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During the Invitational Canaveral Paint Out I recently gave a Demo titled "Values Are Valuable".     Each Paint Out is a little different than other Paint Outs but this was one was extremely different this year, as we had an unexpected visitor - Matthew, as in Hurricane Matthew! While presenting my demo I knew this was my last day here even though we had another three days to go, Matthew was headed directly for us.  As I painted I wondered if this view would ever be as beautiful as it is now or would the trees be down and the cabana blown away or worse?  It's amazing how the joy of painting supersedes any feeling of anxiety cased by life's worries.  While teaching, I didn't think about Matthew and had a wonderful time explaining and showing the importance of creating a value study, mixing up paints in those same values and showing how to apply it to the canvas.  Thankfully Matthew is gone leaving us with not as much damage as expected but lots of clean up needed and we were left with wonderful memories, photos, and paintings.  One of the reasons I enjoy plein air painting is because it's a fabulous way to document scenes that may someday no longer exist.  Thankfully the Gala is being rescheduled and we all look forward to reuniting with stories to share.

   The brave ones watching my demo knowing Matthew is on the way.

  Buena Vista Park, NSB, where the demo was held.  Hope it survived Hurricane Matthew.

  First I created a value study in grey paint in my sketch book. Then I transferred it to canvas.

  Next I mixed up paint families in the same values that are in my value study.  I tested tiny spots of paint on my value study to make sure it matched the values. 

    I then blocked in the colors.

   Someone shot my art and put it in a grey scale photo.  You can see how my values match my value study.

  Here's the finished painting with details added, but keeping the values!