Elizabeth Eaton Rosenthal, also known as Elizabeth Sweetheart, was born Elizabeth Eaton in Nova Scotia in 1941. She is a fine artist, fabric designer and is well known as the “Green Lady of Brooklyn” for her love of the color green, which she constantly wears and decorates her home with.
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Early life
Elizabeth Eaton was born in a small coal mining town in Nova Scotia, Canada. She was raised by her grandparents in a log cabin near the Bay of Fundy. Her grandmother taught Elizabeth to paint and to make clothing.
She attended Mount Allison University where she studied fine arts with the renowned Canadian painter Alex Coleville.
Career
Not able to find appropriate work in Canada, Eaton hitchhiked to New York City in 1964. Arriving at the New York Unemployment Agency with only a pillow and her sketchbook, she was immediately sent for a job interview. She got a job working in an art department in the garment center.
In 1987 Eaton established her own design company, SweetPea Design Studio, which she ran for 15 years. She then ran a small art business in which she focused on expanding and selling fabrics from her well-stocked collection of vintage design fabrics.
Eaton is a fine artist who, in addition to creating hand-painted prints for top clothing designers such as Michael Kors, Liz Claiborne, Calvin Klein, American Eagle Outfitters and Ralph Lauren, she makes tiny, finely painted watercolors.
Style
Known as the “Green Lady of Brooklyn” Eaton not only always wears green, but her home is furnished and decorated in a variety of shades of green. She has donned green, from head to hair, in bright lime green since about 1995. She always wears overalls, and has about 30 pairs, all dyed green.
Personal life
Eaton married Robert Rosenthal, also an artist, in 1957. They have one son, Sam Eaton, who is a mentalist.