Bush’s paintings ‘go way beyond other presidential paintings’

>>> we first got to see george w. bush 's artistic side last month when a hack of his sister's email revealed two of his self-portraits. now a georgia art teacher reveals the former president spent a month with her learning how to paint. she described the six-hour daily sessions to fox 5 atlanta .

>> he picked it up so quick. it just was amazing actually. you know, his whole heart is in it.

>> he started off painting dogs. and i think he said he's painted 50 dogs. he pulls out this canvas and starts painting dog and i said, oh, my god, i don't paint dogs.

>> according to flood, bush is quote going to go down in the history books as a great artist. rick, we're not sure how bush is going to go down as a president in the history books. i think those paintings are pretty good.

>> well the ones they're showing are look like greeting cards, i mean they're, the dog pics. they're not in the great artist category. the ones that are in the artist category, even, because the dogs really aren't art, exactly --

>> are we really ones to say what is art and what isn't. but continue with your point.

>> we know it when we see it he paintings he did of himself in the bath. those are the ones that are just rivetingly interesting. a picture of him in the shower, his back to us. with a little shaving mirror up there and you can see his face in the shaving mirror. these go way beyond other presidential paintings, you can look at jimmy carter 's paintings, you look at eisenhower's paintings, they are rural barn stuff like that here is bush painting something that is revealing. that's daring.

>> and art critic jerry salz, i though you're a big fan of the painted medium, talks about those paintings and talks about a sense of loneliness that's pervasi pervasive. that's a point of view. if only george bush , had stuck to the painting and the baseball and the path of the country could have been so radically different.

>> i'm going to disagree slightly with rick. i want him clothed and i like the choo choo train conductor smock that i saw there, six hours, that's a lot of time to put into anything, good for him. have at it.

>> when did bush put six straight hours into anything. it's unclear. this may be his magnum opus .

>> he signs his works 43. whether it's writers or actors, artists need to tap deep wells to channel the creative output. you wonder where he's going.

>> let's sho america the barney shot and wes can comment on it. do a little -- look at that there's something in that dog's eyes that speaks to -- i don't know, the american experience , wes? what do you, are you a fan?

>> the american experience ? you know, listen, it's good art and i think if anybody puts six hours for that amount of time --

>> i couldn't paint that in six hours.

>> actually i think you could, six hours for that long period of time?

>> maybe for an oxford graduate who wears many hats, six hours of painting class is all you need? this kid is doing stick drawings.

>> winston churchill who was the great political painter, he called depression the black dog . so maybe we --

>> there we go.

>> maybe this is a message. message in a bottle or message on a canvas.

>> tied a bow on that one.

>> i think they're good.

>> i'm on the record of saying they're good. thank you to rick, tommy, lee and