{"id":872,"date":"2018-12-31T14:28:02","date_gmt":"2018-12-31T14:28:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wordpress.etypegoogle10.com\/?p=872"},"modified":"2018-12-31T14:28:02","modified_gmt":"2018-12-31T14:28:02","slug":"texas-reads-archiveglenn-dromgoole-56","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wordpress.etypegoogle10.com\/?p=872","title":{"rendered":"Texas Reads>> archiveGlenn Dromgoole"},"content":{"rendered":"
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<\/span><\/span>Texas Reads<\/span>>> archive<\/span><\/a><\/span>Glenn Dromgoole<\/span><\/h1>\n<\/div>\n

3.19.2017\u00a0\u00a0 Former president finds a new passion in painting<\/h1>\n

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<\/a><\/span><\/span>Former President George W. Bush\u2019s<\/span> Portraits of Courage<\/span><\/a><\/span> is subtitled \u201cA Commander in Chief\u2019s Tribute to America\u2019s Warriors,\u201d and that accurately sums up his impressive new book (Crown, $35 hardcover).<\/p>\n

In color paintings and personal essays, Bush offers a close-up look at ninety-eight men and women who have served in the armed forces since Sept. 11, 2001.<\/p>\n

\u201cI painted these men and women as a way to honor their service to the country and to show my respect for their sacrifice and courage,\u201d Bush writes. \u201cI hope to draw attention to the challenges some face when they come home and transition to civilian life \u2014 and the need for our country to better address them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bush\u2019s introduction, \u201cPainting as a Passion,\u201d tells how he took up painting in 2012 because he wanted a new adventure in his life \u2014 \u201cwithin the confines of the post-presidential bubble.\u201d<\/p>\n

He told his wife, Laura,<\/span> and an artist friend that he might like to take up painting.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey were surprised,\u201d he said. \u201cI had been an art-agnostic all my life.\u201d<\/p>\n

Or, as Laura puts it in her foreword to the book: \u201cWhen George and I married, if someone told me that he would become President, I would have thought, \u2018Well, maybe.\u2019 He was running for Congress at the time, and we loved politics. But if someone said, \u2018One day you will be writing a foreword for a book that includes George\u2019s paintings,\u2019 I would have said, \u2018No way.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

In the four years since he took up painting, Bush has indeed shown a passion for it, as this remarkable collection proves.<\/p>\n

Sixty-six service men and women are profiled with a full-page painting and a one- or two-page essay.<\/p>\n

Between pages 96 and 97 is a four-page, four-panel color mural that folds out. Thirty-five men and women are included in the mural. Three of them are also among the 66 individuals profiled, bringing the total to 98. The stories of the other 32 in the mural are told briefly at the back of the book.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not sure how the art in this volume will hold up to critical eyes,\u201d Bush writes. \u201cAfter all, I am a novice. What I am sure of is that each painting was done with a lot of care and respect.\u201d<\/p>\n

Portraits of Courage<\/span> is the third book by Bush since he left the presidency in 2008, following his memoir, Decision Points,<\/span> and the very personal biography, 41: A Portrait of My Father.<\/span><\/p>\n

Glenn Dromgoole\u2019s<\/span> latest book is West Texas Stories<\/span><\/a><\/span>Contact him at g.dromgoole@suddenlink.net.<\/p>\n

>> Read his past Texas Reads columns in Lone Star Literary Life here.<\/a><\/span><\/h1>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Texas Reads>> archiveGlenn Dromgoole 3.19.2017\u00a0\u00a0 Former president finds a new passion in painting Former President George W. Bush\u2019s Portraits of Courage is subtitled \u201cA Commander in Chief\u2019s Tribute to America\u2019s Warriors,\u201d and that accurately sums up his impressive new book (Crown, $35 hardcover). In color paintings and personal essays, Bush offers a close-up look at […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-872","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.etypegoogle10.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/872","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.etypegoogle10.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.etypegoogle10.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.etypegoogle10.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.etypegoogle10.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=872"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.etypegoogle10.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/872\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.etypegoogle10.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=872"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.etypegoogle10.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=872"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.etypegoogle10.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=872"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}