Bob Ross was a mythical unicorn. From his perfectly coiffed and permed hair to his gentle demeanor and ASMR voice, there was nobody else like him on TV for decades (except maybe Mister Rogers).

Soft-spoken and brimming with encouragement, Ross taught — and continues to teach — countless viewers how to paint “happy trees” and “little mountains” through his PBS program The Joy of Painting, which aired for 31 seasons and includes 403 episodes. Ross passed away in 1995 at the age of 52 from lymphoma, but you can still catch reruns of his show on public television or stream it online through Netflix, Twitch.tv, and YouTube.

What you won’t be able find, however, are his original paintings.

Like the man himself, Ross’ artworks are also mythical in stature.

Created using large brushes and his unique wet-on-wet painting technique, Ross’ works were never meant to be sold, and instead were merely instructional guides for the viewers of his show.

By his own estimate, Ross — who started creating art decades before The Joy of Painting launched — created more than 30,000 paintings in his lifetime. Only about 4 percent of them were created for The Joy of Painting, as Ross painted three copies of each artwork per episode.

So what happened to all of his ebony seas and lazy rivers? The best guess is that PBS stations have them hanging on their walls. Ross started that rumor himself, mentioning it in the final minutes of “Towering Glacier,” the fifth episode from season 11 of The Joy of Painting.

After demonstrating how to add large stones at the base of a waterfall, Ross said on-camera: