Wirral artist loses cancer battle (From Wirral Globe)

Wirral artist loses cancer battle

10:03am Wednesday 26th September 2012 in News

A WIRRAL artist who revealed a hidden talent for art following a brain haemorrhage has lost a battle with cancer.

Tommy McHugh, from Rock Ferry, started creating pictures and sculptures after a double aneurism in 2001.

He was one of only three people in the world to experience artistic outpouring as the result of changes in his brain.

The 62-year-old former builder featured in many documentaries both here in the UK and abroad.

He transformed his home into a canvas for his talents is exhibiting a replica of the house that is on display at the Waterfront Art Gallery in Southport until Sunday.

The exhibition celebrates Tommy’s extraordinary and unique artistic works. Visitors will have a powerful visual insight into how Tommy transformed his home into a work of art.

Tommy, from Rock Ferry, said recently: "The first signs of my urge to create started with speaking in rhyme and with writing poetry.

"This developed into the need to draw on the walls of my home. At first, I would use crayons, wax, lipstick or anything I could find to make a mark. Now I tend to focus on oil paint."

Tommy’s condition baffled neuroscientists worldwide and his story has been broadcast as far afield as Japan and Germany.