If you happen to be in Carroll Gardens in Brooklyn in New York, and see an older lady dressed head to toe in green – with matching green hair – then you will have met the famous Green Lady of Brooklyn.
Elizabeth Sweetheart, who is 82, is a well-known figure in the area, and has worn only green clothes since 2000. She also dyes her hair green to match.
Inside her house it is no less green. Almost everything in the house that you can think of, from doors to staircases, even kitchen utensils is green. Often bright shades of the colour.
The Green Lady – her real name is Elizabeth Eaton Rosenthal – is a fine artist and fabric designer by trade. She was born in Nova Scotia in Canada in 1941, growing up around lush, green spaces, and spending a lot of time outdoors in them. In that time, her love of art and design developed.
But when she couldn’t find the type of work she wanted to do in her home country, Elizabeth hitchhiked to New York in 1964 with just a pillow and a sketchbook under her arm.
On her arrival, she quickly found work in the art department of the Garment Center in Manhattan, which is known for the production and manufacturing of clothing.
She went on to open her own design company in 1987, SweetPea Design Studio, which she ran for 15 years. After this, ran a small art business which focused on selling fabrics from her collection of vintage design fabrics. She is also a fine artist.
Elizabeth says her love of green comes from it being a positive color that makes her happy, and missing the green spaces of her youth, which isn’t easily found in the urban sprawl of New York.
She is active on social media, regularly posting her adventures on Instagram, where she is @greenladyofbrooklyn
