I am currently working on my new book, An Artist & His Family: At War and Peace. The book is primarily about my father, Leonard Eason, a quiet, gifted professional artist whose life was shaped by the Second World War in ways that were both devastating and unexpectedly mind-expanding.  

The book is also about my father's identical twin brother, John, also a professional artist. And Dennis, their older brother, who was killed in action on the 18th of November 1942.

Len and his identical twin brother John were inseparable - two boys with similar talents, dreams, and temperaments. They won scholarships to Epsom School of Art at the age of 14 and were taught by the infamous Stanley Spencer for a short time. They began their careers as commercial artists working in advertising. But war intervened. At 18, they were conscripted into the RAF and, for the first time in their lives, were separated when John was seconded to the Army and the Royal Artillery.

Len's years in service were marked by disappointment and dislocation, but also by artistic growth, unexpected love, and a journey of over several thousand miles that eventually took him to Austria. His enforced travels expanded his world both personally and artistically.

In my book, I draw from Len's wartime diaries, his surviving watercolours, and John's unpublished autobiography. The story of Dennis, a Royal Marine lost at sea, is at the centre of the story; the grief the family shared shaped the family.

Through letters, documents, and artwork, I am piecing together a portrait of a family navigating both war and peace. It's not a book about heroics, but a story of resilience, and the desire to be creative in the face of devastation.

The book begins with my grandfather, my great-grandfather, and my great-great-uncle, all of whom were artists, although they never achieved professional status.

My grandmother, Alice, would have remained a reasonably contented housewife had it not been for the Second World War, but her voluntary work for the Red Cross forced her out into the world. The death of her oldest son, Dennis, caused her to unravel. She never recovered from his death. Her story speaks to the ongoing tragedy of war.

I've carried this story with me for years, but now, as I look at the photographs of my family, a family representative of so many others, it is time to tell their story.

Working on this book now, in the year my father and his twin would have been celebrating their hundredth birthdays, in a time in which hate and division are once again on the rise, the book has a tragic relevance.

 

​If you want to stay updated on this project, you can join my site to be notified or sign up for my blog. Amelia's Blog | Author Amelia Marriette

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I have also written a little about my father in my book Walking into Alchemy: The Transformative Power of Nature (Mereo Books, 2019). I have just a few signed full-colour copies left  - you can order from me directly with free P&P in the UK and Europe. Please hit this link to find out more: Walking into Alchemy | Author Amelia Marriette

 

You may also find my blog about RAF Klagenfurt in the Carinthian region of Southern Austria an interesting read.

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IMAGES:

Leonard Eason, 1946, in RAF Uniform, en route to Austria.

John Eason, 1943, in Royal Gunner's Uniform

Watercolour - View from my Billet, April 12, 1945, by Leonard Eason.

An Example of a page from one of Leonard Eason's handwritten diaries.​

Dennis Eason, in Royal Marines Uniform, 1941

Alice, Edwin, Len and John on holiday in post-war Devon. There is a space where Dennis should be.