“I knew it the minute I hit the ground,” Metrogen said. “The doctor hit my bottom and I asked ‘where’s my paints.’”

Despite this auspicious beginning, Metrogen did not get serious about his craft until the Air Force stationed him in Hawaii when he was 35 years old. It was there that he had the opportunity to begin a long period of study with John Pike, a renowned watercolorist, and a hero of Metrogen’s. Pike had built his reputation as an illustrator, having his artwork published in Reader’s Digest, Life, Colliers and True magazines.

Metrogen, following his hero’s lead, has been passing on the art of watercolors, teaching the painting technique off and on since 1967. Having started with oil and acrylic paintings, Metrogen exchanged those media for watercolors, finding this painting process more challenging.

“Everyone starts out with oils or acrylics,” he said. “With watercolors, you can’t make mistakes. It’s almost like giving up art to become a watercolorist. It’s a mechanical process. A lot of people don’t understand that.”

Watercolor painting is more about timing, Metrogen said, and using the tools of watercoloring, such as paper and brushes, the right way.

Metrogen continues teaching at the Arts and Design Society building in Fort Walton Beach. He tells his students art is art, and “if you can paint flowers, you can paint horses.”

He also tries to pass on the belief that paintings should be done with feeling more than being aesthetically correct. Metrogen points out that even a painting of something old and discarded can be appealing.

“Don’t paint pretty pictures,” he tells his students, “learn to paint beautifully.”

For Metrogen, his preferred subject is whatever his current painting is.

“My favorite is what I’m working on at the time,” he said. “I work on it until I’m sick of it.”

Often Metrogen, unsatisfied with a finished painting, turns over the paper and paints a second piece on the back. To the art patron, both are sought-after works of art. Collectors hold many of his paintings and word of mouth brings other patrons to him. His work even hangs in the Old Sarum Museum in England. Now though, he paints more for his students and himself.

At the age of 75, Metrogen still rises at 3 a.m. to paint, sometimes painting all day. It is the love of his craft and not fame that keeps him going.

“At the age of 75 success is like giving a toothless old dog a steak to chew on,” he said. “I do it for fun, I don’t do it for money. I would love to have back some of my paintings.”

Metrogen, a resident of Destin, teaches adult watercolor classes at the ADSO building at 17 First Street on the first and third Thursdays of each month from 9 a.m. until noon. For additional information, contact the ADSO office at (850) 244-1271.