Over the course of his life, Vincent van Gogh wrote approximately 900 letters of which several hundreds were to his brother Theo. Here he is writing to Theo from The Hague in early August 1883.

I love the way Calvino’s beautiful novel Invisible Cities starts. Marco Polo telling the great Khan of the cities he visited, sharing the objects he collected from the conquered empire, and of hearing languages unknown to him.

Having found John F. Carlson and his Carlson’s Guide to Landscape Painting, I thought to apply my own understanding of what this very storied artist and teacher has advised.