Unboxing The Bob Ross Master Paint Set

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ART SUPPLY DEALER (slapping the side of the box): "You know, you can fit a lot of art and happy accidents in this bad boy!"

This is a Christmas gift whose impression will endure for me. The Brown Eyed Girl secured, for misbegotten me, the Bob Ross Master Paint Set. Now, I've always been ambivalent about oils and have found something of a home in acrylics, and still aspire to watercolors. But oils always have held a fascination, and, as millions of ASMR addicts around the world do, get my fill of Bob Ross half-hours when the opportunity presents itself. 

Although I always have promised myself if I get the materials I'd try a Ross Method painting. Well, that day has come, though not immediately-immediately. I'll explain presently.

The set came to me in a box like this, here. Ever wanted to see what's in one of these bad boys? Well, follow along as I take the first step on a journey into the world of happy accidents. The box:

16 PCS, the box design exults. The graphics along the bottom give you an idea of the general classes of things one'd expect to find inside, but, for the record the sixteen items are as follows;

• 8 37ml tubes of Bob Ross landscape oil colors: titanium white, cadmium yellow, bright red, alizarin crimson, phthalo blue, sap green, Van Dyke brown, and midnight black
• 1 100ml bottle of liquid white
• 1 2" background brush (the world famous two inch brush)
• 1 1" landscape brush
• 1 #6 fan blender brush
• 1 #2 script liner (the only tool for signing your painting, as we Ross fans know)
• 1 #10 painting knife
• 1 instruction book
• 1 DVD 

Sixteen easy pieces. The DVD, for what it's worth, contains a 1-hour painting lesson from Bob, ostensibly doing the painting depicted on the box, Mountain Summit. The instructional book leads you through in the step-by-step Bob Ross style, emphasizing that Bob, in his video, will call for colors you do not have but the book hastens to inform you that the version presented in the book does not need the colors Bob employs and will work with what they've given you.

Removing the box top, we see approximately this:

Fourteen of the sixteen items in the set are visible immediately, two of them, the DVD and the instructional book, are beneath the clear plastic tray. The empty space on the right hand side, shaped similarly to the space that holds the bottle of Liquid White, made me think that maybe an item was omitted in some way from the package, but comparing the items inside to the list on the back of the box confirmed that nothing was missing. Presumably this design allows them to pack a number of different configurations without having to stock a bunch of different inserts. A bit confusing for the observant customer, but no big deal really.

Seeing all those Bob Ross colors makes me feel good.

In the photo above, the brushes provided. From left: #10 painting knife, the world-famous 2-inch brush, the #6 Fan blender, the 1-inch brush, the #2 script liner. All the basic instruments of construction.

The observant will recognize that there are a couple of things I don't have displayed here: a palette and, as important as that and more, a canvas. We shall be purchasing a canvas in due course. I have, apparently against this very occurrence, saved an official Bob Ross acrylic plastic palette in all its oversized glory, provided (how else?) via the aegis of the legendary I've Been Framed-Art Supply Center. And easels? Around here, we got easels.

So, I get myself a canvas and make sure I have some odorless thinner, and I'm as good as ready to go here. 

But you know, speaking as a long time art supply collector, it's nice just to have them. But also I have long wanted to try out a Bob painting. And here's my chance. More as the situation develops.