Who the heck is Alan Deacon?

Hi, I'm Alan Deacon! I’m an artist from Clarence, New York, but I didn’t start out as an artist.

I started in construction. From the age of 18, I worked with my hands, building, fixing, creating. It was honest, physical work, and it gave me purpose. 

In 1989, my wife and I bought a horse farm. What began as simply caring for a few horses in need slowly became something much bigger. We couldn’t turn away animals that needed help. It wasn’t in us to do so. Over time, rescuing horses became our life’s work. In 2009, it officially became a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, it opened doors. It allowed us to raise funds and expand, giving more horses a second chance at life

Then, in 2005, I was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis.

MS slowly took the physical strength I had relied on my entire life. By 2012, I was using a wheelchair full-time. In 2021, I moved into assisted living. The life I once knew, the building, the farm work, the physical independence, had changed in ways I never imagined.

I didn’t know what to do with myself. I had the itch to build and create... but how could someone who's essentially paralyzed from the neck down do anything?

In April 2022, something changed. I picked up a paintbrush for the first time. 

Not with my hands, but with a custom hat my son made for me, and an easel built specifically for my wheelchair by a close friend. They believed I could still create, even when my body said otherwise.

And they were right.

Since that day, I’ve painted over 500 watercolor paintings. Every piece is more than color on paper, it’s proof that purpose doesn’t disappear just because circumstances change. It adapts. It finds another way.

Today, I paint to support our horse rescue. The same mission that has guided my family for decades now continues through every brushstroke.

My motto is simple:

“I will while I can.”

And as long as I can, I will keep painting. For the horses. For the second chances. And for the reminder that even when life changes, purpose remains.