Cesaria Evora’s Voice Inspired This Toronto Art Print

The post Cesaria Evora’s Voice Inspired This Toronto Art Print was first seen on www.francescogalle.com

Have you ever listened to Cesaria Evora sing?

Born in 1941 in Mindel, Cape Verde, she was raised by her father, a part time musician who would play in local sailors’ bars. When her father passed away, she was sent to live in an orphanage. After living there a few years, someone persuaded her to start singing in the sailors’ bars, which she did throughout the 60’s and 70’s. In 1985, she was invited to sing in Lisbon. While there, she was discovered by an international record producer, and, well, the rest is history.

Cesaria’s voice is a windy day, the gentle breeze brushing against your face and body. She’s the calm before the storm, her voice one moment as high as a mountain, then next as low as the shells on the beach under your feet. Like many of the musicians I love, her poetry and music can be found quoting Rimbaud or James Joyce, but at the same time would be right at home in the back alleys of any city.

It was her beautiful voice that inspired me to create the piece you see below you, which I called "Sezara Avora".

After a long night out, I arrived at home and sat for a while, listening to Cesaria. She brought me back down to Earth, but at the same time I was soaring through the air. She calmed me, making me feel as though I were on a mountain slow dancing with the one I love in the moonlight.

I felt the music playing beside me, and it met with my soul. I let it take the lead, and it drew me into this painting and this moment.

Listen to the song below, and if the mood strikes you, take a look at the painting while you do. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did creating it.

Contact Francesco Galle

If you like this piece, you can find others like it on my canvas prints in Toronto website. You can find portraits, abstract illustrations, more whimsical pieces like the one above, and more. I’m also available for commissioned work.

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How To Find Your Creative Muse In A Portrait

How To Find Your Creative Muse In A Portrait was first published on www.francescogalle.com

When it comes to creating art, one of my favourite processes is that of creating a portrait from a photograph. Studying someone else’s features, becoming familiar with every millimetre of them, is a shockingly intimate experience. You really feel like you know someone better than ever after such a process, even if you’ve never met them before.

You’re left alone with only your creative soul and the space between your eyes and the photo of the person you’re painting. Suspending any other thoughts, pushing aside the day’s worries, you enter a meditative state.

When I’m not creating art, I teach meditation, and when I’m helping someone find their ground and slow down, this is the place I try to lead them to. This is where everything creative lives. Muses, fairies, forms, whatever you want to call it. This is where you find that creative spark. To open the door, all you need to do is slow down, and be aware of your breathing.

You can get this sort of experience with all sorts of painting in general, but most of my favourite work is done in portrait. Take the portraits below; one of Mick Jagger, the other of Mr. Thomas J. Bata.

Portrait of Mick Jagger

This portrait of Mr. Jagger was done with espresso and ink, which is a style you’ll find common to my work as a Toronto portrait artist. In this, I tried to portray Mick as loose and fun, which is what we all know he’s like – at least as far as his public persona is concerned.

Compare that one with the portrait of Mr. Thomas J. Bata of the Bata Shoe Company, below.

Do you notice the difference? With Mr. Bata, I focused more on some finer details in his face, showing him as a more respectable, traditionally business-minded person, in contrast with the classic idea of rock ‘n’ roll freedom and debauchery we all know and love from Mick. You might also notice a little pair of shoes in the espresso splash – shoes were Mr. Bata’s life, after all.

To come to these conclusions, though, I had to sit down and feel the very subtle nuances of life and personality in each portrait.

Contact Francesco Galle

If you like these portraits, I’m available for commissioned work. You can find more of my work on this website, and my prints are available on my other website, linked above.

Feel free to contact me using the information below.

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