​I am currently working on my new book, An Artist at War and Peace, about my father, Leonard Eason—known to most as Len—a quiet, gifted artist whose life was shaped by the Second World War in ways that were both devastating and unexpectedly mind-expanding. It’s a memoir, but also a family archive, a historical reflection, and a tribute to the creative spirit that endures even in the darkest of times.

Len and his identical twin brother John were inseparable—two boys with matching 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 separated for the first time in their lives. 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In my book, I draw from Len’s wartime diaries, his surviving watercolours, and the unpublished autobiography of his twin. It also tells the story of their older brother Dennis, a Royal Marine lost at sea, and the quiet grief that shaped the family. Through letters, documents, and artwork, I’ve pieced together a portrait of a family navigating 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..

I’ve carried this story with me for years, but now, as I look at my father's image, I see an impossibly young 19-year-old, handsome, thoughtful man, and I think it is time to tell his story. I am working on this book now in the year in which my father and his twin would have been celebrating their hundredth birthdays. In a time in which hate and division are tragically once again on the rise.

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If you want to keep updated about this project, you can join my site, and you will be notified, or you can sign up for my blog. Amelia's Blog | Author Amelia Marriette

 

I have also written a little about my father in my book Walking into Alchemy (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: My Book - 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, en route to Austria.

Watercolour - View from my Billet, April 12, 1945.

An Example of a page from one of Leonard Eason's handwritten diaries, which he gave to me after we took a trip to Austria. ​