[Dangeranger]

One of the things that I like about Bob Ross is that when he was in the Air Force and stationed in Alaska as a Master Sergeant he had to act like a really mean character and yell at people for minor infractions and mistakes. When he left the military he decided that he never wanted to be the kind of person who yelled at others like that again.

While his outward appearance within the show is one of a casual sort of hippie, he was extremely regimented and self disciplined. It has been reported that he would practice some paintings a half dozen times, while reciting the script along the way. Every moment of his program was planned to the second.

[JustSomeNobody]

I always thought he had a painting off camera that he would look at. I remember seeing him look away from the canvas bit and just assumed that's what he was doing.

[simongr3dal]

I don't remember where I heard or read this, but he made three copies of every painting, one for practice and to look at while filming, another while filming, and a third for the sort of timelapse they would have at the intro/end.