Strength, by Ron Cole

  This piece was something of a personal, and spontaneous, creation of mine; painted amid a crunch of aircraft relic display production and sales that had me running like a roach early in 2020. It's glorious to enjoy success as an artist - but, sometimes you have to pour yourself into a side project. This was the result.  It's a combination of several influences: a spin off of the '40s American 'Rosie the Riveter' graphic, a measure of self-portrait, and my personal view of human strength. There is probably more of 'me' in this piece than anything I've ever created, but I don't want to elaborate too much, lest I take away from what others may see in it if given the opportunity to interpret it without being coached by the artist.  Its historical context is something I left deliberately in shadow. If you look closely, this person is a female Russian Red Army sniper; some of the bravest fighters of World War II. She is, more overtly, a blend of expressive emotions. Her rifle is a captured