Thanks for stopping in to explore my portrait painting of Eleanor Roosevelt - First Lady of the World :)
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Some Background
An all-around inspiring and beautiful woman, Eleanor Roosevelt meant so much to people of her day, and after researching her a bit, I can see why. For a woman in public life her outspokenness and accomplishments are incredible.
Quick fact: She is the longest ever serving First Lady of the US since her husband, Franklin D Roosevelt, was elected 4 times to the presidency (he died in office in his last term).
One very noble thing about Eleanor: on the night of the Pearl Harbor attack, Eleanor rose very strongly to the occasion and was the first public official to reach out to the country about it. By coincidence, she had her weekly radio program scheduled for that evening and she took it upon herself to encourage and inspire her country after the attack.
The thing that about Eleanor that really stuck out to me was that once her husband died in office, she never quit helping others. When she was appointed by Harry Truman as one of the first delegates to represent the US in the United Nations, the other two men appointed with her did not like her at all and completely counted her out. Despite that, she shattered their expectations after several important roles she played including standing up strongly to Soviet Aggression towards refugees. She earned everyone’s respect with her tough stance and her ability to stick up for what was right.
In her role at the United Nations, she fought for the rights and liberties of all people by drafting a Universal Declaration of Human Rights that was unanimously voted for. For all she did to help all people, Harry Truman gave her the awesome nickname of “First Lady of the World” which I think is just fantastic.
In her later life, she continued to fight for civil rights and desegregation in schools and the military and just ignored the constant stream of death threats coming her way.
With all these incredible accomplishments, Eleanor was definitely not without tragedy in her life. Her childhood was immensely tough and her relationship with FDR was not perfect. FDR struggled his whole life dealing with his crippling disease and Eleanor had to help him deal with that struggle on a constant basis. Despite all the care she gave him, when he died in office, she discovered that FDR had been meeting his old girlfriend from back in the day in secret on a regular basis. I can’t image the pain she must have felt with the death of her husband and the feeling of being betrayed at the same time.
But she overcame all of these tough times to live a strong and noble life focused on helping others. Very impressive woman and a wonderful example to look up to.
My Painting
Eleanor has a very unique face honestly and I wanted to make that incredible smile of hers stand out. She has a really smart and classic look to her but honestly her eyes really do look sad which is, I think, very appropriate for her. For colors, I wanted to keep the brightness down and use a bit more of a muted look with darker purples and reds.
The painting is on completed with acrylic paints on a 28"x22" canvas. Here is the full painting followed by some close-ups. Enjoy :)
Buy prints at MY SHOP (Starting at $22.99) or at MY ETSY STORE (hint: prints are cheaper at My SHOP)
BUY original painting at MY SHOP ($600)
Also, you can follow me on Instagram, Twitter, or like my page on Facebook for new art or sign up for MY NEWSLETTER (all the way at bottom of the page) to stay up to date with new art and art sales.
Want more Eleanor?
I learned most of what I know about her on the documentary series "The Roosevelts: An Intimate History" which was on PBS but is now on Netflix. They focus on Eleanor throughout but the last half of the last episode in the series is my fave :)
