Born and raised in Tempe, Arizona, Nelson studied to be an architect earning a degree from Arizona State University. After practicing for 15 years, during which time he owned a successful firm and won numerous awards, Nelson made the pivotal decision to leave the field in 1980 to pursue his dream of becoming a full-time artist.
Nelson credits his life-long love of both art and math with his dual-career path of architecture and fine art. His mother, a painter herself, was his earliest influence. As a teenager in the “psychedelic ‘60s”, the only art posters his mother allowed Nelson to hang in his bedroom where those he painted himself.
One of Nelson’s goals was to paint full time, however, he knew he would have to sell some works to justify his time. He got his art represented by several Scottsdale galleries by showing his work door-to-door. Within two weeks, two of his paintings sold. Since then, some of the leading galleries in the U.S. have sought to represent his work, recognizing his unique combination of incredible detail and big, bold and graphic images.
