Bob Ross has a lot to share with everyone whether artistically inclined or not; Ross never fails to make watching an episode of his enjoyable and relaxing to a certain extent. The episode that I watched was Mountain by the Sea, which I was really excited to watch because I love to visit towns on the coast and my family is from the Outer Banks in North Carolina. I have spent a great deal of time there and ironically have taken a few painting classes as well. Not only is the painting beautiful, but Ross’s words of wisdom as he goes and his voice itself provide a relaxing and intriguing experience.

Ross often describes the images that he paints as “happy” or “smiley”, which makes me think about the natural things around me more and what message they are sending us. Thinking of a “happy little cloud” makes me contemplate how content and happy with life this cloud is, even though it is not actively doing something (in a metaphorical sense). Ross is sending the message that it is okay to be happy in whatever situation no matter how big or small.

Speaking to a creative story, Ross is creating a story through his painting. This particularly reminded me that throughout this class, I may not do everything perfectly but it still creates a story and has meaning at the end. Randomly in the video, Ross will decide to add something to his painting and give it a place and meaning. This speaks to the idea of storytelling within itself and how it is my own story to create, at whatever level makes me feel happy.

Overall, I really enjoyed watching Bob Ross paint and I found it very relaxing. One of the biggest ideas that I took away was to remember to be relaxed and happy as I create my stories and tell them in this class. Ross has a lot of wisdom to offer and his videos can be used as a sense of self-reflection and evaluation.