[Drawing didn't always come easy.] He struggled with black and white, ... But when he got to Arles in 1888, he discovered the reed pen, and it was then he developed a more comfortable relationship with his tool. As reed wears down, it becomes softer, more flexible and responsive to his gestures on paper.

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Drawings have always been the P.S. part of van Gogh's work, ... Yet he was a letter writer, a guy with a pen in his hand.

157

He struggled with black and white. But when he got to Arles in 1888, he discovered the reed pen, and it was then he developed a more comfortable relationship with his tool. As reed wears down, it becomes softer, more flexible and responsive to his gestures on paper.

132