The Bob Effect: How Two Eccentric Painters Shaped My Art
You can thank the Bob’s in my life for leading me towards painting landscapes. It was the influence of two terribly awkward, but passionate painters named Bob that peaked my interest in capturing the wild with a paintbrush. The most well known of the two, Bob Ross, filled tv hours of my youth with his calming voice sharing delightfully positive wisdoms and cues to make “happy trees.”
As an elder millennial, I’m child of my generation and begged to have the Bob Ross oil painting set for a gift. I no longer recall if the request was paired with my upcoming birthday or Christmas but the zeal for the toolset still stands decades later. My grandmother, Birdie, came to the rescue with the gift. Unfortunately, I never could bring myself to use it as she passed away from pancreatic cancer directly there after. My childhood mind couldn’t break the seal on the last gift from her. I now believe that this hesitation is what steered me towards using acrylics over the Bob Ross oils. As always, there is a silver lining.
The second Bob was my Uncle. Well, he wasn’t a formal Uncle but the family adoptive “Uncle” kids learn to embrace. I’ve come to appreciate over the years that every family has that one crazy Uncle living to the beat of their own drum. The fodder of the Thanksgiving chatter for the family. “Anyone know where Bob is nowadays?" “Can you believe he’s solo sailing the South Pacific? I mean really?! Who does he think he is Jacque Cousteau?” I lived for Bob’s adventure stories. He had a way of turning up to the house with a simple duffle bag, six pack of beer, and an offer to work on any number of carpentry projects my Dad needed help with (which was all of them). He’d stay weeks with us and it was such a delight.
‘Captain’ Bob (aka Uncle Bob) overseeing the helm in Hawaii. I’m in the killer shades on the far right. Mom is rocking the American flag visor. My sister Whitney is at the helm.
Uncle Bob was a character to say the least. He and my father both went to art college in Nebraska. Unlike my Dad, Uncle Bob continued to play with his muse in the art domain. He was most well known for his watercolors (winning awards later in life). My big takeaway from Uncle Bob was how he truly “lived in a landscape.” He made lifestyle and work choices that always permitted him a day-to-day life in the mountains or at sea. For work, he did stints as a draftsman for an oil company and many oddball for hire gigs as a carpenter or boat captain.
His creative work always captured in his passion for the outdoors. Like all great adventurers, Bob told stories about epic moments out at sea or deep in the bush in Alaska with a casualness of a spirit who had seen some “shit.” To be fair, he had seen some knarly moments. Uncle Bob famously scuttled not one, but two of his own sail boats attempting solo sails in deep oceans. He was rescued at sea several times including being picked up by a University of Seattle research vessel in the South Pacific.
Thankfully, I was able to soak up Uncle Bob’s stories and gusto for life as a youth. He was always gracious with his time being with us kids. In fact, it was Uncle Bob who taught me how to sketch shadows and make something appear 3D on the page. While he is no longer with us, I still think of him often as I glance up at his watercolor studies on my walls.
The Bob’s they started the ember that I carry today for living in the mountains and capturing their beauty with my paints.
Uncle Bob at sea.
