Channeling my great Grandmother

 Lillian May Smith Dean was my Dad's grandmother. She died in 1956, two years prior to my birth.
She was a wonderful painter . I was recently contacted by a woman because of my blog- when I copied her painting in Hawaii from my Dad's collection.
Heres the letter
" Dear Sally,
 This is a bit out of the blue but on your blog, you mention that you are a descendent of May Lillian Smith Dean. I am a student at Boston University curating an exhibition on artistic anatomy. One focus is on nineteenth century American art education in Boston. MassArt has two wonderful paintings by your great-grandmother that we will be exhibiting. I have - after much searching - been unable to find her death date for the label and wonder - since you share such great biographical information in your blog - if you happen to know the year that she died? I am happy to share more information about the exhibition too if you are interested.
 Thank you very much for your time and reply - I look forward to hearing from you.
 Best, Naomi"

I am excited about this exhibit! Her dad, Walter Smith, was the co-founder of Mass College of Art. 

So this prompted me to get more info about her and also my brother sent me so great photos, one of which I painted. I spent several days looking at her photo, and I felt a strong connection. Not sure I captured her- interestingly it looks a lot like my great aunt on my moms side...

underpainting...

love my iPad :)

I happened to have this oval canvas and frame...

I think the eye on the right is off- I can see it now!

Ha ha well thought I'd share it anyway....