Here comes Bill Alexander

Let me set the picture for this post. The one who is writing these lines is me - Stephan. Do I paint? Yes I started painting in 2017 and have been painting ever since. I definitely started using the technique created by Bob Ross (sic) - at least that is what I thought until I stumbled across Bill's name on the internet.

So how come I didn't know about Bill? Well I started to get to know Bob Ross on German television in the 80s. Like millions of other Germans I was facinated about this guy who could create a painting in roughly 30 minutes and was even fun to listen to. Did I paint then? No, I didn't as the painting materials where not in my reach then. I was sad though when I heard about Bob's death in 1995.

Fast forward to 2016 when I told my girlfriend (now wife) about Bob Ross while watching a rerun of one of his TV shows. My wife didn't know who Bob Ross was but suddenly had an idea for a wonderful Christmas present. So the first painting I ever painted using oil colors was one of the famous mountain scenes I saw first as a child in the 80s. The course here in Hamburg was (and still is) run by an offical Bob Ross instructor - who is also a studied painter - whom I admire a lot. I fell in love with the method and the results I could achive. Getting better each time I started another painting made me stick to the brushes.

So what about Bill Alexander on German television? Nobody in the 80s here in Germany knew about Bill Alexander and from what we all know now those who knew about him (aka Bob Ross Inc.) certainly had no reason mentioning Bill as the "Joy of Painting" created many happy bucks for them all over Europe - especially in Germany. Until clips appeared on the internet Bill's show was out of reach for Europe. Which is astonishing as I hope anyone can imagine how thrilled Germans would have already been in the 70s/80s to know that a fellow German had a successful Emmy awarded TV show on American television.

So like many other people I found out that Bill Alexander was there first and even had a show on TV way before Bob Ross even knew he would once work for Bill Alexander and then reach new hights with what he learned from Bill. Many lines have been written about this fact and we will provide more links on this website soon so that you can read more about it if you haven't heard about it before. To make a long story short ... once I learned more about Bill (soaking it all up like a sponge) the moment came for me when I had to rearrange my perception of what I had assumed to be true, i.e. Bob being the almighty superstar of painting. It was like finding out that a hit your favorite musician/band had was "just" a cover of a song that had been a hit on the charts before. 

So what's the difference between Bill and Bob for me now? I admire them both and learning about the ups and downs in their releationship didn't make it easier. Of course also the word "betrayl" was uttered and we will certainly examine this aspect in a future post. Right now let me just say that the difference I see between both of them might be subtle to some but exists nevertheless. In the business world the following three terms exist: inventor, entrepreneur, or innovator. Bill for me definitely is the inventor. Being the most creative individual of the three he came up with the magic of oil painting and turned it into a TV show. Bob - who stared as Bill's student - is the innovator as he improved Bill's method and turned it into the joy of painting for all of us. Nothing wrong with that. Have they been entrepreneurs? No they have been true artists - which still creates all the respect they get nowadays. Of course it would have been magic and a joy if they had been successful businessmen as well. Both have been run over though by the greed of people who had no artistic talent whatsoever but enough talent to steer the happy buck into their pockets. And yes I recommend watching a documentary that has been released last year.

Here we are at the end of my first post and I am looking forward to focus on Bill Alexander as the originator of a fantastic painting concept. Of course only Talore can give us more insights on Bill as he personally knew him. I will add my German perspective though and try to set a few things straight about Bill that many seem to not understand - more about that soon.

Best,

Stephan