Painting is as vital as breathing for watercolor artist Michael Degnon. Whether he’s teaching, working on a commission or trying something new, picking up a paint brush each day is just something he needs to do.
“It doesn’t matter what it’s for; it’s just for me. And the rest is, well, whatever happens, happens. And so far, some nice things have happened for me.”
Having spent a lot of time with his grandparents as a child, Degnon credits them with putting him on the path to watercolors.
“I’ve been painting and drawing since I was able to hold a pencil, quite literally. And my grandfather was a very talented, very creative man. He could build things and make things; he was like a Geppetto,” says Degnon.
“He was also interested in drawing and painting and when he realized that I had an ability for it he encouraged me too. He would make sure I had art supplies at the house.”
As a practical matter, his grandmother was afraid he might ruin his clothes with oils or acrylic paint, so they chose watercolors. Despite later trying a variety of different mediums, it remained his favorite choice.
“I was taken by the medium, taken by the look of it,” he explains.
Unless he’s creating commissioned pieces, Degnon prefers landscapes as a subject matter.
Examples are depicted in the lovely collage of paintings on the walls of his home, which showcase sun-dappled Florida environs alongside snow covered Vermont scenes.
“Some days I think I lived sometime in the 19th century, because I’m very drawn towards Homer, Hopper and Andrew Wyatt. And there’s something about the Hudson River School that gives me tingles. It really does,” says Degnon.
“That traditional Americana subject matter, the outdoors, the landscape, the bucolic settings; it’s like it’s in my blood.”
Born and raised in Dumont, New Jersey, Degnon studied graphic design at the School of Visual Arts in New York and worked at various agencies and print media in that field.
But at the end of the day, he would always go home and paint, displaying his work in the summer show circuit along the East Coast, from Cape May to Maine, including the Washington Square Open Art Exhibit and the Salmagundi Club, New York’s oldest artists’ club.
“I would do shows, sort of like the Under the Oaks that we have here (in Vero Beach). Imagine doing Under the Oaks every weekend for the summer. And at one point, I just thought, enough was enough.”
After marrying wife Lynn in 1983, a woman he calls his “biggest supporter and his best, honest critic,” the couple moved to Vermont, where they lived for 30 years and raised a family.
It was there that he began pursuing his art more earnestly, and at one point was represented in four Vermont galleries. He also taught weekly adult watercolor classes, something he continued doing for 25 years, at a high school in Wilmington, Vermont.
“And so, between that and selling some work, I was really happy with things.”
Then, when a neighbor asked if he would work with some children in the school’s Exceptional Skills and Abilities Program who showed artistic promise, he said yes.
“I can say that for a while, my youngest students were 5 and my oldest was 85,” Degnon says with a laugh.
He enjoyed it so much that he became a fourth-grade elementary school teacher; all the while continuing his own artistic journey.
The couple moved to Vero Beach in 2014 and, although Degnon had retired up north, he taught school here for a year before deciding to retire once again.
As teaching also seems to be in his blood, he continued instructing some watercolor classes on the side and will do so again.
He recently became reacquainted with the Vero Beach Art Club, where he will give one or two monthly Saturday workshops. He will also be a guest artist in July at Florida Art Chix, a gallery on Old Dixie.
Degnon often purchases frames at thrift stores, cleans them up, and makes his own mats, which can be time consuming because of the number of materials involved. And, as watercolor paintings have been traditionally put behind glass to protect the porous paper from the environment, the frames can be quite heavy. There is also the potential for condensation buildup.
“I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been to a show on a humid day where the sun is out and the condensation builds up behind the glass. And next thing you know, your mat has got water stains all around it. It’s terrible, it’s heartbreaking,” says Degnon.
As a result, Degnon plans to try his hand at a new method that eliminates the need for placing watercolors under glass. The process involves priming the wood, applying a fixative to the painting and gluing it onto wood.
“Then the final step, which I found fascinating, is a wax. It looks just like shortening, like Crisco or Vaseline. I’ve been watching videos of people doing this. They just literally put it on and rub it all around,” Degnon explains.
“And the more you rub it, the clearer it gets. And then you take a rag and rub off all the excess.
It’s like you’re waxing your car. And that’s it. The wax eventually dries, seals it and waterproofs it. And then you pop it in a frame like an oil painting. No mats,” he explains.
“Someone once wrote that artists do what they do because they simply can’t help themselves. And I just recently said to somebody if you want to get into the arts as an occupation where you’re making an income, don’t. Just do it because you have to do it or you love to do it and see what happens.”
Photos by Joshua Kodis
