The Slatest

George W. Bush’s Art Teacher: He Will Go Down in History “As a Great Artist”

Remember those leaked emails that revealed former President George W. Bush was a painting aficionado? Among other paintings there were purported self-portraits of the former president in the shower and bath that caused quite a stir online.

Atlanta’s Fox 5 talked to Bonnie Flood, a Georgia art instructor who spent about a month teaching the 43rd president how to paint, saying she worked with him for around six hours a day. “He picked it up so quick, it was amazing actually,” she said. “His whole heart is in it.” His real passion, at least in the beginning, was to paint dogs. “I think he said he’d painted 50 dogs,” she said. But Flood said she later convinced him to expand his repertoire and paint more landscapes. Flood said she wasn’t sure what to call Bush, so she started calling him “43” because that is how he signs his paintings.