The whole world gasped in February 2013 when a Romanian hacker leaked, not any shocking top secret US intelligence, but a cluster of paintings that President George W. Bush had crafted since leaving office, including several self-portraits in the bathtub and shower (see “Hacker Who Outed George W. Bush as a Painter Gets 4-Year Jail Sentence”).

Although initially embarrassed for being exposed as a (dubious) painter, W subsequently changed his tune and embraced his artistic inclinations, even staging a museum show of his oeuvre (see “Impeach This Art? George W. Bush Has His Museum Debut in Dallas”).

Since then, Bush hasn’t put his brushes down. Yesterday, during an appearance on NBC’s Today show, the former U.S. president showed a new piece: a painting of himself standing solemnly next to his father, George H.W. Bush.

“I was proud to be standing next to a man I admired greatly,” Bush said on the show. “First thing I wanted to make sure is I got the noses right. I’ve tried to paint a gentle soul, and I did it. As for me, I kind of bumbled through,” he explained, according to the Guardian.

It seems that the former president has recently been doing a fair share of soul-searching into the father-son bond. This week, the younger Bush will also release a biography of his father 41: A Portrait of My Father.

Self-portrait painting by President George W. Bush.
Photo by Grant Miller.

At the Today show, Bush also explained what led him to paint after leaving the White House: “The first shocking experience was that I didn’t have any responsibilities,” he said, according to the Huffington Post. “But then you get this sense of longing to make sure you remain stimulated. Painting helps fill that void.”

The painting (which, like the coming book, George W hilariously describes as “a love story”) features a significantly less jowly depiction of his dad than his previous effort. Both appear to be shown about the age when they each departed the Oval Office. And surprisingly, W, long seen as following too zealously in his father’s footsteps, upstages the elder Bush in this latest masterpiece. No word on what H.W. thinks of the move, but we say keep ’em comin’, George.