Bob Ross was probably the nicest person who ever lived, and it showed through in his work. Most of America knows him as the host of the long-running show "The Joy of Painting," but a select few know him better as an Air Force military training instructor -- a drill sergeant, for you non-Air Force types.
Raised in Orlando, Robert Norman Ross was known as a gentle person even as a kid. He would nurse injured animals back to health, even going so far as to raise a baby alligator in the family bathtub. He never graduated from high school and went to work with his dad as a carpenter. Viewers of his show may not have noticed, but part of his left index finger was missing as a result of that job.
Ross enlisted in the Air Force in 1961 at age 18 and spent 20 years in the service, rising to the rank of master sergeant. He was even a first sergeant at the base clinic at Eielson Air Force Base, Alaska. That's where he saw snow and mountains -- frequent features of his paintings -- for the first time.
It's hard to believe there are some former airmen out there who first met Ross, of all people, while he was shouting at them in a Smokey Bear campaign hat. While it's true he taught basic training, that was not the career path he wanted.
"I was the guy who makes you scrub the latrine, the guy who makes you make your bed, the guy who screams at you for being late to work," Ross later said. "The job requires you to be a mean, tough person, and I was fed up with it. I promised myself that if I ever got away from it, it wasn't going to be that way anymore."
How Bob Ross Started Painting
The Air Force is also where Ross picked up his "happy accident" of a post-military career in art.
He enjoyed painting so much that he took art classes at the base USO offices. But he was frequently frustrated at the instruction, recalling "They'd tell you what makes a tree, but they wouldn't tell you how to paint a tree." Like any good airman, he didn't just notice problems. He came up with solutions. One of those was a way of teaching people how to create a complete work of art within 30 minutes.
Ross began his artistic career by painting on the bottoms of gold pots, which he would sell for $25 each. Eventually, he moved on to canvases.
In order to paint as much as he wanted, he picked up a centuries-old, quick-painting technique now known as wet-on-wet oil painting. Ross credited William Alexander, a German-born artist and host of the TV show "The Magic of Oil Painting," with his style. But Ross went on to develop his own style of creating quick landscapes.
This is how he was able to not only complete an entire painting in one show, but accomplish an estimated 25,000-30,000 paintings over the course of his lifetime.
''I developed ways of painting extremely fast,'' Ross said. ''I used to go home at lunch and do a couple while I had my sandwich. I'd take them back that afternoon and sell them.''
Veteran Bob Ross’ Post-Military Career
When Ross started earning more money selling paintings than he did in the Air Force, he decided to call it quits with the military. He retired in 1981.
He was later Alexander’s apprentice and, eventually, his successor.
In 1983, Ross began painting on television from Muncie, Indiana's WIPB PBS affiliate. His now-famous program, "The Joy of Painting," featured him completing one work per episode while explaining his techniques in a calm, relaxing tone. He dedicated the first episode to his mentor.
"Years ago, Bill taught me this fantastic technique," Ross told viewers. "And I feel as though he gave me a precious gift, and I'd like to share that gift with you."
"The Joy of Painting" ran for 11 years on PBS. Ross did every episode for free, cranking out a 13-episode season in just two days. His income came from teaching painting and selling art supplies through the Bob Ross Company. After two days on set, he could get back to his real work.
Somewhere in that time, 93 million viewers came to know him through his iconic perm hairdo. He came to hate the style, but kept it since it was so integral to the brand.
Ross died in 1995 from lymphoma after creating tens of thousands of paintings -- two exact copies of each painting featured on the show -- and never sold any of them. He either sent them to charities, or they were kept by PBS.
Thirty years after his passing, his art and his persona are as iconic as ever. In August 2025, two of his oil-on-canvas works sold at auction for “double and triple their estimated selling prices,” the New York Post reported.
“Lake Below Snow-Capped Peaks and Cloudy Sky” fetched $114,800, and “Lake Below Snow-Covered Mountains and Clear Sky” sold for $95,750 at Bonhams’ American Art Online sale.
“I can tell you that Bob would have been quite shy to learn that his paintings are now selling at six figures,” Joan Kowalski, president of Bob Ross Inc., told The Post. “He was never really that interested in his finished works, Bob was more fascinated with the process of painting and sharing that with other people.”
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