Notice how Bill fools the cameraman in the beginning of this clip. But he recovers and gets to the right trees just in time for you to see how Bill highlights them.
Bill has not painted on this section of the canvas for quite a while so the paint has dried (“tacked up”) just a bit. How do we know this? Did Bill thin the yellow paint he uses? Nope.
Also notice that the base layer of those trees is very thin. There is not a lot of paint on the canvas. Those trees are a lot like the base mountain layer before Bill applies his snow highlights.
By keeping this layer thin (and allowing it to “tack up” a bit), Bill gets the yellow paint to “pull” off the 1″ brush.
One final point! Notice how Bill lets the yellow paint “dirty up” as it approaches the bottom of the trees. This is how it would appear in nature, right? Bright on the top where the sun hits the leaves, but darker as you move down into the shadows.
GOOD TIP