We proudly introduce to you the remarkable Carina Francioso who forms part of our 5th Edition Juror panel.

Who are you?

My name is Carina Francioso and I am a lover of all things beauty. I grew up in Ontario, Canada and have a rich cultural heritage of French Canadian and Italian roots. I am a contemporary realist painter and I believe it is my purpose to add more beauty into the world through my work.

What inspired your start in painting?

Ever since I can remember I was interested in the arts. I come from a long line of artists and musicians and my parents always encouraged both my brother and I to explore the arts with art classes and music lessons etc. I still remember art class being my favorite class in elementary school; I couldn’t wait to play with the paint on the paper roll easel! Later on in high school I continued to excel in art, specifically drawing and painting. Thus, I continued on to University to study Honours Fine Arts focusing on 4 years of studio specialization. This is where I first experimented with oil paints and I fell in love with their richness and blending capabilities. I always had a deep appreciation for the old masters and realism renaissance painting. I haven’t looked back since.

What inspired your entry into painting water specifically?

This is an interesting story! If you look back at my earlier work you can see I was very influenced by my interest and involvement in fashion and modeling and still today I have great interest in this kind of beauty. But it wasn’t until I started to paint water that I realized I had been surrounded by water my whole life. I grew up spending my summers boating with family on Georgian Bay in Canada and then later lived at our family beach house in Salento, Italy, right on the seaside. I was photographing the sea one summer at sunset in Gallipoli, Italy and I was mesmerized by the water’s beauty. I had a strong knowing that these photographs were meant to inspire my next painting(s) and that’s exactly what happened. One painting turned into a whole series of paintings and now looking back I can connect the dots and see how influential being near the water has been on my life. Water is home to me.

What do you hope to communicate with your work?

As a contemporary painter I seek to express the world's gift of water and acknowledge that it must be cherished and preserved. I feel it is my calling to document water’s breath and beauty. My experiences with water have inspired my paintings and my goal is that my work will elicit meaningful memories or responses in the viewer, as water is universal and connects us all. Rather than depicting the many problems facing the waters of the world today, I intentionally choose to focus on the delicacy, beauty, strength and depth of water.

What has been your most successful piece so far, and why?

I’d like to think that my most successful piece is still not yet created but if I were to pick one piece that has helped me evolve and express myself deeper as an artist it would be a two canvas diptych painting (each panel measuring 68"h x 51w" or 68" x 102" in total dimension). This piece was inspired by the waters of the Ionian Sea on the coast of Salento, Italy. The left panel depicts the foamy water that had just splashed off the rocks; the right panel depicts the bright, light reflection of the sun. The painting captures a moment in time yet it inspires the movement of imagination.

The foam and light look like two triangles and the points gracefully meet in the centre almost as if to give life to something else. After I captured the source imagery that would eventually help in creating this piece it was as if the painting was loudly calling me to create it. I couldn't wait to get back home to the studio here in Canada to get started! The final image I put together was directly inspired by "The Creation of Adam" by Michelangelo in the Sistine Chapel (the two fingers about to touch - breathing life into creation). I knew it had to be large-scale in the hopes to provoke the same feeling of vastness and awe that I felt that day gazing at the sea... Water is life, it is the greatest source of creation, and none of us would be here without it. Hence the title of the piece ‘Il soffio della vita’ (The Breath of Life).

In the centre of the painting where the foam and light join are inscribed the words ‘Life lies beneath the waves’. In other words - in the midst of life there is chaos and rough waters but just beneath the waves is a calm we all seek. This painting was completed in one years time and is by far the most ambitious piece I have taken on in my career as an artist. Although art is not defined by or dependent on the amount of time it takes to create it, I do believe that my attention to detail is what distinguishes me from many contemporary artists. This painting taught me a lot about patience, persistence and determination. It was also created during a challenging year in my life where I experienced many losses, specifically the loss of my grandmother. I feel that I was able to transmute all of my pain into something beautiful and that was a huge accomplishment for me. This piece was exhibited at the 2019 VISIONS Award Exhibit at Arcadia Contemporary Gallery in California. I believe every detail is as important as the whole and this painting really displays this belief of mine.

Can you walk us through how you created that piece?

I start all my paintings first with a reference image or images. Every painting is inspired by my own photography from my travels around the world. As mentioned, this particular piece was inspired by imagery I took in Salento, Italy near our family home. This is me at the moment of capturing the images that would inspire this painting. I remember looking through my lens and thinking of Michelangelo’s “Creation of Adam” - I saw it in the water and I was moved to create.

A photograph and a painting register time in a completely different way. Photographs are a point of departure for my work; they capture an instant in time. However, my paintings capture weeks or months in time; the time of their making and the facture with every brush stroke. Once I have images I will use one or several and piece them together on photoshop until I’m happy with the outcome. Then I begin to paint first with a backwash or underpainting and then using a gridding system I proceed to block the image in with more modelling and detailing. This allows me to capture as much detail as possible, rendering the painting hyper-realistic. Here is a progress shot about half way complete:

Looking back at your art career so far, what has been your most exciting opportunity/accomplishment? Why?

I have received much recognition and many awards for the work I have completed thus far and I am grateful for every opportunity to share my art with the world on a larger scale. I can’t think of one experience greater than an other. I think what makes me so happy and excited is that every one of my experiences as an artist has brought me to where I am today - which is being able to wake up each day and do what I love, honoured to know that my work is being enjoyed in so many countries around the world. This is something every artist dreams of and hopes to achieve and live.

What projects are you currently working on?

I am currently working on a series of paintings that involve the female figure in water. It touches upon my relationship to water but also the relationship between the feminine and water. Like a woman, water is life giving, healing, powerful and soft. As well, the different states of water reflect our incessantly changing human emotions which can be calm and reflective one moment and turbulent the next. I’m not quite ready to share progress photos of this new body of work but here is a detail of a recent painting that sparked my deeper curiosity into this theme. Stay tuned and you will eventually see the birth of this body of work and all it has to offer.

What advice would you give to an emerging artist?

I would say to make your work the real reward. When you do that you automatically focus your attention on being better as an artist as opposed to trying to complete a body of work in a hurry to exhibit and sell but then not really end up being proud of your work because you rushed through it. If you have a passion for painting then follow your heart and don’t listen to the people who say that you can’t make a career in art. It takes patience to succeed from an authentic place... put your best effort and work out there and all the bonus blessings will come too!

To view more of Carina Francioso’s work

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