There are no mistakes, just happy accidents.

Watching Bob Ross paint is good for the artist’s soul.

Finding Bob Ross reruns on cable tv saved me as a young artist, with no living artistic family members.

Everywhere in my house and school, everyone expected the best of my art at all times. The pressure would mount and I'd make mistakes on my paintings. I’d throw them out and question my self worth always.

Bob Ross and his painting shows made art accessible by making it do-able for anyone. You just needed to want to try what he's doing. The amount of self imposed stress that lifted off my shoulders when Bob said there are no mistakes in Art, forever changed me.

Suddenly I could try all the different art things, it was O-K to be a beginner and suck because there are no mistakes in Art, just happy accidents.

Disclaimer; yes there will still be days you will absolutely fuck up the art, it'll be unfixable, the mistakes won't be seen as a happy accident to a client. Nothing in life runs smoothly for long. Keep your expectations high on your art for paying clientele. Scrap it and start fresh!

But when it comes to what you want to learn/grow on/practise in your spare time- should be viewed with more leniency/grace, as happy accidents and not as a fail or waste of time in a capitalist society. Make your soul sing. Draw the things, paint the things, make the things. Thrive .

Sometimes I have a vision in my head that I haven’t actually practised much on paper. I'm nostalgic for the 1970’s psychedelic album art/landscape art. The whimsy of the stars and the way the lines flow, intrigues me. As I was bringing it to life here in a Cosmos x Soundwave illustration, I found it needed more forethought than I was used to giving my art.

As a result, some parts weren't flowing here, I entered a brief “stuck” period. I had to run a few small side sketches to see which steps I should take next. Lacking confidence, I had a vision but no way to actually bring it out on paper. The ways I had been going had me putting color in places I didn't intend to etc. Because I didn't have a more detailed plan in mind, I was just “winging” the style as I went along.

However, once I added the black and white panel, everything settled down for me.

Sometimes I have to move ahead on a piece anyways, and the vision comes back. As it did in this case.

Sometimes I’ll move ahead and then realise “oh no” the pose has been wrong etc all this time, and then I finally scrap it and start new.

I ran a few more test ideas, I originally wanted to bring the illustration down the the bottom to consume the black and white panel in it. Making it a complete rectangle, visually.

But this version won out because of the white space and the defined lines of Cosmos’ pede/black and white panel. Making it visually appealing to look at. Moreso than the complete rectangle sample next to it.

Also I adore “the Group of Seven” and their tree landscapes. I had to include a tree, inspired by both Bob Ross and the G7. It completes the theme.

Remember, no mistakes right? White acrylic paint is your best friend. Rearrange your landscape, brighten up overworked dull spaces, Sharpie markers and dark Copics colors can work overtop the white acrylic.

In this case I wanted some of the sun’s rays to be extended way out. I needed to fix Cosmos’ shoulder and Soundwave’s shoulder. I needed to added depth to the tree greenery.

It takes a few applications of white paint to fix a spot. Painting over violet will make the white paint bleed a little purple. You need to let it dry, walk away, work on something else, come back paint a second coat. Sometimes a 3rd coat. But it’s fixable!.

I used more acrylic paint colors to finish it up this time, instead of markers.

In the end this turned out better than I originally imagined. Can you spot the elephant cloud?

I adore Soundwave and Cosmos together.

✨With patience, perseverance & Bob Ross cheering you on, you can do anything ✨.