Former President George W. Bush embraces painting as new passion, produces portrait of Putin

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FILE - This Feb. 19, 2014 file photo shows former President George W. Bush speaks at the George W. Bush Institute at Southern Methodist University in Dallas. Bush has found painting as his new passion to fill the void in his life after he left the White House. In an interview on NBC’s “Today” show, Bush tells his daughter, Jenna Bush Hager, “I paint a lot because, as you know, I’m a driven person.” (AP Photo/LM Otero, File)

WASHINGTON – Former President George W. Bush has found painting as his new passion to fill the void in his life after he left the White House.

In an interview on NBC’s “Today” show, Bush tells his daughter, Jenna Bush Hager, “I paint a lot because, as you know, I’m a driven person.”

The occasion was to highlight his portraits of world leaders, which he displays at his library in Texas.

One is of a grim-looking President Vladimir Putin.

Bush says “I got to know him very well. It became more intense as time went on.”

He didn’t comment on Russia’s annexation of the Crimea Peninsula, but did say, “Vladimir is a person who in many ways viewed America as an enemy. I tried, of course, to dispel him of that notion.”

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