I enjoyed reading people’s reactions to The Joy of Painting. I thought I’d share my thoughts on people’s thoughts here.
“I fell asleep within five minutes.”
I remember reading a newspaper article about Bob’s popularity back in the day when his show was on PBS. It said a lot of people watched his show specifically because the sound of his voice helped them sleep on the couch on weekend afternoons.
“all of this seems like simple movements just done in a professional manner”
That’s actually one of the things I used to hate about Bob. Having a background in graphic design, I could see that there is a whole lot of color theory behind his work, which he rarely mentioned in his show. The depth and sense of space in his images comes from an expertly managed interaction of hue, chroma and value. Watching it on Youtube now, where I can see it more frequently than once a week, I do see that he gets into it a little bit here and there, and it adds up over time.
“we are making this world up as we go and that we have the power to do what we want with it.”
This attitude is why I think of Bob as one of ds106’s guiding lights. This class is what we make of it. Our sites are what we make of them. Our education systems sort of train people to try to figure out what the boss wants, and then do that. But really, it should be about what we want to get out of the systems. It’s our world.
“anything can be enjoyable as long as one does not view it as an obligation”
While there are obligations in ds106 – there is work to do – there is a great deal of freedom in what we do and how we do it. Basically, if it’s not fun, then you’re not doing it right.
“It really helps if you’re a little nervous. If you’re nervous it’s an asset here.”
This quote surprised me because I see Bob as extremely encouraging. I would expect him to tell us to shrug off nerves, saying “You can do it” or “Here’s your bravery test.” But people will be unsure and nervous in any case, and stepping outside of the comfort zone can be its own reward.
“he uses a lot of pronouns like “we” and “us” to make it feel like him and the viewer are painting together”
I try to do the same thing. Not sure how well it works though.
