Bob Ross the Painter and Entertainer

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Somebody asked me if I learnt from Bob Ross the famous American TV painter who painted wet on wet with a lot of snowcapped mountains in his scenes.

Len Hend the Original SpeedPainter

I know Bob Ross painted a lot like me and I know Bob Ross was friends with William Alexander, another older American TV painter.
But the fact is I was traveling Australia and showing my wet on wet techniques for years before Bob Ross appeared on American television.
My first 6 SpeedPainting lessons were available on VHS video from 1980, well before Bob Ross.
And I had an afro haircut.
So no I did not learn anything from Bob Ross and I firmly believe Bob Ross learnt a lot from my videos.
Living in Australia one would not hear about Bob Ross but about 1990 I viewed one of Bob’s early videos and was suprised to see his painting techniques and script were almost identical to those shown my first video which I had produced in 1980 after spending months selecting clever phrases describing my techniques.
I cannot say how the afro haircut might have inspired Bob because I would have it trimmed before making any movies but many hundreds of thousands of people watched my act over the years, and many visiting Americans bought my videos.

It was a good lifestyle, I would paint all day and play pool at night. Playing pool was a great way to move into the social scene when I was in a different town each month. – I did play well.
Read more about my adventures HERE