VANCOUVER — A rare, double-sided Emily Carr painting is among 10 of her works on the auction block next month - and one side may be a self-portrait she didn't like and covered with black paint.

Lovers of Carr paintings will be able to view Arbutus Tree and the restored other side at previews in Vancouver, Toronto and Montreal before a major auction in late November in Toronto.

The Carr paintings include Native Woman at Alert Bay, Portrait of a Native Man, Chat at Wayside and Seaside Forest.

But perhaps the most beautiful - certainly the most intriguing - is Arbutus Tree, estimated to be valued at $125,000 to $175,000.

The vibrancy of the colours is striking and a reflection of enhanced skills Carr acquired as an art student in San Francisco in the late 19th century and a couple of years spent in France around 1910.

But on the other side of the Arbutus Tree canvas is Carr's earlier painting, possibly a self-portrait.

At some point after that painting was completed, Carr painted over it with a black wash, turned the canvas over and painted the spectacular Arbutus Tree.

The renowned Heffel Gallery in Vancouver and its proprietors, brothers David and Robert Heffel, noticed the blackened side when they acquired the painting from a private collector in Quebec.

Almost a century after the verso was blackened, the Heffels hired art consultant Cheryl Harrison of Conserve-Arte to remove the overpaint.

"Emily Carr is not known for double-sided canvases," said Robert Heffel as the two brothers worked in the gallery this week to prepare Arbutus Tree and the nine others for the coming previews and auction.

"So the portrait (opposite Arbutus Tree) would have been painted first, probably when she was in San Francisco at the art school there, around 1890."

Arbutus Tree was painted between 1913 and 1920 and she was in France from 1910 to 1911 and studied modern art at the time, said Robert Heffel.

The portrait - her earliest oil known - shows a woman with hands folded in prayer, eyes uplifted to the sky.

A study of old black-and-white photos of Carr would suggest self-portrait, said Robert Heffel.

"It's not something we can answer definitively but Emily Carr was quite spiritual at that point in her life."

Charlie Hill, curator of Canadian art at the National Gallery of Canada in Ottawa, isn't as convinced as the Heffels that the portrait was of Carr or even if Carr painted it.

"Is it by Carr? That's the question you have to ask because I don't know any other Carrs that look like that.

"I'm pretty sure it is (painted by her) but it's a question.

"Carr was more attractive than the woman in the painting," said Hill. "She was a very beautiful woman when she was younger."

Carr destroyed most of her early work and recycled canvases, said Hill.

The Carr paintings can be previewed in Vancouver at the Heffel Gallery early next month before they are shipped to subsequent previews in Montreal and Toronto, said gallery president David Heffel.

The live auction is scheduled for Nov. 25 at the Park Hyatt Plaza in Toronto.

Carr was a busy woman during her life and sometimes didn't have time to paint as much as she would have liked.

Between 1913 and 1928 Carr's duties included landlady, dog breeder, cartoonist and ceramicist.

But she was still prolific, producing between 2,000 and 3,000 drawings, paintings and water colours in her lifetime, which spanned 1871-1945.

Heffel Gallery has sold many Carr paintings, including two worth more than $1 million: Quiet and War Canoes, said David Heffel.

The question that will likely never be answered definitively is: why would Carr cover one of her paintings?

"If she did this in her student days, this may have been a technical exercise," said Robert Heffel. "Then she went to France in 1911 and came back and learned a new technique of modern art."

Or, it may have been simple economics.

"Perhaps she couldn't afford to purchase a new canvas. Maybe she just thought she'd use the other side."

Arbutus Tree is a more advanced, modernist painting and Carr might have regarded her earlier work as "my old self so she scribbled over it and painted other side."

Quiet was estimated at $300,000 to $400,000 and sold for $1.1 million so the Heffels believe Arbutus Tree and the unsigned portrait on the other side will fetch much more than the estimate.