I enjoy painting with Kevin.

All the trees are happy.

I miss Bob Ross.

Before he became “vintage” and “cool” to the current generation simply because he existed in previous decades, people used to joke about his art.

I don’t know why.

I thought they were beautiful paintings. Anyone who brings beauty into this ugly world is aces in my book. After four years in the art department, I can tell you that beautiful art isn’t necessarily a goal.

Imagine my happiness when, grudgingly climbing onto the elliptical at the gym, I stumbled across a younger version of him.

You can paint with Kevin at home; you don’t have to be at the gym.

The show seems to come on around 1:30 p.m. on the community access channel, but not every day. I was bitterly disappointed to rush to be at the exercise machine at 1:30 only to find that Kevin wasn’t painting.

Like Bob Ross, he uses a wet-on-wet technique with oil paints, giving that soft, atmospheric perspective that is so lovely. Like Ross, his voice is calming, encouraging, and pleasant, completely unlike pretty much every other voice emanating from screens today.

I don’t use oil paints, though I have in the past. Oil paints are deluxe to work with, but my current setup doesn’t really make the use of paint thinners and solvents practical. Water-based acrylics are my medium, and they dry quickly.

Wet-on-wet of the same nature has been tough for me to mimic, even with judicious amounts of slow-dry additives. Admittedly, Kevin also has acrylic landscapes that boggle the mind.

Since I like watching Kevin create landscapes like magic, landscapes that seem as if they belong in Heaven, just as Bob Ross did, I thought I’d try a few of his techniques, adapted for acrylic, and paint a “family adventure” landscape.