The legendary TV artist Bob Ross has popped up several times this week making me wonder if he had a message for me from beyond the grave.
First, I saw a post about him on social media, then I came across an article about why he is still popular so many years after his death.
Maybe Bob could have taught me to paint. I imagine he would have approached the challenge with his usual enthusiasm and calm, but he would have had his work cut out.
When I’m dealing with perfectionists I always tell them how important it is to do something you’re terrible at just to get away from the relentless necessity to do everything well. In my case, painting and drawing fit the bill perfectly.
Recently someone said to me that he felt he could do a lot of things pretty well but that he wasn’t exceptional at anything. I remembered saying that exact same thing once to my own therapist.
When I said it I framed the words as a direct complaint about myself, a dissatisfaction at my own inadequacy.
My friend Martin, who runs the podcast with me, is a self-confessed perfectionist and a recovering alcoholic. These two aspects of Martin are not, I am quite sure, unrelated.
He is especially particular about how things turn out whereas I am insufferably sloppy and haphazard. Perhaps that’s why our friendship works.
I recently did a drawing of some nondescript mutant flowers in a misshapen pot which was hopelessly out of proportion in all aspects.
I showed the picture to Martin who is an excellent artist and, suppressing a laugh, he said,
“It’s got a certain naive charm.”
“Do you mean it’s terrible?”
“Yes,” he said.
My first mistake was asking a perfectionist about my terrible drawing. My second mistake was seeking any validation for something I’d done purely for enjoyment.
Posting the picture on social media as part of a little video about why perfectionism is bad for us, Martin’s daughter, also an excellent artist posted a little picture in the comments which read,
“I’ve done a bad drawing,” said the boy
“Are you enjoying it?” asked the mole
“Yes,” replied the boy
“Then it’s a good drawing,” said the mole.
One of the reasons that Bob Ross was so successful and remains popular to this day is because he made you feel that it was possible to create something from nothing.
Of course, there’s nothing particularly exceptional about that because it’s true.
The thing that many of us find difficult is believing that we can create something from nothing, and then concluding that we have, without holding ourselves to some unnecessary standard of quality that has come from heaven knows where.
In trying to find my inner Bob Ross by painting some flowers that looked like flowers I may have missed the point because, simply by trying something and enjoying it, I had stumbled upon him anyway.
NB. I no longer have the picture that is the subject of this piece. I put it on my fridge but got tired of looking at it every time I wanted a cup of coffee. Instead, I have used another work from my extensive collection as the photo accompanying this week’s post. It is, I think you can tell, still in my own inimitable style.
Martin’s daughter has a little online shop where she is selling some of her art. Check it out if you’d like something by someone who knows what they’re doing.
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