Everyone Needs a Friend

The assignment called for us to populate one of Bob Ross’s landscape paintings. I chose his 1987 Mountain Summit painting because I loved the way the ocean was drawn and the reflection of the trees in it. I thought about who to add to this photo and my first thought was Black women. Black women make everything better. I also thought deeper on how very rarely if at all do us Black women get to be feminine and spiritual. We are always seen as so angry and our spirit is taken from us. I want to see more Black women enjoying nature and just being human. We deserve to go on hikes, do yoga by the cliff side, or just sit and breathe in life without fear for our own. To add these beautiful women, I used Canva’s element feature. I searched Black women into the feature and sized down and rotated the ones I picked. I love the woman on the swing because she looks so peaceful. We need more Black women simply being at peace. I connected this to the theme of “Joy of DS106” because I am using digital storytelling to convey these Black women’s joy.

Populate the landscape

Landscape paintings often look like lonely places. What if we took some inspiration from Arrowhead altered art and added people or other characters to Bob Ross paintings? After all, every painting needs a friend.