A MAN who was paralysed in accident in 1995 will present paintings he has produced using his mouth to guide the paintbrush.

Keith Jansz, of Finmere near Bicester, became a quadriplegic at the age of 33 in a car accident on the way to work.

Twenty years on, the former financial adviser will host a week-long exhibition at Oxford Town Hall of some of the work he has produced since losing the use of his arms and legs.

The 53-year-old has developed the ability to paint using adapted paintbrushes, which he controls with his mouth.

He said: “I think people’s reaction is mainly astonishment at the technical aspects, which I’ve refined over the years.”

Mr Jansz enjoyed painting and drawing as a child.

Just before his accident he took up drawing as a hobby, but following the car accident he lost the use of his hands.

He spent six months in rehabilitation at Stoke Mandeville Hospital in Aylesbury.

Mr Jansz said: “When I got home I was heavily depressed, it was an incredibly dark time for me.

“I just couldn’t bring myself to do anything, I lacked any motivation.”

It was at this time that he was bought a book called Painters First, a selection of biographies of artists who had overcome personal and physical tragedies and he learned how to paint using his mouth.

Mr Jansz then began to practice drawing 10 minutes a day, and nearly two decades later he has two consecutive art exhibitions, one in Northampton and one in Oxford.

He is presenting large landscape paintings of scenes from Cornwall, London and Oxfordshire.

Some of the canvasses are four-foot wide.

He said: “In my mind I’m permanently playing a game of chess of what I’m going to paint, how I’m going to paint it.

“It’s exhausting but in a good way.

“I’ve got the neck of a rugby player, because I have to exercise it so I can paint.”

He said he was “excited” by exhibiting his work at Oxford Town Hall.

He added: “It’s a lovely place, with brilliant light – we’re hoping for a good footfall.

“I will probably do some demonstrations of how I paint, which I’ve done a lot of.

“As it’s the Women’s Institute centenary, I’ve gone to a number of meetings and shown them how I paint. They’ve been incredibly supportive.”

Mr Jansz’s exhibition is open to the public from today until next Saturday between 9am and 5pm at Oxford Town Hall in St Aldate’s.