He repeatedly stated on the show his belief that everyone had inherent artistic talent and could become an accomplished artist given time, practice, and encouragement, and to this end was often fond of saying, “We don’t make mistakes, we just have happy little accidents.” (From Wikipedia)

Link:

How to sound like Bob Ross:

Let’s just do a happy little painting
happy little strokes
just sort of let it happen
see how easy it is
I’m just an absolute fanatic for water -… love it!
That makes it sort of pretty
thought today we’d put in some happy little clouds
take out all of your frustrations and hostilities
Decide where your big ole clouds are going to live
clouds are very, very free
it doesn’t matter
happy little bushes
don’t want this little tree to be left out
all kinds of happy little things
Isn’t that super?
And it works so well
the squirrel hilton
We don’t make mistakes, we just have happy accidents
There it comes…
Whatever, just sort of scrub it in

PS: What, spaciness isn’t in the dictionary (OED)?!?
Def.:
spacy (or: spacey):
1. very eccentric or unconventional
2. spaced-out: not in touch with reality; flighty, irresponsible, neurotic
3. with lots of space, roomy
4. connected with the extraterrestrial
spaciness:
1. ditziness (dumb innocence); state of being off-beat

In one study, we asked German and Spanish speakers to describe objects having opposite gender assignment in those two languages. The descriptions they gave differed in a way predicted by grammatical gender. For example, when asked to describe a “key” — a word that is masculine in German and feminine in Spanish — the German speakers were more likely to use words like “hard,” “heavy,” “jagged,” “metal,” “serrated,” and “useful,” whereas Spanish speakers were more likely to say “golden,” “intricate,” “little,” “lovely,” “shiny,” and “tiny.” To describe a “bridge,” which is feminine in German and masculine in Spanish, the German speakers said “beautiful,” “elegant,” “fragile,” “peaceful,” “pretty,” and “slender,” and the Spanish speakers said “big,” “dangerous,” “long,” “strong,” “sturdy,” and “towering.” This was true even though all testing was done in English, a language without grammatical gender. The same pattern of results also emerged in entirely nonlinguistic tasks…

Look at some famous examples of personification in art — the ways in which abstract entities such as death, sin, victory, or time are given human form. How does an artist decide whether death, say, or time should be painted as a man or a woman? It turns out that in 85 percent of such personifications, whether a male or female figure is chosen is predicted by the grammatical gender of the word in the artist’s native language. So, for example, German painters are more likely to paint death as a man, whereas Russian painters are more likely to paint death as a woman.”

Note: But did grammar come before culture? Can’t believe that. You’ll find “she” used in English for boats and tools, abstractions (except God), cities and countries, the Church … and the army. Never thought about it, but it’s “die Armee”! Do you know a language where the army is masculine?

Found through Azra Raza’s post on 3quarksdaily.

She created a monument to Oscar Maria Graf at the Literaturhaus here in Munich. His language is everywhere, even on the tableware. A soup bowl reads “Hingabe, Hingabe bis ins Letzte!” (”Devotion! Devotion unto death!”) . Or how about a cup that says “Mehr Erotik, bitte!” (”More eroticism, please!”) along with a saucer reading “Mehr Sexualität, die Herrschaften!” (”More sexuality, please, ladies and gentlemen!”) This frivolity is nice but unusual for Jenny Holzer, whose work is so thoroughly political and serious.

Jenny Holzer finds it hard to research her topics and to write about them. Yet her art is completely textbased. She disappears into her art, the opposite of a diva, saying “I like to be absolutely out of view and out of earshot.” In these videos she speaks about “PROTECT PROTECT”, her most comprehensive exhibition in the United States in more than fifteen years (at the Whitney until May 31).

Watch the excellent video tour of the current exhibition by Whitney Museum curator Donna De Salvo: “Jenny Holzer’s pioneering approach to language as a carrier of content and her use of nontraditional media and public settings as vehicles for that content make her one of the most interesting and significant artists working today.”

How do you feel about her art?

As I was walking through the exhibition I came across artwork for Alice in Wonderland (1951) by Mary Blair (1911-1978), the Disney background artist who gave that film its distinctive “new look”. (Illustration by Mary Blair taken from the catalog, Walt Disneys wunderbare Welt und ihre Wurzeln in der europäischen Kunst, Hirmer, 25 Euros at the exhibition.)

I’m thinking back on my first year as a blogger and writing for online readers, which is just coming to an end. And so, looking at these pictures, I find myself identifying with Alice. She knows what it’s like. On unfamiliar terrain, always trying out whatever is available as she goes through quite a few changes – just like me this year. There’s so much to see on the other side of the Looking Glass. You can make mistakes and get into trouble, sure, but for the most part it’s a great adventure. And you know, in the end, all that amazing technology, all those exciting tools are just a … “a pack of cards!” Alice will always remain Alice. Thank you, dear reader, for sticking with me on my trip down the rabbit hole.

Here is a song from Disney’s “Alice in Wonderland” which resonnates with a backend beginner like me. It’s called “Painting the roses red”.

Thank you Dolce for the initial spark and for hours and hours of work (!) and Dolcevita for your encouragement. Thank you Eamonn for taking me on based on almost nothing. Thank you Helmut for dragging me away from the computer. Thanks, everyone, for your ideas and comments.

Gertrude Stein found concise words for complicated things:

America is my country and Paris is my hometown.
A writer should write with his eyes and a painter paint with his ears.
I’ve been rich and I’ve been poor. It’s better to be rich.

This makes me think of my father. And my mother. Would be great to portray her. I still have my dad’s old Voigtländer. Lots of guesswork, but it gets beautiful results.  I’ve shied away from digital cameras because of the wait between click and snap. OK, dear Voigtländer, you can go back into the museum now.

The song featured in the video is “The Chorus”, by Donora.
The lyrics:

It’s alright if you cry and cover your eyes.
It’s ok if you scream like a girl
I won’t tell anyone if you promise the same.
Cause I’m scared of the whole world.
It’s alright if you sigh, put your head next to mine.
It’s ok if you curl up in a ball,
cause I might give it a try and end in the same condition after all.
(It goes) Oh oh oh oh oh oh…

Is it alright if I’m sad and feeling let down?
Is it ok if I’m not myself again?
Will you love me the same if I promise to breathe and count from 1 to 10?
Is it alright if I lose track of the world?
Is it ok if I hide from the unknown?
Will you tell me again the story about how I’m not alone?
(It goes) Oh oh oh oh oh oh…

Walk away from the life you want and sing the chorus of the broken hearted.