Thirty paintings created by the bushy-haired, soft-spoken Bob Ross will soon be up for auction to defray the costs of programming for public television stations suffering from cuts in federal funding.

Thirty canvases, many created for viewers of Ross’s PBS series, “The Joy of Painting,” will be sold to benefit public television stations grappling with funding cuts. By Sopan Deb Whimsical clouds.

I followed a Bob Ross painting tutorial using only my feet, but every classic phrase triggered a punishment. Whenever Bob repeated lines like “that easy” or “happy little clouds,” I had to eat raw ...