Robert Speer has been a registered nurse for 33 years and has been associated with Western Reserve Hospital since 2005. He currently works in the cardiac cath and vascular lab. He lives in New Franklin, Ohio with his wife, Mindi. They have a boy, Logan and two girls, Kaleigh and Sydney. Bob likes to think of himself as a golfer with a painting problem.
Growing up, Bob would spend the summers in Florida with his father. There, he would watch Bob Ross episodes with his stepmother who liked to paint landscapes.
Life happened and 40 years passed. That’s when Bob discovered the entire Bob Ross series on cable just in time for COVID. He was working in the cardiovascular ICU at the time, and the soothing calmness and positive personality of Bob Ross were therapeutic. For his 50th birthday, he got an official Bob Ross painting kit and regretted not starting sooner.
Bob uses the alla prima (wet on wet) painting technique of oil on canvas as did Bob Ross and his mentor,
Bill Alexander. Unlike other oil painting techniques, alla prima allows the artist to complete the entire painting in one sitting. Most of Bob’s paintings took him around 5 hours to complete. However, they take about a full month to dry!
Recently, Bob has gotten into acrylic abstracts. It has proven to be difficult, expensive and very messy but it has the potential to produce beautiful, intricate results. Stay tuned.
A few of the pieces are marked for sale. However, if you see something you like, he can always paint another! Second versions are often even better. For information, please contact Bob at [email protected].
