Thanks to my wonderfully talented illustrator friend, Amber Anderson, I’ve recently been introduced to the amazing creative world of Jessica Thom aka Touretteshero.
Jess Thom is in this painting as Touretteshero, in “Me, My Mouth and I” performing a Samuel Beckett play, and a close up as she normally appears when talking about her disability – a creative, charismatic, inspirational, at times emotional, and very funny person. If you haven’t read her book ” Welcome to Biscuit Land “(the word “biscuit” is her most repeated tic) or seen any of her interviews or theatrical work about disability in society today, it’s well worth the effort and will help better understanding of people with Tourettes syndrome. She talks of the pleasures and pain of her neurological condition which she has no control over and her campaign to change attitudes to it. There are a number of videos of her in action and here is an example:-
I’ve also been busy returning to some earlier works and refreshing or changing them a little to make them more acceptable to either exhibit or sell on-line. They are show below after the various revisions:-
Staring into the Light
Another Time, Another Place
Servalan
Just this week the news has broken of the death of Jacqueline Pearce, the actress who played the villain Servalan in the television series Blake’s 7. Our children grew up watching this and we, as parents, watched with them. She also made an appearance in Doctor Who which was also something of a magnet for parents and their offspring.