LAGUNA BEACH – There was a time when Suzanne Short was left- handed. Long ago. Before she became an artist.

"It's funny," she says, "now I'm left-mouthed."

To demonstrate, she bites the cap off a Pigma Micron .05 permanent-ink pen and clamps the pen between her left molars. Then she leans in toward her easel, so close that her eyes are four inches from her work, and adds crosshatching to her latest portrait.

"A lot of times, I think I have it in perspective," she says, talking with pen in mouth as someone might talk around a cigarette, "then I back off, and it's way off."

There are also jaw aches to deal with, neck pain, mixing paints without the use of your hands and applying watercolors to a vertical easel without them running. Not to mention drawing with your mouth.

Such is the life of a mouth artist.

Short, 41, of Laguna Beach, took pen to mouth as a hobby after a 1982 car accident left her paralyzed from the shoulders down. Though a quadriplegic, she has enough movement in her left hand to operate an electric wheelchair.

Now she's the guest artist at the Sawdust Art Festival's 12th Winter Fantasy, which begins today and runs through the next four weekends along Laguna Canyon Road.

How does she find work?

"Word of mouth," she says, not realizing the pun at first, then breaking out in laughter.

This is her first big break, despite 15 years of honing her skills. Until now, almost all of her sales have come from friends, or friends of friends, buying portraits of their pets or homes that Short draws from photographs - her specialty. She feels she's just starting to emerge as an artist.

"Everyone keeps telling me they like my artwork, encouraging me," she says. "It's helped me enjoy life more. I feel good about myself when I go out in public and meet people. When I share my artwork with people and they enjoy it, it brings joy to my life."

Joy was all but gone after her stepfather, Glenn Stuart, shot and killed her mother, LaVerne Stuart, in May at his Laguna Beach home, then turned the gun on himself.

"Mom was my biggest fan," Short says, her voice breaking. "My biggest supporter. I stopped drawing because I couldn't even think straight."

She still lives with the pain. But in some way, the loss of her mother, who visited often and cared for her in many ways, has forced Short to gain independence and grow as an artist.

"It's definitely put things in perspective," she says. "I just can't waste any time. I'm trying to do something with my life, be more productive. It's helped me grow, and I'll get stronger."

Short was studying architectural technology at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis when an MGB she was riding in one night was struck by a drunken driver. She lay in traction for two months and required a ventilator to breathe for five years.

While in a Denver rehabilitation hospital, she saw a landscape painting on the wall by quadriplegic Joni Erickson- Tada. Short bit onto a felt- tipped pen and tried doodling some cartoon faces. They came out awful.

"It was frustrating," she says. "It wasn't the way I wanted to draw."

But what choice did she have?

Eventually, it was a miniature schnauzer named Angel that turned the tide for Short. She loved the dog so much, she began to draw her over and over again. For 15 years, she sent out Christmas cards with sketches of Angel on them. People began to ask her to draw portraits of their dogs.

Then one day, a casual acquaintance showed up at Short's door: Nancy Jenness. Her son had died of AIDS and Jenness asked Short to do a pen-and-ink portrait of him.

"I wanted very much to have a picture that came from the heart," says Jenness, who had seen Short riding her electric wheelchair up and down the steep streets of Laguna. "I figured that Suzanne has to look within inches of her work all the time she's doing it, so every little stroke comes right out of her heart."

Jenness convinced Short to join her church, Laguna Beach United Methodist, whose parishioners clamored this week to help Short staff her booth at the Sawdust Festival.

In one day, 21 people signed up to fill 18 spots.

"She inspires me daily," Pastor Ginny Wheeler said. "She was hit by a drunk driver and she doesn't seem to harbor any bitterness or malice toward that. She understands forgiveness. That's inspiring."

Short will give demonstrations from 1 to 2 p.m. each day she's at the festival. And most people who watch will no doubt find that inspiring as well. It is a word she hears often.

"I never really set out to try to inspire people," she says. "I'm just trying to live my life, and if that inspires people, great."

CONTACT US: (714) 796-6979 or tberg@ocregister.com