Visconti makes beautiful pens in their factory in Florence and I especially like their Van Gogh range. Taking inspiration from some of the great artist's works, the natural resin pens accurately reproduce the bold shades used on his canvasses, giving a dazzling mix of colours. Altogether there are around 20 different pens based on 20 of his best known and colourful paintings.
I already have the Visconti which takes inspiration from
Sunflowers and have enjoyed using it regularly for the past 5 years or so. I also have a lovely rollerball inspired by
Pollard Willows, a lovely mix of different shades of brown with flecks of greens and reds.
So, as a Christmas treat, Lindsey surprised me with two more from the collection -
Red Vineyard and
Self Portrait. As I expected, the colours are stunning and the pens are - of course - a delight to write with.
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Red Vineyard, Self Portrait and my original Sunflowers |
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The engraving on the nib |
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The cap on Red Vineyard picks out the shades of brown and blue from the painting perfectly |
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Van Gogh's Red Vineyards near Arles, 1888 |
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Self Portrait, 1889 |
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Sunflowers (4th version), 1888 |