A Happy World

Bob Ross’ happy clouds are still alive. Certified Bob Ross instructors, such as Brighton resident Liz Ryan, are keeping his memory and painting methods in tact.

Photos by Emily Dougherty

Left, 9-year-old Jaden and 7-year-old Alice concentrate on creating Bob Ross’ “happy trees” in a painting taught by certified Bob Ross instructor Liz Ryan at the Brighton Rec Center on Oct. 25.

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Certified Bob Ross instructor Liz Ryan shows beginning art students how to build the background of a Bob Ross oil painting at the Brighton rec center Oct. 25.

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    On a Tuesday evening last week, Ryan was in a classroom at the Brighton Recreation Center with seven kids who all had a blank canvas in front of them.
    They were getting ready to paint the optical illusion “A Window on Winter,” a Bob Ross piece that gives the viewer the perspective of looking out of a window onto a beautiful winterscape.
    “Paint like the window frame is not there. Then we’ll pull the tape off and, hopefully it will look like a window,” Ryan told her class. “It’s kind of like magic.”
    Later, 7-year-old Spencer told his teacher, “I have a little trouble because it’s my first time.”
    “You’re doing great,” Ryan said, showing him how to hold his fan brush again.
    Ryan, a former math professor, was always told she couldn’t paint. She wasn’t an artist. Around 10 years ago, she decided to take a Bob Ross painting class, also at the Brighton Rec Center. Her sister took the class with her and told Ryan she should teach the class. About halfway through her first painting, Ryan decided she would.
    “I thought if I could do this, the method must work. I want to teach this and give this to other people,” Ryan said.
    In order to become a certified Bob Ross instructor, Ryan had to go through three weeks of intensive training.
    “You paint eight hours a day and learn how to teach and run a business,” Ryan said. Afterward, students are authorized to use the Bob Ross name, use his images and sell his products.
    Ryan became certified in all four types of Bob Ross paintings: landscape, floral, wildlife and portraiture. She believes she’s the only instructor in Colorado to be certified in all four areas.
    “Most of us think that we can’t paint,” Ryan said. “My major message is that we can. It’s something everybody should try just once to see if they like it and that they can do it.”
    After certification, Ryan began teaching adult and children’s classes at recreation centers, Michael’s Arts & Crafts, elderly homes, libraries and community colleges. She’s taught aspiring artists ranging in age from 5 to 87 years old.
    “If you can follow directions, you can do the Bob Ross,” Ryan said.
She noted that adults are sometimes more critical and afraid of making a mistake, whereas kids simply enjoy the process and the chance to use oil paints – an expensive and messy medium many parents don’t let their children play with.    
    “Oil is forgiving,” Ryan said. “You can move it and modify it.”
    Bob Ross instructors typically paint wet on wet, a technique long used by artists in which an artist continues adding paint on top of wet paint, rather than waiting for each layer to dry.
    According to Ryan, Bob Ross only used 13 colors. Therefore, all of his palettes are variations created from combining those colors.
    Ryan’s favorite Bob Ross painting is “Northern Lights,” a unique piece painted from a black canvas. “I could do that over and over,” she said.
    Ryan’s classes are a step-by-step painting process starting with a blank canvas and then working from the background to the foreground to create depth.
    In last week’s session she showed kids, ranging in age from 6 to 10, how to hold the different kinds of brushes, responsibly use paint thinner to clean their brushes, and apply layers of paint.
    Painting is more of a relaxation exercise. It’s easy to get lost in it, Ryan said.
    “You’re in your right brain. But you’re off in your own world. It’s a good way to get away for awhile and then you have something cool when you’re done,” she said.
    Ryan grew up in Colorado Springs and has been living in the Brighton area since 1990. She was in the army and taught math to middle school- to college-aged students. She retired four years ago from teaching.
    Ryan’s community painting classes and private lessons provide a nice part-time job for her. She creates original and commissioned paintings, often donating some to local organizations, charities and events, such as Fort Lupton’s Trapper Days.
    “I’m not going to be a Rembrandt,” Ryan admitted. “But literally, if I can do it, then anybody can.”
    Over Halloween weekend, Ryan attended a Bob Ross convention in Washington, D.C. The convention is every two years Oct. 31 because that was Ross’ birthday. Ross died in 1995.
    “They call them Bob Ross reunions,” Ryan said.
    At the reunions, instructors take classes, learn about new products, view never-before-seen Bob Ross originals created during his last years, attend a memorial where Bob Ross’ friends and family speak about his work and life, and create a costume out of trash bags and paper plates to wear to a Halloween masquerade party.
    “I want to keep teaching and doing Bob’s paintings. But I want to start branching off a little bit,” Ryan said.
    In the future, she’s excited to get into combining acrylic with oil paint and working on more local landscapes, in addition to teaching classes.
    An appealing part of her Bob Ross painting sessions is that people don’t have to bring anything or buy supplies for it.
    “It’s a risk-free thing,” Ryan said. “You pay for the class, and it’s a little expensive. But you’re not going out and buying supplies for something you’re not going to do very often.”
Ryan offers a mixed adult and kids class every other month at the Brighton Rec Center, 555 N. 11th Ave. Adults pay $45 for classes, while her kids’ classes (offered three times a year) are $25 per class. The next Bob Ross painting class is scheduled for 1 to 4:30 p.m., Dec. 11, for children and adults.
    For information contact 303-655-2200, or email Ryan at Liz.BRpainting@comcast.net.

Contact Emily Dougherty at 303-659-2522 ext. 223 or edougherty@metrowestnewspapers.com.