After more than three decades in elected office, outgoing Arkansas Gov. Mike Beebe is already considered a fixture at the state Capitol. Now he's made it official. On Friday, Beebe unveiled his portrait which will hang in the Governor’s Conference Room.
"Alright, here we go," Beebe told the crowd before he and artist Ovita Goolsby pulled off a cloth covering the 42 by 50 inch oil painting. It shows the governor leaning back in a chair, left hand under his chin, with a slight smirk.
It has been a tradition for governors at the end of their terms to have a portrait made, with the paintings displayed throughout the Capitol. Beebe's will replace Mike Huckabee, whose portrait is to be moved to the second floor rotunda.
Beebe told those gathered for the unveiling, which included staffers, family and friends, that he didn’t have the patience to pose as it was being painted.
"There is no way in the world I was going to sit for hours for a portrait," Beebe said to laughs. But he did spend a few hours posing for hundreds of photos taken by Goolsby. A Garland County art instructor, she said she then used a composite of those images to create the portrait.
The previous five governors were all painted by former Arkansas artist Nancy Harris, who today lives in Williamsburg, Virginia. Beebe said First Lady Ginger Beebe decided to use a current resident and chose Goolsby.
"Ginger wanted to make sure that we had an Arkansas artist do this. You know how Ginger has been about filling up the (Governor's) Mansion with Arkansas artists," Beebe said. "She invited a number of Arkansas artists to submit samples of their work and she liked Ovita and then she brought it to me and I liked it."
Goolsby said it took her five months to complete, working on it a few hours most days, adding layer upon layer.
"My whole career is judged by this one painting, so it was major stress doing it. But, I loved it," she said.
Goolsby hadn't met Governor Beebe before being contacted about the project, but said she was a fan of him politically and regreted he was leaving office.
Asked what she hoped to convey through the work, Goolsby said "He has a particular look of his beautiful blue eyes, that he can just look at you, you know, and I wanted to get that. I wanted to get that particular look and it was hard. He’s got gorgeous eyes and he’s such a handsome person."
Beebe is leaving office after two terms as governor. Term limits prevented him from running again. Before that, Beebe spent 20 years in the Arkansas Senate and four as attorney general.
Material from the Associated Press contributed to this report.
