(no subject)

[arethinn]

I might be a party-pooper destroying the touching "Chicken Soup" significance of this utterance, but this is the speech that issued from me upon finding this quote posted in another journal:

Do you know that moment when you paint a landscape as a child and, when you're maybe under seven or something, the sky is just a blue stripe across the top of the paper? And then there's that somewhat disappointing moment when the teacher tells you that the sky actually comes down in amongst all the branches. And it's like life changes at that moment and becomes much more complicated and a little bit more boring, as it's rather tedious to fill in the branches. (Alan Rickman)

"Well, clearly Alan Rickman has not done much painting, because what do you is paint in the whole sky, and then put in the branches over it. You paint from the back to the front. Pick up a paintbrush, or shut your mouth, Mr. Rickman.

"That's right, you just heard a woman tell Alan Rickman to shut his mouth.

"Actually, so long as he doesn't become that guy who paints happy little bushes, I'm okay with it. Just don't be that guy."

Comments

[netdancer.livejournal.com]

I adore that dude who paints happy bushes and trees. It's so obvious that he did MASSIVE drugs as a teen. :) And he obviously loves what he's doing so much. :>

[starlightforest.livejournal.com]

Each to their own I guess. Bob Ross's manner annoys me no end!

[netdancer.livejournal.com]

He seems perpetually, happily stoned. Looks like weed, Lots Of Weed. Or maybe Valium. ;)

What I like about him, is that he seems SO STONED and at the same time paints the way I wish I could - almost effortlessly.

[aureantes.livejournal.com]

You know, before that, there was the dude with the "happy little clouds" and the "itty bitty brush" (William Alexander --http://www.alexanderart.com/about.asp )....I used to watch him on PBS when I was little -- and obviously very bored, seeing as I have always hated the concept of doing pictures step-by-step copying someone else's lead...

[starlightforest.livejournal.com]

Never heard of him. There's more than one "happy little" painter, then?

[aureantes.livejournal.com]

He was the original "happy little" painter....I think he probably got away with it more because of his accent (Prussian) than this Bob Ross guy can -- without being labelled magically psychodelicious, that is.

[stillvisions.livejournal.com]

Bob Ross is one of those people that I can't figure out whether I love or hate. Yeah, his paintings were crap, but the guy didn't seem to care as long as he was showing people that they could paint too. And as long as they eventually got past happy trees, I guess that wasn't a bad thing.

Good things:
Seemed like a genuinely easygoing guy who loved to paint. Hopefully got people past the initial hurdle that painting is some stodgy activity.
Never peddled his crap as anything great, just painting as something everyone could enjoy.

Bad things:
Paintings were bad, or at least incredibly pedestrian and boring.
Unleashed a generation who didn't realize this. Many living rooms and landfills are filled with his work.

It's a wash, I guess.