About the Artist

Becoming an Artist

When I was a young strapping lad I wanted to be an artist.  I always liked to draw and color no matter how bad I was at it.  But of course when it came to taking steps to develop my hobby, I was discouraged by parents in order to pursue more practical skills and classes.  I took an art class for a semester in middle school and one my senior year in high school.  That class was nothing like what I wanted though.  The teacher focused on abstract art which I hated at the time.  I wanted to learn art skills.  After graduation I never did any artwork. HS graduation was in 2000!

As of December 30th 2016, I got to call myself an artist.  That is when I completed my first painting on canvas.  You see, I used to watch The Joy of Painting with Bob Ross on PBS in the late 80s/early 90s.  I’d get really excited when the show came on.  I would sit mesmerized at how he would make wonderful landscapes come to life with a few brush strokes.  I also got a kick out of his hairdo.  I had always wished I could do what he did.  He made it look so easy!

In recent years Bob Ross has returned to the cultural mainstream and memeverse.  That sort of kicked in some nostalgia in me.  So I hopped on YouTube and searched for a Bob Ross video.  Any one would do.  Imagine my surprise when I discovered a channel and it had several entire seasons.  Naturally, I started binge watching.  Doing that brought back the desire to dabble in art once again.  And I did.  I found an old colored pencil art book I got when I was around 10 years old.  So I started messing around with that again. I also bought my wife a water color paint set since she mentioned she wouldn’t mind giving that a try.  I also gave it a shot but I was doing it all wrong.  All of this, the art dabbling and the Bob Ross binge watching, prompted my wife to buy me the Bob Ross Master Paint set for Christmas as well as a few canvases.  Best gift of the year!

Though I received the gift for Christmas, I couldn’t try my hand at oil painting until a week later.  So it wasn’t until December 30th that I got to give it a try and I did.  And it turned out that it wasn’t half bad!  I was pleasantly surprised.  My wife was even more surprised.  Everyone was surprised.  Of course I had to share on Facebook and everyone was shocked at how (relatively) good my first ever oil painting was. See for yourself.

I did another painting the very next day.  And the next, and the next until I ran of out canvases.  I did five paintings in a row.  I ordered some more canvases and as soon as they came in, I painted another few in a row.  Every one turned out pretty darn good. I was churning out paintings just for fun until it was time to go back to work.  But I painted whenever I had time after work and on the weekends.

So that’s how it all started.  Over time I started experimenting and venturing out to paint my very own paintings without following Bob Ross.  His techniques have invaluable to me in instilling the confidence to try new things.  To this day I still paint replicas from his shows but I also do many originals using his techniques and other tricks I’ve learned just by trying. 

Landscapes are my favorite thing to paint.  I enjoy painting them because I love the outdoors and the wilderness.  I love doing anything outdoors such as hiking, mountain biking, and fishing.  I get some great inspiration while doing those things.  By painting all different types of landscapes and seascapes, I can instantly place myself in those scenes.  I’m very at home and relaxed in the great outdoors. 

I typically paint using the Bob Ross/Bill Alexander wet on wet technique and style.  That’s how I learned and that’s what I know currently.  However, I am not shy about trying new things.  Be it techniques or exploring new styles, mediums, or subjects.  My goal is to experiment in some way with many mediums and subjects.