Bill while alive was an original, one of a kind. He is missed greatly.

He passed away in 1995

Bill inspires me to paint whereas Bob puts me to sleep. Bill loves what he does and it shows. He makes painting exciting.

I like it so much more!

Different? Lol lol It's the same wet on wet

animosity developed between teacher and student after bob became popular.

So true!

Bleak is a good descriptive for this painting.

I am 48, and I watched him back in grade school! Bill was a part of our growing up.😊

More than inspired... He actually taught Bob

Yeah and then he got jealous because bob ross started a tv show of his own and got really famous

Really

Exactamundo!

Thank you!

Bill does not use varnish. He begins with a thin medium oil paint.

I think I can answer that. Bob Ross (Bill's student) would paint three paintings for each show. One for the Books, One to copy from as he painted the one on camera. To the best of my knowledge the majority of Bill's paintings on camera were one of one paintings. Creative Power!

Clear varnish.

I suspect (but do not know) this was originally called "Winter Scene" Season Six Episode 13 (May 13, 1979).

@@darthkek1953 more like “Art of William Alexander & Lowell Speers” Fall 1988

Lance, He might have called it clear varnish but he was using Magic Clear. She wouldn’t mix varnish with his oil paint.

@@AAlexanderArt Thanks for responding and clarifying that Mr. Alexander misspoke and that HE actually meant Magic Clear.

😂

Christian Chiakulas he was saying the paint color can only take you so far in seeing light. There is an optical illusion that if you surround a lighter color with darker colors, it appears brighter or lighter.

Bill Alexander has 27 minutes to finish a painting on television. He didn’t follow reference photos and he was focused on teaching techniques. Bill was a Master Artist. English was his second language. He did the best he could to communicate with his audience. His purpose was to inspire people to paint. Not to teach master techniques. Too bad you didn’t get to know him. I think you might have a different opinion of him. If you saw some of his fine art you may think differently. It is a little unfair to judge an artist on what he can do in 27 minutes while talking to his audience. He also began filming these shows at age 72 and filmed until he was nearly 80 years old.

Haha.... that's rich. Ross ripped off Alexander's whole shtick, all of it, from happy little trees and almighty mountains all the way to the damn Museum of Modern Art joke (which Alexander delivers in a funnier fashion by tossing a random "dot" into the painting). Ross even talks about how he was the originator of black canvasses ("One of the neatest things I came up with"). But clearly we can see that isn't so. There wasn't an ounce of originality in Bob's show and watching Bill paint has, for me, really shattered the illusion of kindliness in Bob's work. If there was a man who was hungry for power, it was the dude with the squirrel in his pocket lol. He was a businessman, and an entertainer. Bill is loud, excitable, sometimes brash. Bob went the other way, essentially as a deliberate counter-point to help market what was basically the same show but with a less interesting painter for host. As i recall, Bob pretty much dropped Bill like a bad habit and usurped his wet-on-wet throne. So yeah, Bob mentioned Bill in the openings of the first couple seasons of his show, but if you look at the bigger picture, he's trying to create a soft landing for himself for having shamessly ripped off Bill (First episode of season 1, "If this looks like something you've seen before...." or something to that effect). It was Ross who severed and soured the relationship. Skill-wise there is zero comparison. Bill will pump you up for 10+ minutes every episode. He'll talk about life and overcoming its struggles, the philosophy of art, creative inspiration, color theory. Then knock out a masterpiece painting in a few minutes and pump you up a little more before the credits roll lol. Ross needed a reference painting off to the side (although he disengunously implied that everything was improvised), and he'd paint the whole 27 minutes and yes, he made some nice paintings but he was a one-trick pony. Bill has taught me a lot more of the potential of the wet on wet technique. Ross didn't teach me still lifes or cityscapes. In the end, I dunno what fully transpired between these two men but the one comment I remember reading from Bill was that he resented Bob Ross for believing he was better than him. And you know what, as a pretty talented artist myself, I get that. Bob Ross is not a better painter. But if someone took lessons from you on a craft, then opportunistically stole the entire format for your TV show, your dialogue, your turns of phrase, basically duplicated what you had originated and then ran off with it and never talked to you again.... you'd probably be kinda pissed, too.

bob died they had to paint a smile on him!!!!!!