Palette / colors

The colors Van Gogh used, his palette, differs greatly between the early period in the Netherlands and work from France years later. The palette from his Dutch period often described with words as "dark", "dreary" etc.
Some say his works were so dark because he often felt melancholy.

There are practically no bright colors used in his Drenthe paintings. One might think this was because of his lack of paint in Drenthe. In many letters he describes the very bad condition of his tools, the brushes and the paint. Some excerpts from letters clearly state this.

Just after arrival in Drenthe, letter 388[323]:

"I have taken only a very few colours with me, but nevertheless some........"
"As soon as I have more colours, I shall begin that excursion......."

In letter 390[325], September 17, 1883:

"My money is almost gone, and strictly speaking I had hoped to be able to lay in a small stock of colours......"
"When I came here, I had with me a number of half-used tubes and a few new ones, just enough for about six studies, but certainly no more."

It might also well be that there were no bright colors in the subjects Vincent painted.
Things as flowers are not seen in his Drenthe work. Beside flowers there are not much bright colors in the landscapes of Drenthe in 1883.
As Vincent wrote to Theo (in March 1884 after he had left Drenthe), complaining about Theo's lack of interest in trying to sell Vincent's paintings:

"So what am I to make of what you say about my work - say, the studies from Drenthe. Some of them are very superficial, and I said as much myself. But why do I get chided for those painted out of doors, quietly, calmly and simply, in which I was trying to express nothing but what I saw?
What I get is: aren't you to obsessed with Michel? (I am referring here to the study of the cottage in the twilight, and to the largest of the sod huts, namely the one with the small green field in the foreground.)

Comparing the colors of the known Drenthe paintings with "Cottage with sticks" can only be done by direct comparision in real.
The lighting circumstances, angle of view etc. all have their influence on the colors seen.
It is well known that colors seen on computer screens (always) differ from reality. Comparision of reproductions/fotos to analyse the color can only be done in broad terms.
For those reasons we've visited the Van Gogh Museum to check the Drenthe work and colors in real. Of course we couldn't take "Cottage with sticks" with us for direct comparision, although it might be funny to see what would happen.
From memory we couldn't find differences between the known work and our painting.

Despite the computer screen and reproduction limitations let's compare colors of known work with colors from "Cottage with sticks". Just to get an idea in broad terms.
(I did not do any color correction on the pictures from the known Drenthe paintings nor on "Cottage with sticks").

What to conclude from the above, regarding the colors/palette?

Cottage with sticks & Vincent van Gogh - by Carl & Ans 2003-2005.

A painters box

Cottage with sticks

Please keep in mind when comparing these pictures that the foto of "Cottage with sticks" is taken by me, an amateur.
Also the painting is never cleaned nor restored.