Blue Star

Blue Star

Oil on Canvas

This is part of my Rosie the Riveter series and it is significant for a few reasons.  For each Rosie I  like to have a story and significance to the piece.  In this piece she is reading a letter, we used to read letters.  I can remember running to the mailbox to see if I got a letter that day.  It was a big part of "social media."  The letters I got were read over and over again.  They were treasured.  So in this painting I am bringing you back in time to when the written word was so much more significant than it is today.  Of course she has her signature red polka dot kerchief on her head.  She also wears a blue star pin.  Blue star pins are worn by military family members who have a loved one in harms way...that is... at war.  My paternal grandmother had a blue star pin with 4 stars...that means she had four people fighting for our country.  They were her husband and three sons.  I cannot imagine the angst she felt not knowing how her family was.  I am proud to say I still have the pin and it is one of my most prized possessions.  The other significant item is the locket around her neck.  I painted it in the shape of a heart and my thought is that it holds a picture of her loved one.