Stephen T. Hanks Art

I will soon begin teaching three classes this fall 2023 semester at the Holiday Park Senior Center (HPSC). All three start next week (9/11-12) and continue through December (12/11-12).

To register for these art classes, send an email to holidayparkseniors@gmail.com with your name, the class you want, and your phone number. Then, follow-up in a postal letter with the payment ($150) for any of them. Send it to the attention of Judy Housknecht at Holiday Park Senior Center, 3950 Ferrara Drive, Wheaton, MD 20906. Their phone is (240) 777-4999 in case you have questions.

The three class choices are:

• Watercolor – Mondays 10am to noon – in-person at HPSC, 15 weeks
• Watercolor – Tuesdays 10am to noon – virtual on ZOOM, 15 weeks
• Drawing and Watercolor combined – Tuesdays 1pm to 3pm – hybrid of in-person at HPSC and virtual on ZOOM, 15 weeks

I had most of the summer off and neglected doing any artwork. Instead, I got my estate documents in order. The following is a step-by-step portrait demo that I did in the spring for my watercolor class.

I apologize for not updating this blog since last summer. This past week, I finished teaching three HPSC classes for the spring 2023 semester. One more class continues through June 28. So now I have most of the rest of the summer off. Back to teaching more classes in the second week of September. In July I will post here details and registration instructions for those classes once I know more. I have done some more artwork over the past year. Here are a few examples.

I’ve been working hard this summer doing a complete photo inventory of my own artwork (over 500 pieces) and collected in a database (with name, size, media, image and physical location, price, and search keywords). The originals are all mounted, shrink-wrapped, and stored in my studio. Before summer’s end, I plan to add my framed artwork to this inventory.

In addition, since September 2020, I have collected 1400+ images of new artwork done by my students in pandemic-inspired Holiday Park Senior Center (HPSC) virtual classes. And now, I have uploaded them for viewing on my Flickr website. The “Student Artwork” button at the top of this page will take you there if you want to see more. Look for the last two years of “HPSC student artwork” albums. Their artwork is really spectacular.

I will be teaching 3 new classes starting in September and encouraging more wonderful artwork.

I finished my Holiday Park classes in late June and am not teaching new classes until they start again September 19 & 20, 2022. In the interim, I am working at improving/editing this website, doing an extensive inventory of all of my artwork, and uploading a lot of old and new artwork (both mine and my students) to this website and my FLICKR repository of art images. My nephew Sam is helping me do the re-design of these pages. He helped me many years ago design the first one and, though he’s a busy guy, he’s graciously helping me again. Any comments or suggestions for this re-design are welcome.

All are ZOOM classes through the Holiday Park Senior Center. Monday and Tuesday mornings (10-noon) are watercolor classes. Tuesday afternoon (noon to 3pm) is a drawing class.

If you are interested in these classes, see the HPSC website for more information at http://holidaypark.us/about.php. You can also call them at 240-777-4999

I continue to do new artwork as demos for these classes with a few examples shown below. You can find many more new and old examples of my artwork (and my students artwork) on my Flickr site.

I’ve been busy folks doing another painting. This one was a commissioned painting for a friend/neighbor Barbara. She wanted a picture of her two granddaughters and their Dad, combined with their love of zip-lining. So she gave me a photo of the two girls, another photo of the Dad, and I researched pictures online for pictures of helmets and zip-line gear. I put them all together for this painting called Barbara’s Girls.

I’d also like to announce that I will start teaching a ZOOM Watercolor class at Holiday Park Senior Center on Tuesdays, starting 9/22, for ten weeks, from 10am to 12:30pm. This will definitely be an challenge as I will be the moderator… my first time (AUGH!). Plus trying to critique artwork and give demos thru a camera should also be interesting. This is a new world.

Well, I’ve done another pandemic painting. It took me three weeks because it was very complicated and detailed. I’ve also been dealing with shoulder surgery recovery and dog health problems (now largely resolved). The Pipers come from a photo I took at Fort Frederick, MD a few years ago. The background is derived from Internet images of Beacon Street in Boston in a composite with the pipers. The picture is called the Beacon Street Pipers. Whatdaya think? Stay well everyone.

Now June 17, I added falling snow to the Snowday with the Kids drawing (see below). The enhanced drawing just below is called Snowday Making Tracks.

In addition, I just yesterday finished a new painting called Alexandria Clown. It is derived from two photos I took while wandering many years ago in Alexandria VA. The clown allowed me to take one photo, and then asked me for money for more (I used the first photo). The house behind him is from another picture of a white house with peeling paint and nice colored window shutters and door. I also liked the variety of colors and patterns of bricks.

On June 6th, I finished a drawing, my second of the pandemic lock-down, along with five new watercolor paintings done since February (see all of them by scrolling down in this blog). So despite me climbing the walls and losing hair, I am being productive. This drawing is especially poignant for me because it shows how I spend a large part of my life, walking my two sweet dogs.

Let’s start with the bad news today June 1st. I’ve talked to the folks at Holiday Park Senior Center where I teach, and they have told me that their plan for new classes starting in July is unlikely. I know my students have missed the classes, and so have I. No Waca Waca for a while. Sob !

The good news is that I continue to be productive doing my own artwork. If you scroll down in this blog, you will see the five new paintings and one new drawing that I have done in the past three months. Just below, is the newest painting in my series of animal pictures named after comedy teams and people. This one is called Seinfeld. It’s 16″ x 24″ and a watercolor. Hope you like it.