092207 Artist Kenneth John KEN
one of my inspirations in art and teaching has been watching bob ross on pbs television . i started watching him in the mid 80's and i am not the only one, even after his passing, he is still as popular as ever. i think i have seen every episode at least a half dozen times. the first thing that is so wonderful about him is that he inspires you to paint. he makes you feel that you can do it too. makes it look so simple, but as we all know it's just not that easy. his teaching delivery is something i always tried to emulate when i was a professor of graphic arts at community college. even in the instructional dvd's that i have made, you can occasionaly hear me use some of his humor and sayings "it's your world, make it the way you want it", "let's get real crazy here" and so on.
i also love the way he paints, in that he creates his paintings from his memories and mind, he doesn't use pictures or lays out a detailed drawing. he just let's things happen and doesn't get frustrated with a lot of details or corrections. a lot of beginning painters get frustrated because they do sweat and fuss too much over trying to make their paintings look real. when you do paint with no hesitation or worries, you paint quickly, have a very loose impressionistic style and most of all you have fun. you don't have to paint exactly like bob ross, you will find your own style too. it's much, much more important to focus on creativity then trying to paint a realism painting to begin your art career.
here's a very loose, fast, impression painting i did yesterday and i had fun with it.
