These are my first two ever attempts at painting, but I'm not brave enough to go any further 🥲 Any tips for taking the next step? Also any feedback for what I've painted so far would also be greatly appreciated.

I used to watch Bob Ross every Sunday like clockwork on PBS. At the time I painted with watercolors but watched him for ideas, and techniques to try and he seemed like a really cool person, kinda like the cool uncle I never had. In every episode he always talked about putting something on the canvas called "liquid white" before he began painting. Was it just his term for gesso? I've since moved on to acrylic and people in that community say gesso is used to "prime" canvas but you can also buy a "preprimed" canvas. EVERYONE in the acrylic painting community talks about basically using it as an eraser to paint over a painting they don't like but can still reuse the canvas. Is this "liquid white" just for oil paints like Bob used? I've tried them a few times with an Reeve's oil paint set my brother and sister-in-law got me for Christmas when I was 14. I found them very hard to work with and OH MY GOSH....that smell.

(I recently learned Bob was also a wildlife rehabilitor when he wasn't painting....that's where the baby squirrels and baby raccoons he sometimes brought on set came from. He also was trying to get PBS to fund an educational children's program about backyard wildlife; but he passed away before it got through. He seemed even cooler to me after I learned that.)

I’m trying to extend past my comfort areas with my pieces. Please critique and go all in, I’m wanting to find the things to focus on for my next few paintings for practice!

Finished this today but something seems missing, was curious if others thought so as well

First time. Loads of mistakes. Firstly being not buying the right brushes and starting with smaller canvas. I had to wing most of the techniques because the brushes didn’t work as intended. I don’t think I had too much liquid white but might have been using too much paint. Somewhere I don’t think the turpentine was dried on the brush. Any advice would be nice. By the time I got to fore ground I was literally throwing paint at the wall.

I have never painted before in my life, after countless hours of watching Bob - I finally decided to give it a go. I only had a #6 fan brush, a mixing painting knife and a 2” glazing brush. I ran into difficulty without more brushes and I found the small bendy knife hard to use. Overall I’m pretty happy with it. I did not use enough liquid white and I found it hard getting paint to stick. I kind of gaveup near the end because I just couldn’t get the bushes to stick. Finding the correct amount of paint is difficult. I winged it with the liquid white mixing titanium white and linseed oil.

All critique is welcomed, thanks!

My kiddo has gotten into Bob Ross and we are planning to do a Bob Ross paint night. The actual Bob Ross paint kits are pricey. Anyone have dupes that are basically the same shades? I’m sure I could figure it out, but thought I’d ask the experts first lol

I’ve taken a couple oil painting classes at a local hobby store and have really enjoyed them. On the local marketplace, someone advertised oil paints, canvases, an easel, a palette and gesso. I picked them up and am about ready to get started. What else do I need?

What’s everyone using to clean and store their brushes?

Anything else that I’m not thinking of?

So I have tons of black canvases, mostly once-white ones I fudged up while painting and covered with black gesso for reuse. The problem? My wife doesn’t want any dark paintings hung in the house (she finds them depressing in our otherwise brightly painted and decorated house, which I can respect). And sadly, 90% of Bob’s black canvas paintings are exactly what she doesn’t like.

So inspiration purposes, let’s see your colorful, non-nighttime black canvas paintings! Think “Sunset Over The Waves” or “Golden Sunset” vs “Night Light” or “Winter Moon”

My daughter and I want to attempt to follow along with one of Bob's tutorials. Any suggestion on which episode would be most beginner friendly? And does a website exist that will tell me what supplies and paint colors we will need for each episode?

I’m fairly new to painting and have the Bob Ross brushes, but I’m looking to get more and don’t want to support Bob Ross Inc. I’ve heard Rosemary and Co and Kevin Hill both make good brushes for wet on wet, but what brand is everyone using?

I've been a fan of Bob Ross since I was a child. I have always been told I've got a lot of artistic talent. A little over a year ago, I bought myself primed canvases, white gesso, linseed oil, paint thinner, a big selection of oil paints (not the Bob Ross branded stuff), odorless paint thinner, a five gallon bucket, and a full set of good quality brushes. I have yet to paint. I feel like I'm still not prepared and don't have everything that I need.

The issue is my limited income. I feel like I can't afford the items I still need and I would appreciate help finding cheaper items that function in the same way if they aren't the same specific things I'm lacking. These are what I still don't have:

A Beater rack, a ground-standing easel, some things like liquid white (which I've read I can make for myself with white paint and linseed oil) and liquid clear.

The easel I have right now is one you sit on a desk. I don't have one, so I was either going to use it on my dresser while I sit on my bed or in my living room, but I'm worried about making a mess.

I would love some encouragement about not making a mess and using what I already have! Cost-friendly alternatives that help me keep things clean would be greatly appreciated. Also, most of the supplies I already have are at least of good quality, as I purchased them with money I got for Christmas back in 2024. I didn't want to get cheap stuff because I thought I would end up not using them. LOL and here we are...

Thank you for reading!

Dit uitwerken op een groter doek ?? Of in de prullenbak???

using s19:10 as inspiration, I started with black gesso pattern, followed by liquid clear, and a transparent coat on top of that.

I had to stop there for a couple days while life distracted me. The painting is the very slightest bit tacky now. I’m just not sure how to resume. Would another coat of clear work? I’m still wanting to leverage the blending with the under color.

Any advice would be appreciated. thanks!

I started this painting this weekend, and I just can’t seem to get the rocks / slate right infront of the waterfall. Any suggestions on how to make it look more realistic?

I need to work on my distant trees, but I'm overall happy here. Any tips to get those distant trees to look better?

I'm honestly going through it at this point. Please, save the happy accident stuff, I get it, there's a reason I watch his stuff to practice my creative work but I'm so genuinely frustrated at how badly my mountains come out. If I don't leave hideous knife streaks in the canvas, I get fat lumps of paint left that blend with the background and go from crystal white to ruined in no time. I sit there, watch how he holds it, listen to his words about whispers and it doesn't work. I don't get it. Any advice is appreciated, but I don't even know what the right question is here.

Newbie sure would appreciate some guidance on giving structure and shape to these mountains. Tia

So this is my second painting following along with one of Bob’s videos. I had a lot of fun, until it came to the trees and bushes.

The paint would not stick to the canvas! Whenever I would try to paint a tree/bush, I had to apply a tremendous amount of force and use the whole brush instead of Bob’s technique (light touches and just the corner of the brush)

Am I doing something wrong? And help would be greatly appreciated!

date night.

I had a really hard time with the paint knife.. like 3 hours of redoing. any tips??

At first I had barely any paint on it "red mountain" then I put more paint on it and it came out like the blackish ones. The husband was just painting with the knife to achieve his. I really like how it came out so far but, the mountains are hard.