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Bill and I have been fans of the Bob Ross TV series, Joy of Painting, since the early 90s, and I still watch it now, although not on a regular basis. I have always been amazed by the apparent ease with which he produces beautiful mountain, forest and sea pictures using oil paints and what seem to be decorators' brushes.
Finding out quite recently that he had unfortunately died in 1995 at the early age of 53 I went on to the web looking for information—apparently it was cancer—and discovered hundreds of sites all referring to Bob Ross workshops which I had not been aware of before. And then, to my amazement, I received the Javea Art Centre Newsletter and discovered that we had a CRI—Certified Ross Instructor—in this area and she would be holding workshops at the Centre starting in January! I joined up like a shot, and attended the one she held on 30 January.
The instructor's name is Gaynor* and she lives in Murcia, about two hours' drive from here, and it seems she is the only instructor in Spain! She arrived not long before us, but is thoroughly enjoying it and the workshops are going well, so we may keep our unique instructor, which would be good. Apparently she is keeping records of who attends which class, so if you go to more than one you will get a different picture to work from.
I was absolutely thrilled by the afternoon. The workshop is five hours long, but it went in a flash. And having been a fan of the TV show for so long, it seemed like a dream come true to actually pick up a brush or a palette knife and do the things I had seen on the screen for so long. My picture is not a masterpiece, but it is a lot closer to it than anything else I have done and I was truly delighted with my mountain range and the lake in front of it.
And I enjoyed the experience so much that I did another one later in the year. I now have some oil pastels and have experimented with those, but have not yet progressed any further with this particular technique. I would cheerfully recommend anyone to have a go...Gaynor is very helpful and the techniques are really amazing. I have heard people making derogatory remarks about 'chocolate box art', but all I can say is—what on earth could be wrong with anything associated with chocolate? Or with painting representations of some of the most beautiful scenery on earth?
Contact her at ARTCASA on 620 66 49 88 for more details
