Coming In?

I knew I would paint this scene as soon as I laid eyes on it. I was hiking along the Yampa River in Steamboat Springs, CO when I came across these two young men. They were vigorously arguing with each other over who would go in first. I guess the water was pretty cold.
The decision of greatest import was what value to paint the figures. They were at that indecisive, in between shade that could go either way. I decided to assign them to the dark values catching only bits of light. I felt it would give the painting more structure.