About Me
My first encounter with the Bob Ross Wet-On-Wet Painting Technique was by pure accident. I was sitting at home on a six-week period of convalescence recovering from a skiing accident after breaking my shoulder. Home alone with the TV remote all to myself, I started scanning the channels. It wasn't so much the soft speaking voice or the crazy hairstyle that grabbed my attention, but the fact that this man was producing a fantastic oil painting with brushes you would expect to use when painting your front door.
"I can do that" I thought, and for the rest of the day I had my wife driving me around the city of Norwich looking for materials. First was a visit to the hardware store where I bought a 2 inch and 1 inch brush and next a visit to the art shop to buy some oil paints. Although they didn't stock Bob Ross supplies, I thought that I would make do with what they had.
Armed with my supplies and the constant replaying of the video recorder, I was amazed with the results, especially with the fact I was using my wrong hand due to my injury. From that day on I was hooked, I made arrangements for the nearest Bob Ross stockist (100 miles away) to send me supplies and with the proper equipment found instant improvement. In time with my shoulder healed and convincing the local art shop to stock Bob's materials and the endless armoury of recorded videos I was determined to improve.
During this time I was serving in the Royal Air force as a Physical Training Instructor, and fortunate enough to be deployed to Alaska (Bob Territory). Knowing that Bob had served at the air base that I was staying at I started making a few enquiries about Bob. At the local craft store I was given the number of Rick Thompson said to be Bob's best friend and painting partner. I visited Rick and we sat for hours with him telling me stories of Bob and showing me some of his Bob Ross original paintings. He also informed me how to become a Certified Bob Ross Instructor.
On my return to England my mind was made up, after a few enquires I found that Instructor courses were available in Holland. I attended the three instructor training seminars and qualified as a Landscape Instructor in November 1998.
Since then I have also qualified as a Bob Ross Floral and Wildlife Instructor.
This has been a complete change of direction for me and after retiring from the Royal Air Force I spend all my time passing on Bob's technique to literary thousands of people throughout the country conducting my painting workshops.
Within the last five years I have enjoyed enormously experiencing the joy of painting and feel privileged to be asked to front the TV programme "Painting the Paul Bryant Way" on Sky TV knowing that Bob's wet-on-wet technique is achievable by EVERYONE.
Paul Bryant