Many more failures
Vincent van Gogh to Theo van Gogh, from The Hague, c. 2 March 1883
I shall have to put up with many more failures, for I believe that in watercolor much depends on a great dexterity and quickness of touch. One must work in it before it is dry to get harmony, and one hasn't much time for reflection then. So the principal thing is not finishing each one separately, no, one must put down those twenty or thirty heads rapidly, one after the other.
Here follow a few curious sayings about water colors: "There is something devilish about the watercolor"; and the other is by Whistler, who said, "Yes, I did that in two hours, but I studied for years to be able to accomplish this in two hours."
Letter 270
Translation courtesy of Robert Harrison.
Back to The Way of Vincent: Making art no matter what
I shall have to put up with many more failures, for I believe that in watercolor much depends on a great dexterity and quickness of touch. One must work in it before it is dry to get harmony, and one hasn't much time for reflection then. So the principal thing is not finishing each one separately, no, one must put down those twenty or thirty heads rapidly, one after the other.
Here follow a few curious sayings about water colors: "There is something devilish about the watercolor"; and the other is by Whistler, who said, "Yes, I did that in two hours, but I studied for years to be able to accomplish this in two hours."
Letter 270
Translation courtesy of Robert Harrison.
Back to The Way of Vincent: Making art no matter what
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