Schwarzenegger the artist makes a pitch

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Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has been many things -- a bodybuilder, an actor, a politician. But now it can be revealed that Schwarzenegger, in his quiet moments, finds solace with a paintbrush in his hand.

It came to light Monday as Schwarzenegger joined First Lady Maria Shriver, Quincy Jones, T-Bone Burnett and others to launch the ‘Million Plates Campaign for the Arts’ -- an effort to get California drivers to voluntarily pay higher vehicle registration fees to raise money for the arts.

‘I paint. I draw,’ said Schwarzenegger, who said he makes Christmas and Mother’s Day cards for his family. ‘I would rather write, but I can’t write. I’m a bad writer, I can tell you. But I paint. That’s how I express myself. I only am able to do that because when I grew up in Austria, we had twice a week arts classes.’

Schwarzenegger said his appreciation for art led him to bodybuilding. ‘I took art so serious that I started sculpting my body and created a Mr. Universe body. Think about that. I learned about Michaelangelo and Leonardo Di Vinci and Rodin, and all those sculptors, and said ‘Why don’t I try to do this with dumbbells and barbells and sculpt my own body?’ So that’s also art.’

To the governor’s Twitter followers, of course, this is old news. Last year, Schwarzenegger posted a photo of this mixed-media masterpiece on his Twitter page.