Letter 01/21/1882 - by Vincent van Gogh

As far as the size of the drawings is concerned or the various subjects, I will gladly pay attention to what Mr. Tersteeg or Mauve have to say. I have recently started on some large ones, because I must at all costs overcome the dryness of last summer's studies. And Mauve said, last night, although he obviously also had criticisms, "It is beginning to be a watercolor." Well, if 1 have gained that much, then I figure I have wasted neither time nor money. And now that have endeavored to try out the brush techniques and the strength of the colors on a larger scale, I can turn my hand to smaller ones again. As a matter of fact, I have two small ones in hand already, but because I had problems with them and partly sponged them out again, I have started a very large one, of which I am sending you a small sketch.