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A thalidomide survivor who learned to paint despite not having any arms, but didn't sell her first artwork until she was 50, claims that finding her passion for art 'changed who she thinks she is'.

Susan Wagner-White, 56, was born with hands coming from her shoulders and just seven fingers altogether after her mother took just one thalidomide pill for morning sickness while she was pregnant.

Despite her physical disability, the self-taught pointillism artist from Perth, Ontario in Canada, has painted and drawn her whole life and claims her art helps her escape from thinking of herself as a 'disabled person just trying to get through life'.

Survivor: Susan Wagner-White, 56, was born with hands coming from her shoulders and just seven fingers altogether after her mother took just one thalidomide pill

Talent: Despite her disability, Susan, from Perth, Ontario in Canada, has been painting for almost her entire life, and specializes in pointillist paintings of animals and nature 

The 56-year-old specializes in pointillist paintings of nature and animals' eyes in particular, building up each image in layers of color using 'millions' of tiny dots per piece.

Each drawing takes around a month or more to complete - and causes Susan neck, back and shoulder ache due to leaning over the table to make contact with the paper.

Despite not selling her first piece until she was 50, the popularity of Susan's art has now soared and she's sold 70 pieces of art all over the world in just the last six years.

Aftermath: Susan, pictured as a child, only has three fingers on one hand, and four on the other 

Susan said: 'A lot of people have jobs and like what they do or do it because they have to for money, but to find your actual real passion in life is something special.

'When I turned 50 and started doing this for real, it just changed who I think I am.

'I feel like I can finally call myself an artist and that's pretty special to not just think that I am a person with a disability trying to get through life.

'I feel like I now actually have a proper designated title - "artist" and not "disabled".

'Friends and family have said to not forget that the people who love my art may have been drawn to it because of my disability, but they have gone away from that and are just looking at the art.

'They're not thinking, "oh wow, the person that drew this picture has no arms". It's more, "wow, look at that picture".

'But I also can't forget the fact that there are a lot of people who have a reaction to my comment and picture and the fact that I am a thalidomide survivor is in the narrative,' she added.

Susan said that she doesn't have arms, and has hands that 'come out' from her shoulders. 

She added that she only has three fingers on one hand and four on the other.  

Explaining her condition, Susan said: 'My mum took one pill of thalidomide and that's what caused me to have this disability.

Passion: Before Susan turned 50, she had never sold any of her pieces, but when her friend took a liking to one of her paintings (pictured), she sold it to her for $132 ($175 CAD)

Stand-out: The 56-year-old said her favorite painting (pictured) is one of a chimpanzee's eyes which she later named Wise Eyes

Dedication: Susan said she worked on Wise Eyes for about four or five hours per day for about one month as her pens are so minuscule 

'But I obviously can draw, and I drive and I am a wife and mother to animals.

'A lot of people don't understand what it is all about and why. It's something that to have been born this way I don't feel any different. I don't feel like I've lost anything - it's just who I am.

'Your disability is not who you are. You are a person and then you have these other things as well.

'I've been told that I should use that but I really try not to. It's more of an afterthought for me because I don't want people to look at my art and think "a girl with a disability did that".

'I want it to just be a beautiful piece of art for people,' she added.

Before she turned 50, Susan never dared to think that her art was something that other people would want to buy.

But when a friend living in California, US, took a liking to her drawing of a hummingbird, Susan agreed to sell her the piece for just $132 ($175 CAD).

Now she works entirely on commission for clients in Australia, U.K., U.S. and Canada with pieces selling between $455 ($600 CAD) and $759 ($1000 CAD).

Susan said: 'I find it really therapeutic to draw. That's one of the amazing aspects of the pointillism that I do.

'Whenever I'm doing it I'm not really thinking about anything other than the fact that I get into some kind of zone.

'I think I have a special ability to look at a picture or something and deconstruct it in my brain and reconstruct it with my many, many layers of dots with my coloured pens.

Wow! Growing up, Susan's friends and family always told her that she had an artistic side, and that she needed to pursue it properly

Impressive: The 56-year-old said that since she started treating her art as a career, she feels like she has a proper title as an 'artist', rather than being known for her disability 

'It's amazing because every time I wrap up for the night I walk away from it and I look back at the piece and think "wow, how did that happen?".

'It's neat because I'll start with the blank paper and every day there's more and I just think, 'I don't know how I do that'. It's actually fun to have that.

'I have always had an artistic side. A lot of friends and family said, "You really need to do this. You need to put yourself out there".

Recovery: Although Susan loves creating her artworks, she needs weekly massages and dips in a hot tub to relax her muscles after leaning over the table for so long 

'It's imposter theory though - you don't feel like you're good enough.

'Six years ago I did a piece for fun. It was one of my first, the Hummingbirds. A friend from California messaged me and asked me if I sold my work and I said, "no, but maybe I should".

'She bought it for a low price because I had no idea what to price my work at. I've now done 70 pictures in six years. They've sold all over the world too which is fun as well,' she added.

Susan explained that she has had no formal art training, and that her style has developed entirely on its own.   

She said: 'The pens I use are minuscule so they take approximately a month to do each piece. I probably worked on Wise Eyes for about four or five hours per day for a month or a month and a half.

'I have been told that I really underprice my stuff. I don't know really what to ask for them so I just have a price that I'm comfortable with and is still selling.

'As far as doing it for my time I'm not really getting anything back from that. I feel proud that these pieces are hanging in people's homes and offices,' Susan said.

Although she never sees her art once it is sold again, Susan claims her favorite is a close up of a chimpanzee's eyes named 'Wise Eyes'.

Susan said: 'If you look at a picture like Wise Eyes you can see the eyes look like a brown monkey.

Patience: Each individual painting contains 'millions' of different dots that make up one larger picture, according to the artist 

Beautiful: Another one of Susan's favorites is her painting of a lizard eye (pictured), which she says reminds her of 'stars' 

Amazing! Now Susan works entirely on commission for clients in Australia, U.K., U.S. and Canada with pieces selling between $455 ($600 CAD) and $759 ($1000 CAD).

'But when you zoom in you will see blacks and all different shades of brown and colors that will build that color base and layer it up.

'I couldn't even begin to think about how many millions of dots that I have done. Each piece must have millions of dots - I believe that.

'If I looked through them all I would probably change my mind 50 times. Wise Eyes definitely, and the cat looking up.

'The eyeball is so green and looks straight up, and there's just something about it because the eyeball looks like you could reach out and touch it and it would be wet like a real eyeball.

'There's a lizard eye that I love too because it looks to me like I'm looking at the stars. It's like some space picture. Those are my top three.

She added: 'I see myself definitely busy for six months at least at the moment. It's a lot of work. I have to be careful not to take too many commissions at once so I'm not under pressure or overwhelmed.'

But Susan admits she sometimes has to take time out for months at a time from her art to allow her body to recover from the long hours leaning over the table.

She has weekly massages and dips in a hot tub to relax her muscles, as well as taking pain medication to lessen the pain.

Susan said: 'I haven't adapted the pen but just recently I decided I need to have a titled drafting table because unfortunately the way I sit I have to hunch my way of the paper to get close enough with my pens.

'I am causing shoulder and neck and head trauma from overuse so that's when I decided I had better take some of the money I make from the art and buy myself a slanted table.

'Hopefully that will make it easier for me to do my work because I don't want to stop doing it.

'Sometimes I have to stop for months at a time just to let my body recover. I get weekly massage therapy on my neck, shoulder and hands.

'But I also take pain medication to try and balance things in my life so that I can still do what I love - my passion, my art,' she said.