IT'S MY HAPPY COLOUR

The woman known as the Green Lady just can’t get enough of her favourite shade 

- ALULUTHO GUZANA

WE ALL have a favourite colour and most of us incorporate it in our lives in some way – perhaps a wall here or an outfit there, maybe a scatter cushion on the couch or a row of tiles on the kitchen wall.

One woman, however, has dedicated her entire being to the colour she values above all others.

For Elizabeth Sweetheart, it’s all about green and the various iterations thereof – emerald, lime, chartreuse, olive, sage, mint, pistachio, seafoam . . . you name it, she loves it.

It’s not for nothing the diminutive 83-year-old from New York is known as the Green Lady of Brooklyn. Her clothes – right down to her underwear – are in various shades of green and even her hair is the hue of the shade she adores.

For close on 30 years the 1,54m-tall artist and design- er has been encased in the colour and she intends to surround herself with it un- til she takes her last breath.

“Green is absolute positivity, a very happy colour,” she says. “It’s always refreshing, even on a rainy day.”

The walls of the home she shares with Robert Rosenthal, her husband of 56 years, are – surprise, surprise – white. But the photos dotted on the walls are encased in green frames.

Green is everywhere here – it’s the colour of the front door, of rugs, countertops, doorknobs, utensils and throw pi l low s, ad ding splashes of colour to beech and white desks, cupboards, tables and bookcases.

“Everybody asks the question, ‘Why green?’” says Robert, who’s also an artist.