An award-winning painter of landscapes and figures, often depicting middle and lower class people from his southern background and other personal experiences, Dean Mitchell is inspired by grizzled laborers, time-worn elderly faces, and persons like himself who have lived in a segregated environment. His career hit an upswing 2002 when art critic Michael Kimmelman wrote in "The New York Times" that Mitchell was 'a virtual modern-day Vermeer'.

Dean Mitchell grew up in his birth place of Quincy, Florida, a tobacco growing town. His mother, Hazel, was unmarried and worked as a dietician, and he was basically raised by his grandmother who encouraged his art talent and who bought him paints from the time he was a child. Although his mother was hesitant about supporting his talent at first, she has become his biggest fan.

He got his formal art training at the Columbus College of Art and Design in Ohio, and then worked as an illustrator in Kansas City for Hallmark Cards but quit to get back to "real art."

Returning to his home town, he was encouraged and supported by a local gallery owner who offered him representation, which in those days was difficult for African Americans. As he was getting established he spent much time alone, dedicating himself to his painting.  Soon he started to enter his work in the nation’s most competitive exhibitions in order to get the recognition his talents deserved. 

In 1990, Dean Mitchell began to win these competitions, first being the only recognized black artist in the Hubbard Exhibit. In 1997, he won eleven major national awards, and in 1999, he won the grand prize for Arts for the Parks juried competition with his painting "French Quarter Coachman". That same year he won the gold medal in the Annual International Exhibition of the American Watercolor Society. 

With those achievements, Dean Mitchell got many offers for gallery representation and also for having his work made into limited editions prints. He works on up to 20 paintings at once and uses both sketches and photographs for reference. One of his working mottos came from a gallery owner who told him: "paint from your heart and don't listen to critics." Mitchells responds that "Every painting with spirit finds a home". 

Mitchell is now considered one of America's greatest watercolorists and exhibits in the nation’s most prestigious museum invitationals including the Prix de West in Oklahoma City and the Autry National Center’s Masters of the American West.  He has also had numerous solo exhibitions at art museums throughout the United States.