Beebe unveils official portrait

Gov. Mike Beebe, Garland County art instructor Ovita Goolsby and first lady Ginger Beebe, stand next to the official governor portrait of Beebe, painted by Goolsby.
Gov. Mike Beebe, Garland County art instructor Ovita Goolsby and first lady Ginger Beebe, stand next to the official governor portrait of Beebe, painted by Goolsby.

Gov. Mike Beebe unveiled his official portrait Friday at the Capitol before leaving office next month.

Garland County art instructor Ovita Goolsby's portrait displays Beebe sitting back in a chair with his chin resting in his hand.

Beebe said he had some trepidation about doing the portrait, but he credited Goolsby’s “superb talent” as part of the reason he felt the portrait turned out so well.

The governor said he and his wife wanted a local Arkansas artist to do the portrait of him, and the pool of candidates came exclusively from Arkansas.

“Arkansas can do anything anyone else can do, and sometimes we do it better,” he said.

First lady Ginger Beebe said her husband interviewed several candidates to do the portrait but when he realized Goolsby would paint from photographs, he got very excited.

“There was no way in the world I was going to sit for 'x-teen' amount of hours,” Gov. Beebe said.

Goolsby’s mother attended the event as well and met Ginger Beebe. Goolsby has been painting portraits for 35 years, and said she was incredible nervous starting this portrait, as she felt she her entire career would be judged by this one painting. But she said working with the governor and his wife was incredible rewarding, and called them both gracious.

Goolsby said she tried to feature his "beautiful blue eyes."

Beebe said he would recommend Goolsby to anyone, especially those with an “attention span and patience level that I have.”

He said he sat three or four times over the summer, and had him stand in “every conceivable pose” and submitted several different posed photos for Beebe and his wife to choose from. Beebe said he ended up choosing the sitting pose simply because it was the one he “liked the best.”

“You’ve got to choose one,” Beebe said.

The process of painting the actually portrait took about five months, and Goolsby said she painted almost every day over the summer, for several hours at a time.

The painting was done on a linen canvas with oil paints. It will be hung inside the governor’s conference room where it will replace former Governor Mike Huckabee’s portrait, whose portrait will be moved to the rotunda with other former governors.

Beebe said they never considered doing a digital photo as a portrait, the way President Barack Obama opted to for his presidential portrait. Beebe said that choice was above his pay grade.

The portrait cost $12,500 and all the money was donated, Beebe spokesman Matt DeCample said. The democratic party collected the money and paid Goolsby.

Beebe’s staff also attended the event, and Beebe asked if the portrait displayed a kindler, gentler governor. The staff declined to comment.

Upcoming Events