When Mr Vendetti (42) left his customer service job, he had no formal training in fine art and had been painting for only a couple of years.
He is now one of the top five best-selling Australian artists on the international online art marketplace Artfinder, with his paintings hanging in homes throughout the world.
Mr Vendetti said he was self-taught and painted mostly still-life, although was venturing into portraiture.
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READ NOW“Painting was something I always wanted to do. I used to do a lot of art as a kid and then life took over,” he said.
After a stint as a drummer in a band and a series of unsatisfying jobs, he decided to buy some art supplies and start painting.
“I had saved up a fair bit. I thought ‘I am just going to go for it’. I didn’t want to wake up one day and regret not trying a career as an artist,” he said.
He has not regretted the decision and now feels he has found a pursuit that suits him.
“I basically started doing still-life painting just as a way to improve my skills. The more I did the better I got and the better they started sell,” he said.
“I am not rich from it by any means. I am able to sell enough work to sustain my career and it is slowly going in the upwards direction.
“It’s not a sprint, it is a marathon.”
Mr Vendetti said he tried to paint every day, sometimes doing 10-hour sessions when working on larger canvases.
“If you are doing something and it makes you feel good, then everything you do has an authenticity to it,” he said.
“It is kind a cliche but there is something therapeutic about it. You get into a zone and you just do it. One of the things I learnt is that you can’t try to sell art, you have to do what you love and focus on the art.”
Influenced by the work of masters Pablo Picasso, Vincent van Gogh and Paul Cezanne, Mr Vendetti said he loved colour and shapes.
“I try bring a brightness and freshness to my work,”he said.
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