Stripped and driven into the paint

Steve Hanks is the most famous American artist working in watercolor technique. The works of this master are incredibly realistic. The artist was born into a military family in San Diego in 1949. As a child, Steve spent a lot of time on the ocean coast.

"The ocean has always made a strong impression on me. Being alone with water has always been good for the soul: it doesn't matter if I swam or just touched the surface of the water — I always felt its mysterious power," Steve recalls. The mere description of ocean water by this man speaks of Hanks' subtle perception of the surrounding reality. The way he noticed and absorbed details that were inaccessible to others made him one of the outstanding creators of our time.

Steve graduated with honors from the Art Academy in San Francisco and in 1976 got a job as a decorator at Campfire Girl's camp. The artist experimented with different styles for a long time, tried to paint with oil paints, drew with pencil and acrylic. Over time, he managed to develop his own style, which the master himself calls "emotional realism".

At first, Hanks preferred to work with oil paints and achieved accuracy in his works with their help. A few years later, the artist discovered signs of an allergy to oil and stopped using this material. Gradually, Steve completely switched to watercolor and brought the technique of drawing with these paints to perfection.

Steve loves people. Not in the wooden sense, in which hundreds of essentially identical portraits come out from under the artist's brush. On the canvases of Steve Hanks, the heroes are surrounded by magic. In many ways, the artist achieves this effect due to the excellent use of lighting.

"Sunlight is one of my favorite "models". I admire how it penetrates through objects, how it fills the room with light. More often it turns out that my works speak about the sun more than about anything else," the artist admits.

Today, Steve Hanks is among the top ten American artists.

"I try to be responsible for what I create and paint pictures that have more positivity. I hope that my works bring the world comfort, pleasure and the opportunity to see a little bit of other people's lives."

In his works, Hanks prefers women. He himself says: "Women occupy a separate niche in my creative sensibility. There's a lot of magic in them."