As a contemporary landscape painter working in oils and encaustics, Houck aspires to capture not only the scene, but also the moment and mood, relying on her study of the classical principles of directly observing color, light and form in nature.
She has studied with contemporary realist painters at the Atelier of Classical Realism in San Francisco with David Hardy, the Academy of Fine Art in Seattle with Anthony Ryder and most recently, in France, at the L’Ecole Albert Defois with Ted Seth Jacobs. Houck studied en plein air with John Cosby, Kevin MacPherson, Don Demers and Kim English.
Houck’s landscapes reflect the influence of these artists as she hones her classical technique of painting in numerous transparent layers in order to recreate the subtle play of light on the scene. Her desire to capture the essence of the landscape is evolving into compositions dissolving into only the barest, most minimal components – the sky, horizon and land.
