Who is She?

A long long time ago, someone asked me to put together a photo album for my grandmother. I was sent home with a huge box full of family photos and charged with the daunting task of making sense of it all. One of the photos in the box was an old black and white photo of some relative as a child. Who? I didn't know, and so the photo didn't go in the album. The expression compelled me, and today, as a confession to Uncle Tim, Mom, and Aunt Dot, I kept the photo.

The original photo is black and white, faded, and has age spots on it fitting for something from it's era, though I don't really know when that was. From the style of the dress, I'm guessing turn of the century, but that could be wrong.

This is one of those paintings that was begun four or five years ago, and was worked and re-worked. It spent a considerable amount of time in a closet, but occasionally would sneak back out to an easel for me to study her, and muse over what to do next.

It's complicated, of course, to translate a black and white image to one of color. That was a huge reason she spent so much time hiding, and then calling me to find her. Even when the color was finally done to satisfaction, her expression was still elusive to capture, until now. I've finally caught the expression, but can't quite put into words what it means.

Who is she?