Since 1970, Craig Nelson has been depicting portraits, figures, landscapes, California coastal paintings, and European tableaux in rich, vibrant oils. His passion for his subjects relates directly to his brush work, weaving mood and emotion into each work of art.
With a career spanning nearly 50 years, Craig has won over 200 awards of excellence in various shows, five gold medals and four silver medals. In 1996, a painting of his was chosen for the Communication Arts annual cover. Craig participates in the national Arts for the Parks competition and has been selected in the top 100 exhibitors each year. In 1997 his painting “Dining Alone” won the Grand Teton Natural History Association Award and toured the United States for a year.
Craig Nelson exhibits work in fine art galleries throughout the United States, including California; Santa Fe, New Mexico and Charleston, South Carolina. Craig has completed commissions for clients in Germany, Italy, Holland, Canada, Japan, Taiwan and Austria, and remains dedicated to a prolific practice at home. Given that Craig Nelson’s career began in Los Angeles, the likes of Universal Pictures, Columbia Pictures, Disney and others have commissioned him to create countless movie posters, including “Garbage Pail Kids”, “Slap Shot”, “Dirty Harry”, “John Wayne and the Cowboys”, “Homeward Bound”, “Alive” and “Moscow on the Hudson”, just to name a few.
Working also with publishers, Craig has created several book covers, including “Evergreen”, “Eden Burning”, and the Nancy Drew series. The most prestigious works are the Broadway production posters for Neil Simon’s “Lost in Yonkers”, and “ Proposal”, the originals of which remain in Neil Simon’s personal collection.
Album covers for Capitol Records, Sony and MGM are also among Craig’s accomplishments for artists including Natalie Cole, Neil Diamond, Rick Nelson, Sammy Davis Jr., Loretta Lynn, and Motorhead
Permanent collections include:
The US Air Force Toyota Corporation Walt Disney Studios Sony Music University of California Los Angeles University of California San Francisco Neil Simon James Garner Warner Brothers Inc, Columbia Pictures
Craig has been teaching drawing and painting at a college level for over 40 years. Since 1990, Craig has been sharing his expertise with the students of the Academy of Art University in San Francisco as the Executive Director of the School of Fine Art, Undergraduate and Graduate schools.
In addition to teaching, Craig is a member of Oil Painters of America, American Society of Portrait Artists and a signature member of the California Art Club. Craig’s book entitled “Sixty Minutes to Better Painting” published by North Light available through amazon.com. His second book, “The Drawing Bible” is now on book shelves throughout the country.