Portrait of the very beautiful, Lisa McManus. It was a real priveledge and pleasure to paint Lisa. She was born with unformed arms due to the drug thalidomide which was prescribed to women in the early 60s for anxiety when they were pregnant. They discovered that it was causing babies to be born with disabilities. The government knew about this for 6 months before they warned people and took it off the market. Lisa's mum took only 2 tablets. Lisa has been fighting to have the rights of the children born with disabilities recognised by the government. There was a brilliant episode about her on Australian Story that goes into Lisa's story and her fight in more details. https://www.abc.net.au/austory/a-bitter-pill/10875902 # Thalidomide#portraiture #fightingspirit #thalidaomidebabies #realisminportraiture #figurativerealism https://www.instagram.com/p/CD5eRwRjllQ/?igshid=kyi7uf1c9sn3