I failed the very first assignment
of my academic career . . .
On DAY ONE of kindergarten
I colored the balloons
instead of counting them.
The artistic itch was already that strong.
Undaunted by such inauspicious beginnings,
I went on to win a string of prestigious awards:
2nd Place, National Safety Poster Contest!
3rd Place, Local Pumpkin Carving Contest!
1st Place, Small Town Window Painting Competition
(against a bunch of kids roughly half my age, as it turned out.)
Naturally, such accolades kept the itch going,
so I went on to earn a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree
from a small college in the Midwest.
My real education, however, took place
during the 20 or 30 years
when I sat at my desk 50 or 60 hours a week
drawing whatever the telephone (ad agencies, mostly)
told me to draw.
Most Americans would have stumbled upon my work
at sometime during the 80's or 90's--
in restaurants and sporting goods stores,
at summer camps and public libraries,
from IBM to hospitals and book covers to billboards.
"I'm really famous," I used to tell my kids,
"just nobody knows it."
Three forces conspired to make me
the artist that I am today:
1) The joy of creating,
2) Clients with deadlines,
3) The threat of starvation.
I now spend most of my time as a “Fine Artist”
— which essentially means you don’t get paid for your work.
(Until it sells.)
I painted cityscapes for years, then I did mostly wedding paintings. Now I do a little of everything, with the addition of music and writing.
I nearly always paint with an audience, live or online— at
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCnI1OryOr_4oTSoTp05N4Vw
Everything else you can figure out by looking at my website.
Thanks for visiting!
P H O N E : 9 1 9 - 6 2 3 - 5 2 6 2
DanielNelsonArt@gmail.com
As of last count, there are approximately 2,018 works of art represented on this website.
W H Y S O M A N Y ?
1) Because I’ve been doing this a long time. I want my Mom to know I’ve been busy.
2) So if I get hit by a truck tomorrow, nobody can say “Too bad he didn’t do any artwork.”