Bob Ross’ legacy lives on in new series ‘The Joy of Painting’

A new generation can learn how to paint happy trees and create happy accidents with a television series that teaches the Bob Ross method of painting using some of the prolific artist’s works that have never been seen before.

Before he died of cancer in 1995, Ross created seven paintings for use in season 32 of “The Joy of Painting.”

“He was very ill, but he was still working on his next series because he wanted to be able to continue,” said Joan Kowalski, president of Bob Ross Inc. His parents, Annette and Walt Kowalski, co-founded the company with Ross.

These works have been preserved for almost three decades. Certified Bob Ross instructor Nicholas Hankins studied these seven paintings and painted them from scratch on camera in “The Joy of Painting with Nicholas Hankins: The Unfinished Season of Bob Ross,” which began airing this spring in some markets on American public television. Some episodes are available on the PBS website.

The opportunity to “take these paintings and do what Bob ultimately wanted to do with them, (to) put them out in the world to make people happy is rewarding,” Hankins said recently over Zoom. He teaches at the Bob Ross Art Workshop and Gallery, about 15 miles from Daytona Beach, Florida, and oversees instructor certification. Hankins also uses six of his own paintings in this new “Joy of Painting,” which was filmed and produced at WDSC-TV Daytona State College.

“I think Bob would be incredibly proud of how we’re doing this,” Kowalski said. “There aren’t really a lot of things that come our way that force us to ask ourselves: What should we do? Bob was very specific about how he wanted this to play out in the future.

Hankins is a familiar face to the Ross faithful. His own instructional videos posted on Bob Ross’s YouTube channel were viewed more than 300,000 times before the idea of ​​television was mooted.

Kowalski is fascinated by the online reaction to Hankin’s videos. “People notice that Nick doesn’t try to be Bob at all, and that he naturally behaves like himself and yet there’s still the same kind of feeling you get when watching Bob.”

A renewed interest in all things Bob Ross grew out of the pandemic, when people were staying home and looking for ways to pass the time. Today, with so many distractions, it can seem like there aren’t enough hours in the day to relax and unwind. If viewers aren’t taking a painting class, Hankins hopes his 30-minute “Joy of Painting” episodes will help people relax in the same spirit as the originals.

“I hope I can continue that part of the legacy,” he said. “I truly want to create an environment where people will come in, take half an hour and just turn the world off. This is the time we need it.

Kowalski says people used to sheepishly tell Ross “all the time” that they would fall asleep to his episodes, but he didn’t mind. “He said, ‘I love hearing that you’ve never watched a full episode of me.'”

If you want to paint, Hankins said you need basic materials like oil colors, an easel, canvas and brushes. “But if they just watch, all they need is a big glass of iced tea.” “That was Bob’s thing,” he said, “have some iced tea, relax and watch.”