This portrait was finished and delivered around last April 2021. The first anniversary of my good friend Lisa’s father’s death in February 2021 just passed.
She recently sent me a photo of herself and her granddaughter, Nina, standing next to to this work that I did for her, gradually, during 2020 to 2021, along with the following comment:
“These past couple of years has been so hard for me and my family with the passing of my parents.
Eileen did this beautiful photo of them
and WOW I am blown away!
The painting is beautiful, and she captured them perfectly!
I love seeing this piece everyday!
~Lisa Marra Taylor
This double portrait was created from one of her parent’s wedding photos, and I also incorporated the last photo taken of this long-married couple together before her mother received a difficult diagnosis shortly afterward and their lives forever, and quickly, changed.
The blue butterfly was a symbol my friend Lisa found meaningful in connection with some things surrounding her mother’s death in late 2019, and I incorporated this in the bottom left of the painting (acrylic on canvas) as well as carried in the theme/image of the pink roses that were on her mother’s dress in the more recent photo of them together.
That photo was taken at the wedding of my my friend’s daughter, Marra, in 2019. My friend is now holding her precious granddaughter, name Giovannina, after her mother, and shortened to Nina.
What a joy that little Nina came into this world around the same time that sadly, Mr. Marra left his beloved family.
I learned a lot about Mr. Marra’s life from Lisa, he was quite an interesting person. Around the time of his death, they family shared a poem he had written years ago (he would have been around the age Lisa and I now are) called “Continuum of Life.” It really touched me, the day I read it, as it aligned with other thoughts I was having that day.
Mr. Marra gave his life to teaching and was a school principal, at one point in his career. What a blessing and such gifts he left to his family, and so many. I later took his poem and superimposed it upon the background of part of the wedding dress and flowers, from the painting I had completed, and adding in my hand-calligraphy and design work. It just seemed like the best gift to the family…in lieu of flowers.
The joy I feel when clients communicate their feelings about my work and how gifts were received brings such meaning to all I do and strive for as an artist. I am humbled when I think about the number of people who have personal and family keepsakes in their homes all across the United States and some pieces abroad. Many of these works will be passed down through generations. I am grateful to God for the gift He has given me and my good fortune of being able to work as a full-time artist.
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