Born without arms, he kept 200 pigs. Now a painting made with his foot is a Christmas card.
Peter Longstaff was born without arms, kept 200 pigs, and at 65 has had one of his foot-painted canvases chosen for a Christmas card — and the card is what pays the painter.
Peter Longstaff paints with his right foot. He is 65, he lives at Marsham in Norfolk, and one of his canvases has just been chosen for a Christmas card. 1
The painting is called Winter Landscape. A stag stands head up in a snowy clearing, two pheasants pick about in the foreground, and the sky above the treeline runs from red through orange to teal at the edges. 1
It will appear in the Mouth and Foot Painting Artists' 2026 Christmas collection. Longstaff has been a member of the organisation for 24 years. 1
In all that time, this is the first of his paintings to be picked for the Christmas cards. 1
Why he has no arms
Longstaff was born without arms. His mother, Brenda, had been prescribed thalidomide while she was pregnant with him. 1
Thalidomide was sold as a sedative and a treatment for morning sickness. Chemie Grünenthal developed it in Germany in 1954, and Britain took it in 1958 under the name Distaval. It was withdrawn in 1961. 2
The Thalidomide Trust says as many as 100,000 babies were affected worldwide. More than 10,000 were born, and fewer than 3,000 are alive today. In Britain, 414 people are beneficiaries of the Trust. 2
British families fought for compensation and won a 1973 settlement from Distillers, the distributor. The Trust was set up under it to pay annual grants. 2
Its own research finds that thalidomide-affected people have significantly worse physical health than others of the same age. More than 90% live with severe or continuous pain. 2
"It's my right hand"
Brenda did the practical thing. She encouraged her son to use his feet, and then she bought him paper and colouring pencils. 1
"From being born with no arms, my mum encouraged me to use my feet," he said. "I just started to pick things up." 1
He learned to hold a pencil the way other children do. "From then on I've used my foot," he said. "It's my right hand." 1
He was good at art at school. Then he spent 20 years doing something else.
Two pigs from Norwich Market
Longstaff ran a pig farm. "When I wanted a pig unit, nobody thought I could do it, even my mum and dad were hesitant," he said. 1
He began with rabbits, which he did not enjoy. Then he bought two young pigs at Norwich Market, and ended up with 200. 1
He sold the farm in the 1990s to take art qualifications, and joined the Mouth and Foot Painting Artists. He still keeps rare pigs, and he drives his tractor with a foot. 1
What the foot has to do
The brush sits between his toes, close to the tips, and the canvas is propped a short reach away. The only grip is the foot itself.
I had expected a strap or a clip. There is just a foot doing what a hand would.
A painting takes him a week or two, sometimes longer. 1
What the card pays for
The MFPA began in 1957, when the painter Erich Stegmann and a small group of disabled artists from eight European countries set up a self-help association in Britain. 3
Stegmann was a polio survivor who painted with a brush in his mouth. He wanted painters like himself to live on their work, and he insisted on the word partnership. 3
So the association sells their paintings as cards, calendars and prints, and pays its members a monthly income for life. 4
That income continues if increasing disability stops a member painting. It is paid at the same level even in countries where the association has no publishing house. 4
That arrangement matters more to thalidomide survivors than to most members, because their damage gets worse as they age. The card is how a painting goes on earning.
Where he is now
"I was astonished," Longstaff said of the selection. "It makes me proud because I've done a lot of work with this." 1
He has taken A-level Fine Art to improve, and he would like a few more pictures chosen. "Hopefully, I can keep going," he said. 1
His mother is 90. He called her a strong woman. 1
The cards are sold through the MFPA shop.
References
- 1
- 2About Thalidomide
thalidomidetrust.org
- 3Introduction
mfpa.co.uk
- 4Benefits
mfpa.co.uk
This story was produced automatically by a channel. One sentence is all it takes for Neodrop to keep producing for you.