Painting in Layers

Once, not too long ago, I very rarely watched TV. Then I bought one for my room.

Oops.

Now I watch probably a half hour to an hour a night, after I go to bed and before I turn out the light. So I like…happy stuff. Queer Eye. Tidying Up. Wildlife documentaries (I skip the episodes about climate change because I KNOW ALREADY, I KNOW, BELIEVE ME) and sometimes conspiracy theory silliness. I save my movie watching for the weekend.

Lately my go-to has been Bob Ross.

Have you watched him? The series is “Beauty is Everywhere” on Netflix. It’s so relaxing, without being boring. Bob Ross has this kind soft voice, and he works magic and explains every step while insisting that I can do it too, and it’s just…lovely. When he’s doing something repetitive, he’ll show a short video of him charming wild animals, like injured baby squirrels he’s hand-raising, or an orphaned deer a friend is taking care of…

via GIPHY

He cracks dorky jokes, too. While putting in a shoreline in a painting, “Don’t let the trees fall in the water, that’ll make a big splash and scare that little beaver that lives here.” Note–he hasn’t painted a beaver. Or on balancing out the highlights he’s putting in, “We don’t want these trees left out. Nothing worse than an angry tree coming after you.” When he washes his brush, he bangs it on the easel to finish, and he always gets a kick out of it and laughs. Sometimes he’ll say, “And now I got the whole studio, and woke up that cameraman falling asleep over there.”

He’s adorkable. Seriously. So adorkable that I talk to him. Late at night, talking to an old recording of a man who has long since passed, I’ll tell him, “I feel like you know what symmetrical means, you goof.”

One day, maybe, I’ll take up painting. I feel like I could give myself permission to be not-good at it. Like I could just watch Bob Ross videos and make messes and enjoy myself.

But watching does more for me than just send me off to dreamland relaxed and amused. He’s so positive.

Also, if you watch just one show, you’ll see that despite what you might guess from his famous “there are no mistakes, only happy accidents,” he’s not just randomly tossing paint on the canvas. He does plan ahead. He paints in layers, back to front, and in half an hour, creates a lovely landscape with lots of depth.

I’m thinking about that, as I ponder my next book. What do I need in the background, to make the story in the foreground make sense? How many layers do I want? Each one needs to be different and set apart so it can add to the whole–how will I make that work? Where will I put the highlights, to really make my story pop? I have to be careful, he’d warn, because if I put too much in I’ll kill the dark completely and my story will be flat.

So yeah, that’s what I’m up to. Talking to Bob Ross and planning my novel. (It’s actually a rewrite, but we’ll forget that part. This was the first finished novel, the Weightiest First Draft of All Time, and I’ll actually be surprised if a single comma makes it all the way from first draft to last, so.)

Also–I have to say this–also, I am looking at the world a little differently. Today I saw the sunset and pondered how I would paint the alpenglow if I were painting. Well, yes, I’d probably do it badly–but how would Bob Ross do it?

On top of liking to watch happy things at bedtime, I love things that show me the world a little differently. So, again–Queer Eye, Tidying Up, Planet Earth and all that have followed it, Bob Ross…

If you’re green, you’re growing. When you’re ripe, you’re rotting. Or so the saying goes. I’m turning fifty next month, but I’m gonna stay green if I can possibly manage it.