WhirligigFestival.org

Artist In Residence for the NC Whirligig Festival

Dan Nelson

One of the highlights of the NC Whirligig Festival each year is watching the amazing Dan Nelson create three large paintings, Live.

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America's Foremost Live-Event Painter

If you combine three parts painter, two and a half parts musician, a pound or two of inventor, and a heaping tablespoon of show-off . . . you just might come up with a Dan Nelson, Art Adventurer Extraordinaire.

Dan made his living for decades as a freelance illustrator, perfecting his technique in pen and ink (Just look it up in YouTube), watercolor, airbrush, and all the traditional illustration mediums.

Late in this artistic journey he picked up oil painting and discovered that what he reallyliked was painting  in a tux . . . with TWO HANDS! . . . and an AUDIENCE! 

He now does paintings up to 8 by 10- feet tall across the United States-- at Festivals, Fundraisers, Weddings, and Corporate Functions. Yep! Mostof the time in a tux.

And ALL of the time with TWO HANDS.

Feel free to stop by and chat while he paints. The only thing he likes better than painting people is painting withpeople.

He involves participants by asking them to help pick colors and textures, and might even have you grab a brush and help! 

Several Nelson' paintings are often for sale after the festival.