Capturing effects quickly, espe-
cially during plein air painting, helps
train the artist’s mark-making to
be more spontaneous and naturally
responsive. Fresh, descriptive strokes
invigorate Cottonwood in Cow Field (at
right), a painting accomplished in just
the 30 minutes Houston had avail-
able before one of her sons’ soccer
games. “It was just one of those days,”
she recalls. “The way the light was
hitting those trees and the glowing
clouds overhead, it felt like George
Inness was painting right beside me.
I was enchanted!” Later in the studio,
Houston created Cottonwood Cow
Pasture (page 40) derived from her
study and photos. “I felt like it needed
more depth,” she says, “so I made up
the foreground with the dark cast
shadow that encourages the eye to
go into the middle ground, where the
story of the painting happens—the
large tree casting a shadow on the
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