In 2012 another passion blossomed: He decided to become a fine arts painter.
All proceeds from the book will be donated to the institute.
The paintings in the book will be on display at the Bush library through September 2017.
(For details, seeBushCenter.org.)
Thanks for taking time to chat, Mr. President.
At 70, you remain vigorous and busy.
What advice would you give our audience?
Life should be lived to the fullest.
And you don’t expand your mind or help anybody else.
Life’s final chapters ought to be just as full as its initial chapters.
My dad [former president George H. W. Bush] has been a great example of that.
And so do I.
Maybe somebody’s life will be enriched when they read this article.
Because if George Bush can paint
And you certainly can.
How did you land upon painting as a pastime?
In the post-presidency, I was busy.
But I wasn’t stretching my knowledge or imagination.
And I became a little antsy that’s the word to describe it.
So in 2012, a Yale professor recommended a book of Churchill’s essays about his passion for painting.
I read it and thought,OK.
If old Winston could paint, I’m going to try it.
Had you painted before?
I was art agnostic.
I wasn’t anti-art.
I just hadn’t paid that much attention to it.
So you wanted to do something besides golfing and biking and serving veterans.
I have to admit, I was skeptical, Mr. President.
I thought, Oh, great, the president is painting.
I’m sure you were!
But then I opened that book, and it’s full of very moving stories and striking images.
I bet you expected to see some stick figures.
Well, I wasn’t sure.
So did all my friends.
Believe me, you’re not the only skeptic.
I set a pretty low bar at the beginning.[Laughs.]
So how did you get from Churchill’s memoir to serious portraiture?
Step one is hire somebody to teach you.
I also took an art history course online.
Then for a while I painted pets.
Then I painted cacti.
Then I painted lilies.
Well, not really close to Monet.
