Bob Ross Reflection

I watched Bob Ross paint one of his famed winter landscapes.  In this landscape, he painted snow, happy little trees, and a shed.  There were several things that stuck out in this episode as they do in many of his episodes.  For example, he uses a lot of pronouns like “we” and “us” to make it feel like him and the viewer are painting together.  By using these pronouns, it no longer feels like the viewer is simply watching a man paint.  Instead, it feels like we are painting with Bob Ross.  It feels like we are helping him and deciding together how to go about completing the painting.  Bob Ross also makes painting feel far more approachable with the way he talks as well.  He will say things like “let’s try something” or “let’s get a little crazy”, which makes it appear as though he’s doing something he hasn’t done before.  He is clearly an experienced painter, but by using these phrases, he makes his painting skills seem far more attainable to the common viewer.  One thing that Bob Ross does very well is making the view feel in control.  In this episode, he says “did you know you had that much power”.  He also says, “on this piece of canvas, you have unlimited power”.  Bob Ross is a master at calming people’s emotions because of this type of language.  He makes the viewer feel in control through demonstrating all the capabilities that they have at their fingertips through something as simple as painting.  Through a single Bob Ross episode such as this one, the viewer sees a plain canvas transformed into an artistic masterpiece in a matter of thirty minutes.  During this time, viewers hear the relaxing voice of Bob Ross as he makes you feel in control with the soft scratching of his brush in the background.  It is an experience that leaves viewers much more relaxed and content than before.