determine the relevant characteristics about that. That is, they try to derive principles, laws, or relationships from something that is unknown or at least not fully known. That’s a limited definition of both. Engineering disciplines are part of what is called “applied sciences” in some languages. An engineer can start from figuring out how something works or came to be (if it is man made, this is called “reverse engineering”), a scientist can start from principles and general procedures discovered by others to create something new (such as a new substance, composite or alloy). Not every engineer is a builder and not every scientist is a researcher in the purest or “basic”\* form of their field. “Basic”: “we don’t know what it’s for yet, but we hope it will someday be for something.” ---
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2019, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-bob-ross-hes-a-good-painter-but-he-sucks-right/842690/74 "2019-11-06T15:32:18Z")
> [@Nava](#): > > “Basic”: “we don’t know what it’s for yet, but we hope it will someday be for something.” Back when lasers were a brand new thing (around 1967) \*Popular Science \*ran an article on them prompting a few months later, a letter asking, “What _good_ are they, aside from popping balloons so long as they aren’t red?” The editors’ reply was basically, “People are working on that very question.” ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2019, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-bob-ross-hes-a-good-painter-but-he-sucks-right/842690/75 "2019-11-06T16:56:01Z")
> [@DesertDog](#): > > Back when lasers were a brand new thing (around 1967) \*Popular Science \*ran an article on them prompting a few months later, a letter asking, “What _good_ are they, aside from popping balloons so long as they aren’t red?” > > The editors’ reply was basically, “People are working on that very question.” I’d’ve thought that question was answered in 1964 with _ **Goldfinger** _. :dubious: “\*Do you expect me to talk?” “No, Mr Bond. I expect you to die.”\* ---
**Author:** ![sitchensis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sitchensis/32/4892_2.png) [@sitchensis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sitchensis)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2019, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-bob-ross-hes-a-good-painter-but-he-sucks-right/842690/76 "2019-11-06T18:35:57Z")
I’m still waiting for a wealthy socialite to tell me if it’s art. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2021, 1:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-bob-ross-hes-a-good-painter-but-he-sucks-right/842690/77 "2021-08-24T13:18:26Z")
Bumped. This might interest Doper fans of Bob Ross: > **[New Bob Ross documentary complicates the legacy of an artist who painted...](https://www.cnn.com/style/article/bob-ross-netflix-documentary-culture-queue/index.html)** > > A new Netflix documentary, "Bob Ross: Happy Accidents, Betrayal & Greed," upends the notion that the artist's story was a simple one. ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2021, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-bob-ross-hes-a-good-painter-but-he-sucks-right/842690/78 "2021-08-24T13:57:44Z")
Exactly. I kind of look at Bob Ross in a somewhat similar vein to the way I look at Alton Brown. Both are fantastic at explaining the why and how of how you do something, either on canvas or in the kitchen. That doesn’t have to translate into either of them being a particularly fantastic artist or cook. I mean, if I had my choice between eating a meal prepared personally by Alton Brown, or say… Anne Burrell, I’d choose Anne Burrell. Mostly because she’s an experienced chef, and is probably better in the kitchen than Alton. But he’s a better teacher and explainer, at least for me. Bob Ross is likely the same- not necessarily the guy whose art you want on the wall, but he’s going to explain how/why you use that palette knife to make the illuminated side of a tree trunk better than someone who’s a better overall painter. I think modern society tends to conflate the value of being good at something, with some notion that it translates into being able to teach that same subject. Which isn’t the case; I’d almost argue that if you take someone at the top of their art/craft, they’re going to be most useful in teaching others a step or two below them, not beginners. To use a sports example, Aaron Rodgers would probably be best at coaching rookie NFL players or college players, not middle school quarterbacks. And the fact that someone is fantastically good at teaching middle schoolers doesn’t also mean they have to be a fantastic pro-level quarterback themselves. ---
**Author:** ![UltraVires](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecccb3/32.png) [@UltraVires](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UltraVires)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2021, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-bob-ross-hes-a-good-painter-but-he-sucks-right/842690/79 "2021-08-24T23:08:50Z")
The title of the article makes it sound like he secretly kicked puppies or robbed banks. It just sounds like the guy had some very minor human frailties. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2021, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-bob-ross-hes-a-good-painter-but-he-sucks-right/842690/80 "2021-08-25T15:38:43Z")
Yes, very disappointing. 😉 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-bob-ross-hes-a-good-painter-but-he-sucks-right/842690.md?page=3)