Theresa Lucas sits down at the desk in her bedroom and leans over toward a Smuckers Red Raspberry jar filled with water and paintbrushes.

She pulls one out with her teeth, shifts her head over to a palette and swirls the brush in several colors. Lucas, a local artist, proceeds to delicately add strokes to a painting of a winter scene — all while holding the brush between her teeth.

Lucas, 40, was born with arthrogryposis, a condition that curves her joints and limits the use of her arms and hands. Doctors believe it is caused when a baby doesn’t move enough in the womb and muscles don’t develop, she said. It causes weak muscles and in some cases, like in her arms, she only has one set of muscles instead of the needed two.

“I don’t have the muscles to raise my arms up,” she said, lifting her arms less than 90 degrees.

Starting as a young child, Lucas began learning to surpass her disability and do everyday things her own way. One skill she picked up was painting by holding the brush between her teeth.

“I always enjoyed art since a little kid. In high school I always took art classes,” she said. “My art teacher always encouraged me to keep doing it.

“I was shy about how I painted — I hold the brush in my mouth. I did it at home and brought it in the next day. Now I’ve overcome that shyness.”

Lucas, an accomplished artist, has 10 of her paintings exhibited at the Madison County Visitor’s and Convention Bureau from January through the end of March.

Those are her best paintings, she said, talking through her teeth as she smoothly added blue tones to the snow covering the ground, a tractor and a tree in her painting.

“My paintbrushes are awful — but I chew them!” she said, giggling. “I can use my hands to paint but I have more control of the brush with my mouth.”

Lucas’ mom, Nina Lucas, took the photograph of the scene her daughter is painting. She herself has started painting as well.

“She amazes me,” Lucas said. “The detail is amazing. I’m always in awe. It’s a God-given gift. I always bug her — ‘When are you going to paint more?’”

At her desk, where Theresa Lucas paints facing a window to her front yard, are photographs of her family and friends. A few photos are of her nephew Michael playing baseball. The two art awards she’s won have been for third place and honorable mention — with the ribbons hanging in her room — for paintings she made of Michael.

Lucas has also been the treasurer for the Art Association of Madison County for two years. When she joined the association, she became the president within two years and remained there for four.

When Lucas was born with curved joints and weak or missing muscles, no one told her she was different. She was treated as an equal and led as fulfilling a life as the next girl.

“My parents never told me I couldn’t do things,” she said. “They never treated me differently than my sister. I never thought I was limited. I just did it.

“I didn’t realize how different my parents were in how they raised me. I guess I still don’t realize I’m disabled,” she said. “I don’t go out thinking I’m disabled. I just do things and don’t care what people think.”

No one has held Lucas back, and she doesn’t plan on allowing that to happen. She has always met challenges successfully.

“Doctors said I never would walk, but what do they know?” she said smiling. “I walked when I was five. I think my sister was tired of carrying me around, so she taught me to walk.

“I did it all. I had lots of friends. I went cruising with my friends. I would go to basketball games — you can’t miss them when you’re from Anderson High School.”

Lucas has been helping others suffering from her same disability to understand they can lead normal lives and to not allow themselves to be held back.

“A few years back I met a woman and her son was 3-months-old with the same thing,” she said. “I made a video of me doing everyday things and whatever people normally take for granted. I showed them when I was washing my hair, blow-drying my hair, doing my makeup, brushing my teeth.”

“She ended it with her being on my tractor mowing my yard,” her mother said.

“The hardest part was watching myself,” Theresa Lucas said. “In my head I do everything like everyone else. When I see myself — I’m not doing that.”

Lucas shot the homemade video, “A day with Theresa,” seven years ago. Word got out on how helpful the tape was, and by now she has sent about 60 tapes all over the U.S. and even out of the country. She plans on making a second one, “Another day with Theresa,” with the help of friends.

“It feels good to know that I’ve helped somebody else,” she said, her eyes tearing up. “A 3-year-old girl, Abby, watched it. Abby calls me ’Resa and her mother said ‘I had to buy watercolors because Abby wants to paint like ’Resa.”