“Art for me is a way of sharing an appreciation for our world. Giving viewers a chance to contemplate and maybe be thankful for what is often ignored in everyday life. Art is a means to better understand the world around us and to express the values and attitudes that are important to the artist, our society, and our culture.”
Largely a self-taught watercolor artist, J.D. Titzel, has drawn and painted since high school. He began his college career as an art major at Wittenberg University but found he couldn’t connect with the largely popular abstract movement. He changed majors and graduated first in his class of around 450 pilots from the aeronautical science program at Miami Dade College, continuing to paint and draw on the side.
When he paints in watercolor, Titzel builds color slowly in very thin layers of paint. Some areas are 2-3 layers while others are attained in 10 or more layers. This gives the painting more nuances and depth than a single color can achieve. The average watercolor painting takes seventy hours to complete. However, he has taken close to 300 hours to complete a single painting.
Titzel’s work has been exhibited both regionally and nationally, from the Hudson Valley Art Association, and the New England Watercolor Society National Show, to the Chautauqua Exhibition of American Art National Show, where he won the Arthur Harless Award. Additionally his work can be found in private and corporate collections across the US and internationally. He holds a Bachelor of Arts from Wittenberg University and an Associate of Science in aeronautical science from Miami Dade College.