Van Gogh's Sturdy Lines

I love thinking about Van Gogh's decisions when he made his ink drawings and the paintings below. Which mark represents grass, what line will convey the olive tree, hundreds of decisions are evident in each work. Van Gogh made these paintings in Auvers, he began with extensive underdrawings in pencil and filled the sky with watercolor. The rest of the painting is similar to his ink drawings except that he worked with brush and oil paint.

Old vineyard with peasant woman, 1890, Vincent van Gogh, Brush in oil and watercolour, pencil on laid paper, 44 x 54 cm, Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam

Landscape with Cottages, Vincent van Gogh, Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam