13. He Tried to Avoid Signs of People In His Work
It quickly becomes apparent when watching The Joy of Painting that Bob Ross studiously avoided inserting any evidence of human inhabitation into his work. While many of his paintings may feature a shed or outbuilding, these are almost always included with black windows and no sign of smoke coming out of the chimney, even in paintings that are set in snowscapes at night. Ross wanted nature to speak for itself, and intentionally avoided those signs of human life.