Vincent van Gogh drew thousands of images to better his style. He believed that drawing was “the root of everything” and completed over 1,000 drawings from 1877 to 1890. There were periods when he wished to do nothing but draw. In addition he produced nearly 150 watercolors paintings during his life. Similar to his drawings, Van Gogh often did watercolors as studies before doing an oil painting or as practice. As he continued to refine his technique, he used more and brighter colors in his watercolors. Van Gogh did not begin painting until his late twenties, completing many of his best-known works during the last two years of his life.