In his career of over thirty years, Stevens has forged a reputation as one of America's leading realist painters. His style is contemporary realism--rooted in classical training, yet boldly expressing modernity through his use of paint and his penetrating eye. Stevens is unique among his contemporaries for his exceptional achievements in three domains of representational art: portraiture, landscapes and figurative urban landscapes. He frequently works on commission, and many of the commissioned paintings are on a grand scale for public and private spaces.

Stevens has painted the portraits of luminaries and leaders in the fields of education, business, medicine, law, science, philanthropy and politics, including Virginia's Governor Mark Warner; Dan and Lou Jordan, President of Monticello; Albert H. Small, and Frank Batten, Sr. He has reproduced numerous historical portraits for the White House, U.S. Department of State, U.S. House of Representatives, National Portrait Gallery, and Monticello. Stevens completed a historical portrait of the Eight Presidents from Virginia for the University of Virginia, along with a portrait of Thomas Jefferson for the Darden School, University of Virginia.