Being a paraplegic in a wheelchair as a result of being knocked down by a car in Dandenong in 1993 at the age of 15 doesn't deter him from living life to the fullest.

At 31, the former Dandenong boy says his whole view on life has changed for the better since the accident.

"I enjoy doing what the average person doesn't do. It was negative there for a while, but now I'm expressing my views in art, which is a positive thing for me.

"I really love art and gardening. I'm building this special garden designed with conifers. I do a lot of digging there, but it's nowhere near completed yet."

Sweeney was a year 9 student when he became a paraplegic.

"It was a challenging time of my life, just accepting one extreme to the other. I was the real popular one with the groups at school and suddenly I felt the total opposite."

Sweeney didn't go back to school but studied courses in language centres, completed VCE and later a diploma of arts in graphic design.

After finding it difficult to find work as a graphic artist Sweeney is working on his portfolio to be a full-time artist.

His realist style paintings in acrylics are already making a mark on the local art scene.

This month his first two portraits of football legend Jack Dyer, called Captain Blood and Ned Kelly, Such is Life, will be on show at ArtGallop gallery.

The exhibition will be his fourth. He earlier exhibited paintings of animals at Patmos Art Gallery in Berwick and TAC exhibitions.

Sweeney's portraits will form part of the The Vicarchies exhibition, where portraits of Victorians by Victorians in any medium will be on show at the Quaker Barn, 3a Reservoir Road, Narre Warren North.

The exhibit will be open Friday, Saturday and Sunday afternoons through to April.

Details: Rosalind Meadmore on 87904756 or visit here.