Ellen Smith Douglas, 1862 – 1946, was a self-taught artist who managed to find a way to study art, despite overbearing school masters and a life with few luxuries. “Ma” Douglas as she was known by many and her husband operated a boarding house in Grand Marais for many years. After her husband Ed Douglas died in 1923, she carried on with managing the boarding house on her own for 15 years. All that time, she had no time for painting, but according to an article by Ade Toftey in the Cook County News-Herald on her death in 1946, the glorious North Shore sunsets did not escape her. Ma Douglas was finally able to paint when she retired and the walls of the two-room cabin where she lived were eventually filled with her creations. Tom Toftey, who shared this photo and information with the News-Herald, asked anyone who owns a “Ma” Douglas painting to contact him through the News-Herald.
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