Art is like angling-
both are metaphorical activities,
born of the need
to make the invisible visible,
to give tangible form
to the subsurface shadows
in the "lake/canvas"
of the subconscious.

At the age of 14, he enrolled in oil painting classes after his parents and teachers noted that he had the natural ability to draw.  By the time he was a high school senior, he'd already completed a variety of commissioned artworks and had won a national student art contest.

After graduating from Goshen College with a Bachelor of Arts Degree, Brent turned his attention to commercial art and graphic design. In 1980 he opened up his own Graphic Design firm near Washington DC.  Nelson created and designed a wide range of print media for government agencies, associations and corporations.  In 1983, Brent worked closely with NASA's graphic designers on logo development and positioning for the space shuttle Discovery.

Brent is an avid skier and musician. In the late 70's he joined the Canaan Valley Ski Patrol and also sang and played guitar and 5 string banjo in the Late Harvest Band, a contemporary bluegrass band which toured though out the Mid-Atlantic states.

In 1985, he married Kathy Gigliotti and on their honeymoon in Italy, he picked up a brush, easel and paper and began to paint watercolors.  It wasn't until 2006 that he got serious about his painting endeavors and studied watercolor under his mentor Sterling Edwards. Other watercolorists that have greatly influenced his loose and free style are Nicholas Simmons, Zoltan Szabo, John Lovett and Arnold Lowery. 

Brent currently resides in Columbia, Maryland with Kathy, and a son Hunter who is and aeronautical engineering student at the University of Maryland.

Nelson is also a United States Coast Guard Licensed Captain and guides for Ken Penrod's Life Outdoors Unlimited. Brent shepherds clients on both the Tidal Potomac River and Deep Creek Lake in Western Maryland  pursuing both largemouth and smallmouth bass.