Artist Bio

Dean Wilhite was born in Olton, Texas. He works in acrylics and watercolors. Light and shadow are Wilhite’s great love. Getting the shadow detail right is the key to a successful painting. And the perfect highlight can be magic.

Dean studied graphic design at OSU Okmulgee. He has worked as a graphic designer in studios and ad agencies, doing photo retouching, illustration, production art, and logo design. Wilhite has been published in national design journals and books and has worked across a wide range of design disciplines.

From childhood to life as an adult, he has looked for images that make him pause and reflect on events from his life. A shadow that crossed the old farm road he traveled down on his granddad’s farm, or the window shade on the house next door casting its long afternoon shadow on the siding boards, reaching the viewer with his memories, and taking them on a journey back in time to their own is the goal.

The illustrative work Dean produces as the senior art director at Ackerman McQueen Advertising Agency for the award-winning BancFirst television campaign, featuring small towns in Oklahoma, are examples of the bold color palette that is ever-present in his work.

Piece Description

Dean generally works from a photograph and follows a very regimented process to achieve his look, using pencil on canvas, then painting the background.

His Renaissance-style portrait of the Triple-A was taken from a photo captured with the valve on a workbench with the tools that brought it to life, and a single light source was used to create a beautiful painting.

“The general concept for this, not to be too arrogant, is Rembrandt meets the AAA valve,” Dean says. “I tried to light it in the same fashion as the early Dutch masters lit their paintings, one light source, very dramatic, lots of darks, and just a little sparkle of highlights.

“My work is usually pretty flat until I bring back the highlights. That’s what brings it to life. I just try to capture all the subtle details. Everything in this picture casts light on something else. Capturing reflections is what I like to get into. I like to ask the question, ‘How does one thing affect another?’”