first snow

Panel Paintings

Houston approaches material as a catalyst to composition. She carefully selects torrefied maple panels that evoke the image to be captured. Working in a series or group creates studies from the small studies creates a larger image(s), editing and making amendments. The grain and movement of the torrefied* wood informs the painting; gesso + pigments, archival inks + graphite along with the ‘painted colour’ of the warm amber of the maple creates the composition and colouring. At once the land blends with the sky and the sky with the land, for Houston a lyrical approach to capturing the essence of place.

*Torrefication is a drying process that stabilizes wood, removing moisture + leaving warm tones + smokey scent, a material of choice for musical instruments. It is entirely organic, non toxic and inherently stable.