Bob Ross + Surrealism Mashup

What do you get when you cross a Bob Ross painting with a dream?

This project was voted on and created in collaboration with my students in the spring of 2021.  Students were given the opportunity to make suggestions for the work we would do for our final project of the year. Once I had all of their suggestions, I used a voting website for them to make their choice about which ideas they liked the most and least.  The two projects that rose to the top were combined to create this final assignment of the year. 

To your left you can see some examples of other artists who have done this sort of thing in the past.  With each, there is an element of surprise or humor that provide a new context to the original idillic landscapes, transforming them into something brand new and Pop culture relevant. 

The process...

Step One:
Go to the Bob Ross YouTube channel and look through the many tutorials he has available.  Choose the painting you think would be fun to re-create and watch the tutorial for it.   You will need to brainstorm the ways you'd like to change the original painting to give us that element of surprise.  Have fun with this part! 

Step Two:
Get out your supplies that include a canvas that is approximately 16" x 20".  You should have a variety of brushes and a collection of several paints.  Purchasing these brushes and paints from Michael's shouldn't cost too much money.  You can spend a lot if you want, but they have plenty of affordable student grade materials you can get. 

Step 3: 
Follow along with the tutorial at your own pace.  You won't be able to make your work look exactly like Bob Ross, but whatever happens in the translation will be really fun and interesting if you work hard and do your best.  He creates his images in less than 30 minutes, but I anticipate your painting will take as many as 3 hours to replicate. 

Step 4:
Once you've finished with your tutorial, it's time to completely reinvent the painting and give it a dream-like or unexpected element that makes it more contemporary and conceptual.  If you look at the examples to the right, each has an element of surprise that takes that simple timeless landscape into an era of NOW by using popular imagery.  How you transform your painting is completely up to you.  Take this opportunity to show us your creativity, your wit, your sense of humor.  Make this something the viewer can't escape!