Bob Ross Painting Up For Auction In Towson

TOWSON, MD — Bidders will look to score a Bob Ross painting available Friday through a Towson auction house.

The starting bid for "Lake with Cabin & Trees" is $10,000. Alex Cooper Auctioneers expects the painting to sell for $20,000 to $30,000.

Bob Ross was known for his PBS show "The Joy of Painting," which ran from 1983 to 1994. With his soothing instructional voice, Ross would call mistakes "happy accidents." Ross died in 1995 at age 52.

"I grew up watching Bob Ross," Kathleen Hamil, director of art at Alex Cooper Auctioneers, told WMAR. "He taught us all that you don't have to be an artist; you don't even have to have talent to paint. He made art extremely approachable and made it fun and joyful."

Ross's painting is an oil on canvas that he gifted to his friends. The painting is signed and inscribed "To Sid and Dorothy, Two very special friends - wishing you both every success - Happy Painting, Bob Ross, 1987."

Original owners Sidney and Dorothy Knudsen passed the piece on to their daughter, Arlene Alascio, who willed it to her brother-in-law, Sam Alascio, who is the current owner.

"It's pretty precious," Hamil told WMAR. "We've had a lot of excitement from the community at large. A lot of people have come in to see it."

The auction starts Friday at 10 a.m. A photo of the painting and more information are available here.