thewaterreflectionhighlightsfrom
thesky.There’ssomuchgoingonin
thatskythatit makesyoureyewant
todanceallaround,enjoyingeach
quadrantofthepainting.That’swhat
I refertoas‘rhythm’ina workofart.”
Interestingly,Houstonhaspainted
morethanoneversionofthissky.
“WhenI havea greatskyphoto,I can
usuallygetthreeawesomepaintings
bychoosingdifferentformats—a
horizontalrectangle,a squareanda
verticalrectangle.”ThatThat CopperyCoppery GlowGlow
Thetall,slenderformatofFrom
Above(page38)wasactuallyinspired
bya bookmarktheartistmadefor
handoutsatartfestivals.“Ihaddone
a horizontalanda squarepainting
ofthisscene,”shesays,“andthenI
tooka long,thinphotoofonearea
fromoneofthosepaintingstocre-
atethebookmark.I realizedthatit
couldmakea reallyuniquevertical
skyscape,soI paintedone.It turned
outtobequitepopular.I’vepaintedit
severaltimesforcommissions.”
“Themagichour”is Houston’spre-
ferredtimetopaintoutside—inthe
morningatfirstlightorattheendof
theday.“Theeveningis myabsolute
favoritetime,”shesays.“Thelight
lastsa bitlongerandthecastshadows
arewarmer.Everythingtakesonthat
copperyglow.”Houstonexperimented
withdifferentsurfacestocreate
thatglowingeffectandeventually
wonderedwhatit wouldbeliketouse
realcopper.“Asa previousInnovation
Director,I wantedtoinnovateinthe
pastelmarketplaceandtrysomething
thathadn’tbeendonebefore,”she
says.“Noonewasworkingonmetal.
Copperprovidesa shimmering,cop-
peryglow,whichshowsthroughthe
pastelinplacesandonthebeveled
edges.It’salsoa hardsurfacethatI
cancarveintoandfloatmount,which
givesmemoreuniquecontemporary
framingoptions.”
Houstonprepareshercopper
surfacebyfirsthavingthemetalcut
tosize.Shethenbevelstheedgesand
sandsthesurfaceformore“grab,”
beforerollingona clearprimer—
eitherArtSpectrumColourfixPastel
PrimerorGolden’sPastelGround.this really helps me. My studio walls
and shelves are filled with these stud-
ies.” (See image below). These cloud
and sky studies inspire the artist
and, sometimes, when working from
photographs, she’ll refer to them for
the color temperatures and values of
various clouds. “Digital photos, I find,
tend to produce almost a fluorescent
yellow in the sunlit areas which is
not, of course, the actual color. Also,
when exposing for the sky, cameras
tend to darken the land below to near
black, so I’ll alter that and create more
interest and a good lead-in to the com-
position,” she explains. Exhilarated
(below) started with a dramatic
photo of the sky and overly darkened
land, but Houston developed her
own foreground. “I wanted to create
motion and some rhythm so I made
an entryway you can meander along,”
she says. “Then you might linger
around that tree standing in front ofArtistsNetwork.com 37