May 30, 2011. JJ, a skilled fine arts painter, stopped shoppers in their tracks at Gateway this weekend. That was because this cheery man in a wheelchair painted clear, bright and detailed images (mostly of wildlife) with his mouth.
After my daughter chatted to JJ, while on a trip to the movies on Saturday, she encouraged me to take a look. So the next day we visited Gateway and asked JJ about his technique.
“The tongue is the strongest muscle in the body,” JJ explained, “and with your teeth you can hold a brush straight. Look – it’s easy!” JJ demonstrated by adding to a painting of a giraffe with a thin brush, using fine, perfectly controlled strokes.
There had to be a modicum of talent to make it look so “easy”, I thought. And sure enough, JJ went on to say that he was a pencil sketcher “before his accident”. JJ, you see, was also a keen diver up until 10 years ago. A diving accident changed all that and the 42-year-old now paints for a living. “At the moment,” he added, “I am working on a three-year contract for Foot and Mouth in Switzerland, and my paintings are sold all over the world.”
If you missed JJ at Gateway and would like to see him in action, visit him at Pavilion Shopping Centre next weekend.
By Brenda Daniels