Event unveils new Bob Ross works, NSB artist to host return of 'The Joy of Painting'

NEW SMYRNA BEACH — Before Bob Ross died in July 1995, production was underway for the 32nd season of his beloved “The Joy of Painting” series on PBS.

In fact, Ross had completed eight new works to be featured in the show that had never been revealed.

Until now.

Around 150 people gathered at the Brannon Center in New Smyrna Beach Thursday evening for an event called “The Joy Continues,” where they saw those eight works plus several others painted by Ross and watched a presentation about the Daytona Beach native’s life and connection to the area.

"Actually, tonight is the first time they have been in public for viewing ever," said Nicholas Hankins, who has run the Bob Ross Art Workshop and Gallery along with his wife, Ada, on NSB's Third Avenue for the past five years.

Hankins, a “Ross-certified teacher trainer,” teaches landscape, seascape, floral and wildlife classes in Ross’ unique “wet-on-wet” style of oil painting, also took a few minutes to create a painting live during the presentation.

Now, Hankins has been tapped to host Ross' unfinished 32^nd season of "The Joy of Painting," which debuts this month on PBS.

Who was Bob Ross and what is his connection to New Smyrna Beach?

Hankins and Greg Holbrook, executive director of the New Smyrna Museum of History, who organized the event, sat on stage and talked about Ross’ journey while showing clips of his closest friends and family sharing anecdotes and accounts of the artist’s career.

Ross was born in Daytona Beach on Oct. 29, 1942. He grew up in the Orlando area and was constantly traveling to Volusia County.

At 18, Ross enlisted in the United States Air Force and was stationed in Alaska.

At some point while serving in the military, Ross started painting, producing works inspired by the Alaskan landscapes.

He later learned about the wet-on-wet technique from William “Bill” Alexander, who hosted the TV series “The Magic of Oil Painting” on PBS from 1974 to 1982.

Ross became an instructor of Alexander’s technique, teaching it across the country.

One day he met Annette Kowalski during one of his classes. After falling in love with his style and classes, Kowalski invited Ross to enter into a business partnership with herself and her husband, Walt, to teach painting classes in Northern Virginia.

From this partnership came his 1982 TV show “The Joy of Painting,” where he continued to teach the wet-on-wet technique — making it possible to fill the canvas with all kinds of colorful landscapes in less than an hour.

He had a home in Muncie, Indiana, during most of the time he filmed “The Joy of Painting.” But as his mother, Ollie, got older and started ailing, he found a home in Orlando and returned to central Florida to be closer to her.

It was then that Ross introduced the Kowalskis to New Smyrna Beach, where he helped create and found the Bob Ross Art Workshop in 1993.

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How did the idea to finish season 32 of ‘Joy of Painting’ come about?

Joan Kowalski, president of the Bob Ross Inc., had been discussing with Hankins the possibility of creating “some new pilot episodes for new content in public television,” he said.

“So we filmed a pilot, and it was my wife’s idea, with WDSC (Daytona State College’s TV channel) in Daytona and it was going to be stacked in with some of Bob’s current running best-of episodes, that he filmed back in the '80s and '90s,” Hankins said. “And my wife said, ‘If we are going to do this, we should really take Bob’s seven or eight canvases he had completed for what would have been his next series that he never got take into the studio.

“Immediately I thought, ‘Yeah — Ada’s right.’ That’s what we need to do,” he said.

Hankins said Kowalski also liked the idea and they decided to move it along.

“It would be the right move, I believe, and Bob would be happy.”

Holbrook came across the workshop last year when he needed help getting ahold of easels for an event.

“So I talked to them a little bit and started to learn a little bit and said, ‘We should try and tell this story. We should try and put something together and talk about Bob,’” Holbrook said.

Hankins said the city offers a “calm, laidback way of life that feeds the creativity, clears your mind and allows you to look around and be open to new ideas and inspiration.”

“It’s really on the move, and I think it’s great,” Hankins said of NSB’s art scene.

Ross’ eight, never-before-seen works will now be part of the 32^nd season, which will air at different times on different channels in April at PBS affiliate stations. Hankins will continue to promote the show into May, when he will be part of NBC’s Today show.

“I’m excited that people are going to be able to see these last works from Bob, finally, after 28 years,” he said before his presentation at the Brannon Center began. “I hope Bob’s seeing this and smiling tonight.”

This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: Bob Ross' never-before-seen works unveiled as new 'Joy of Painting' nears