“A Bright Happy Cloud There, A Touch Of Sparkle On The Water Here.”

Below is painting I made on a large 2’ x 3’ canvas for my son’s and his girlfriend’s apartment.  The creative process of the improvisational free-form approach to painting the composition at times had me thinking of the late, popular artist Bob Ross being that it is a landscape I simply made-up in my imagination as I went along creating with thoughts along the lines of, “A bright, happy cloud there, A touch of sparkle on the water here… ” while keeping in mind the sentiment of impressions and memories of our family’s Rocky Mountain vacation home where we continue to spend seasons vacationing together ever since the days when my son was very young.
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As a pop culture icon, Bob Ross is known for his thinking out loud insights and commentary as he works. Much of the time he expresses painting thoughts like mine about making a cloud or adding a reflective sparkle on the water ( …often adding the adjective “happy” before the name of an element.  )  Sometimes his thoughts are expansive as he creatively expresses the recognition of the universal nature of things or of the heartfelt importance of relationships; other times his thoughts are pointed in a more self-reflective way often with a fun-loving sense of humor. 

​Here are a few of the many true-to-life quotes I picked-out of an article titled “Happy Little Quotes” which lists a collection of Bob Ross comments noted from various episodes of his old television show “The Joy of Painting” where he is as much admired for his words of wisdom and his peaceful and playful optimism expressed in his distinctively calm voice during the process of creating as he is for his demonstrated profound skills at painting landscapes:


"I guess I’m a little weird. I like to talk to trees and animals. That’s okay though; I have more fun than most people.” ~ Bob Ross

"Talk to the tree, make friends with it.” ~ Bob Ross

"Look around. Look at what we have. Beauty is everywhere—you only have to look to see it." ~ Bob Ross

"It’s hard to see things when you are too close. Take a step back and look.” ~ Bob Ross

"In nature, dead trees are just as normal as live trees.” ~ Bob Ross

"Let's build a happy little cloud." ~ Bob Ross

"It’s so important to do something every day that will make you happy.” ~ Bob Ross

"Don’t forget to tell these special people in your life just how special they are to you.” ~ Bob Ross


…. And along with my own thoughts of “bright happy clouds” and “sparkling waters” in the tone of Bob Ross, I will add to my collection of quotes and to my artwork itself my personal wishes which this painting brings for Love, Peace, and Happiness in all the places that we may go.   ~ With Love Always from Mom.

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The mountains have continued to bring inspiration to me through the years like in this painting I made for our Christmas cards many years ago when our sons were in grade school.

In addition to the continued inspiration found in mountain landscapes, my thoughts are also bringing to mind other posts I have made about Bob Ross that also touches on the previous blog posted here about the subject of bobbleheads.
​See: “Pieces in the National Bobblehead Hall of Fame and Museum”

​Here is a screenshot of a post from years ago recalling such Bob Ross and bobblehead inspirations that I remember sharing on my Cincinnati Reds & Bengals Art Facebook page of Bob Ross posed as a Cincinnati Reds bobblehead:

​While in the process of writing this particular blog and recalling the Reds Bob Ross bobblehead, my son happened to share a photo that coincidentally continued to tie my stream of themes together.  The photo is a capture he shared while on one of his Rocky Mountain trips this winter that displays his ever growing life-long love for the mountains just before painting a fresh layer of snow on the slopes with his skis while sporting a T-shirt with some old-school Reds love (Larkin #11) just like Bob Ross is sporting in the baseball collector’s piece pictured above.

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​Here are a couple more paintings of some snowy mountain love on top of the love of trees and animals that Bob Ross mentions in the quotes I listed which includes my son’s Bernedoodle, Gigi, who has a good amount of Bernese Mountain Dog in her blood and is as sweet as can be. The painting of Gigi is a gift I made for Christmas 2020 and the picture is from “The Joys Found in 2020” ​which has some of my dog paintings with pictures of both of my sons’ dogs that they each got that year. 

Process Pictures

A few pictures of my relaxed process of finding my way through the springtime landscape painting. ( This large canvas sat in my studio for months where I pulled it out every now and ​then.  Now as I put together a camera roll of pictures, I see how each approach brought added colors and perspectives, currents and forms. )​

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