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Painter Bob Ross Brought To Life On Twitch Streaming Marathon

By Val Powell
Published on: 19:48 PST, Oct 29, 2015

The late Bob Ross, who is perhaps one of the most recognized celebrity painters of the 20th century, is currently the star of the ultimate “Throwback Thursday” in his appearance on Twitch.

The online streaming platform recently launched a brand new initiative called Twitch Creative, which allows users to host streams that feature themselves doing creative stuff, whether it’s painting or preparing a cosplay costume.

As a tribute to the late painter, Twitch has begun screening Ross’s series, The Joy of Painting, a Public Broadcasting Service television program that featured him turning a blank canvas into a masterpiece in just 30 minutes.

The show ran 400 episodes, and each one will be shown on Twitch in the next eight days.

Bob Ross starts off with a blank canvass and then paints using off-the-shelf and moderately priced paints and tools. And because the entire painting is done and shot live, he does not have time to let the paint dry before applying another coat above it.

This method is referred to as “wet-on-wet.” But while Ross was made popular by his masterpieces made from usual stuff found in art stores, what separates him from others is his “cool and calm demeanor” when painting.

Unlike other painters, who look too focused and engrossed in the task, Ross maintained a calm presence, and even talked to the audience and viewers, giving them art-related tips and even encouraging them to create their own paintings.

Ross also believed that whether a person paints a cloud or a “happy little tree,” that particular object is a representation of his world – a principle that he claimed guided him in creating his numerous artworks.

Bob Ross was also an animal lover, and he would bring some animals he had rescued on the set to show them on camera at the end of the show.

Born and raised in Florida, Bob Ross signed up for the United States Air Force at age 18 where he was a medical records technician. He was soon promoted to master sergeant and eventually became the first sergeant of U.S. Air Force Clinic at Eielson Air Force Base in Alaska.

He became interested in painting, and after watching a German painter on a TV show, he realized he could earn more money from painting than in the U.S. Air Force. He retired from his position, studied with the German painter, and soon launched his own show.

Through the Twitch Creative stream of The Joy of Painting, younger folks may be able to see and be inspired by Ross, who was 52 when he died in 1995, just a year after the show’s last episode. The Twitch stream of Bob Ross began on Thursday afternoon, and currently has over 55,000 viewers. The stream also has a chat panel beside it to encourage interaction among the viewers.

Twitch, originally a video game streaming site, gets over 55 million visitors each month. As the 166th most popular website in the U.S., Twitch enables gamers to record their gameplay on Xbox, Playstation, PC, and even mobile platforms.

Users can then view these games, probably to get some tips about that particular title, or get an idea of its actual gameplay. The website claims that 99 percent of its users watch games, while 25 percent broadcast or stream their gameplay.

Because of Twitch’s popularity with young adults, Amazon recently purchased the gaming platform for almost $1 billion.

The retailer giant probably realized the potential of the streaming website, and the new initiative, Twitch Creative, which is now featuring Bob Ross, could be its springboard for other future projects.

[Image via YouTube]

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