In this painting I tried to make the figures blend in with the landscape giving the piece some level of realism. Try not to make the figures so powerful that they separate from the surrounding landscape. keep the edges and values soft and close and the painting will be successful. It is important to keep the details in the background only suggestive of trees or this area will over power the figures.
Run a wash of raw sienna with a touch of cobalt violet for the sky bring this all of the way through the trees and then using the side of a round brush lay in some olive green and burnt sienna for the indication of trees. It you need to lift some of the color that has run over the figures.
With a very textural mindset paint the foreground. I used a round brush with burnt sienna, olive green, ultramarine blue and lots of scraping and splatter this area is overgrown with weeds so cover the bottom of the figures.
Paint the distant rocks with a blue grey and scrape a few highlights. Paint the figures I used red for one a cerulean blue for the other I immediately painted their pants with the intention of having the shirts and paints merge. I don’t want a hard edge, this is not a fashion show. Taper the legs to a narrow mark at the bottom and lighten the value with a paper towel.
Put in a few dark accents and darken the clothing on the figures, leaving a little bit of light on the left side.
Put in some indications for the trees with a very narrow brush and remember to keep these areas really low keyed and not too dark.