"Happy little trees": Bob Ross' 70th Birthday

If you watched any daytime PBS programming from the mid-eighties to the mid-nineties, you're certain to have seen The Joy of Painting with artist Bob Ross. Google celebrates what would have been his 70th birthday today with a Bob Ross Google Doodle on their main page.

My own artistic talent is confined to three-dimensional work such as gaming miniatures and terrain. Starting with a blank canvas and creating a scene is a huge challenge for me. If you watched Bob's show -- or attended his painting classes -- he encouraged you and made you believe that anyone could create art and love the process.

I think it's particularly fitting that the "g" in the Google art is blue. I can remember him saying on the show many times,"Perhaps a little more Phthalo Blue here... Phthalo Blue..."

Always upbeat, always engaged with the viewer, and always full of wonder for the beauty of the natural world, he created miniature worlds in his landscape paintings, and invited you to do the same. What I will remember is that optimistic joy, love of animals, and genuine passion for life that he projected on every show.

Bob Ross passed away in 1995.

Mental Floss has a great list of "5 (Happy Little) Things You Didn't Know about Bob Ross."