The Making of a Self-Taught Artist - Ludgero Mendonca

guest artist/author: Ludgero Mendonca
 My name is Ludgero Mendonca. I was born and raised to the age of eleven on the Island of Terceira Acores, Portugal. My interest in art comes from having watched my father sketch to pass the time. Taken by it and tried to emulate his style but to no avail. At the age of fifteen I once again started to sketch but now I had better control and began to slowly develop my own style – here’s how.

• In my twenties I was quite comfortable with my art but had not tried using color yet so I decided to experiment with different mediums.
• I first tried oils but with no art school under my belt I knew I could not do much with it other then to make a mess. Acrylics dried to fast and again my experience with mixing colors fell short of acceptable work.
• The third try was as the saying goes a charm for me because I purchased a watercolor set by Winsor Newton that fit just right. It was simple in set up,very clean, and I could use it with a #00 brush for detail.
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After years of trial and error I no longer threw my artwork away because I had finally felt comfortable with the way I had applied the watercolor! But…

• Due to detail I found that I could not use this medium in the conventional way. The detail that I put forth needed to be emphasized so I applied the watercolor in the same style that I sketch.
• Feeling comfortable I now needed to find subjects to paint but after many tries of painting sailboats, sceneries, and still life paintings, I grew bored and put it all away for quite some time.
• I always thought that the human and animal form were my desire to paint but to find poses was not easy and not having a trained eye made it very difficult for me to become a better artist.
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• After searching for subjects in many magazines I gave up looking and decided to create my own by sketching the visions in my mind’s eye and then paint them.
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Once again through hour upon hour of sketching the human and animal form, the poses looked right and I went for it.
Be it sketching, color pencils, or watercolors, I can now enjoy the final look of my art and I hope you will too. It is a pleasure to sit in the late hours of the night completely immersed in what I love to do best. My art is who I am.
Thank you. Ludgero
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I met Ludgero Mendonca on Twitter and was immediately charmed by his gentleman-like demeanor. A self-taught watercolorist, Ludgero approaches this medium in an unconventional style. I was drawn to Ludgero’s unique and stylized drawings of voluptuous figures and beasts. His horses remind me of the statues from the Tang Dynasty.
Thanks,  Ludgero! Lori 🙂