Amazon's live video network Twitch is showing every episode of Bob Ross' 'The Joy of Painting' in an epic marathon

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bob ross joy of painting

Wikimedia Commons

Bob Ross, host of

Amazon's Twitch is expanding past its roots as an immensely successful video game live-streaming platform and into the art world with the introduction of Twitch Creative, a new channel for painters, roboticists, and musicians to show off their creative process.

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Twitch is commemorating the launch of Twitch Creative by celebrating a beloved painter: Namely, the late Bob Ross, whose show "The Joy of Painting" taught millions of Americans, well, the joy of painting.

Twitch Creative has been streaming every single one of the 403 episodes of "The Joy of Painting," with the hope that Ross' trademark positivity rubs off on the site's newest community, from a dedicated landing page. That marathon started Wednesday afternoon and will run for the next week or so.

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"These creative broadcasters share many of the same characteristics as all Twitch broadcasters: passion, engagement, and a community-centric worldview," writes Twitch in an official blog entry.

It's a bold experiment for Twitch, which itself spun out of "Justin.tv," a more broad livestreaming Internet video service that couldn't find an audience. But apparently Amazon, which bought Twitch for $970 million in August 2014, has grander visions for Twitch beyond video games.

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Disclosure: Jeff Bezos is an investor in Business Insider through hispersonal investment company Bezos Expeditions.

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