I like that he prepped for famous faces with dog heads and human feet. It suggests that his artistic vision is not about the grandeur of the world stage and the historic personages he walked amongst.
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Thou, O king, sawest, and behold a great image. This great image, whose brightness was excellent, stood before thee; and the form thereof was terrible. This image's head was of fine gold, his breast and his arms of silver, his belly and his thighs of brass, His legs of iron, his feet part of iron and part of clay.....
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"GOLD is for the mistress - silver for the maid" -
Copper for the craftsman cunning at his trade!
" Good! " said the Baron, sitting in his hall,
But Iron - Cold Iron - is master of them all."
from Cold Iron by Rudyard Kipling
I'm glad you said "moved on" instead of "moved up." I'm not certain about the feet in the bathtub, but the dog portraits embody more truth than any portrait of a politician possibly could.
Case in point: how would your readers react if you replaced your dog photos with photos of e.g. Obama, Merkel, Cameron...
The comments on the NYT article are entertaining in a freak show sort of way.
My sister has taken up watercolors. She has a good eye, too, like Bush, but doesn't have the knack for people yet. Her flowers are great though.
Makes we want to start painting.
Bush stood up for America and defended her in a very dark time. The defining fact of his presidency is that our enemies have yet to launch another mass terrorist attack on American soil after 9/11.
He has gone back to the old standard of graceful retired presidents.
God Bless him.
Churchill, Hitler, and Eisenhower were painters.
Putin paints, too. It's unclear from this story whether or not this is Putin's hobby, but if it is, he's pretty good.
I sort of understand Bush preferring the Harry Truman path - an unengaged retirement. Better than the money-grubbing "lets capitalize on prestige by grabbing lots of money! path that Gerald Ford, Kissinger, Gore, and Clinton took.
But my admiration is higher for ex-Presidents that remained engaged and tried to serve their country, remained advisors, a valued opinion. Nixon "served" that way through multiple books and being willing to advise on issues and even political prospects in races to hundreds of US and foreign leaders. Inc every President except Carter, until the week he died. Jimmy Carter, through his post-Presidency foreign policy meddling was horrific, built a great charity. I admire his effort. HW Bush was like Nixon..a valued resource that has been treasured for objective, non-partisan judgment on issues. Clinton called, all HW wanted to know was how he could serve, belatedly his son realized his Dad was more right on matters than the Neocons.
So while it is fine Bush paints and plays golf, (its his life now!! not ours!) ...I wish there was more.
Churchill, Hitler, and Eisenhower were painters.
Putin paints, too. It's unclear from this story whether or not this is Putin's hobby, but if it is, he's pretty good.
Bush has a unique and defined painterly style I find appealing. I want to see his world leaders series!
I need to see more of Putin- he's either talented or is just ripping off Basquiat...
Hitler should have illustrated assembly manuals.
It's a niche market, but Bush should paint the naked feet of all the world's leading statesman. I would be particularly interested in his take on Hillary's ankles. I bet Tony Blair has dainty feet and doesn't clip his own toenails.......I think Hitler was a far more talented artist than Churchill of Eisenhower. People should take that into account when some artist or the other weighs in on politics.
The comments to the article bring back the good old days of Bush Derangement Syndrome.
That is probably very cathartic for the bewildered progressives who must endure the ravages of leftist ineptitude in the age of Obama
I look forward to seeing this series of paintings!
chuck said...
The comments on the NYT article are entertaining in a freak show sort of way.
Ha Ha, seriously understated.
Here's perhaps the easiest prediction in the world:
Come 2017 when Obama finally leaves office, he'll quickly move from becoming the worst president in US history to the worst former president ever.
"So while it is fine Bush paints and plays golf, (its his life now!! not ours!) ...I wish there was more."
The article says:
"Mr. Bush is not completely removed from public policy. His institute promotes free-market economics, global health, democratic reform and other causes. He travels to Africa as part of a program fighting cervical cancer. He broke his silence recently to advocate immigration legislation, in effect bolstering Mr. Obama. Behind closed doors, he made a surprise keynote address to Jewish organizations, where attendees said he urged skepticism of Iran’s recent outreach, in effect warning Mr. Obama."
W does not blow his own horn. Bill and Barry blow theirs, and use amplifiers.
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