John Houston - Scottish Painter

Yesterday I heard the sad news that John Houston passed away a few days ago. He was one of Scotland’s best known Landscape Painters, having forged a career over fifty years and developed a confident style and a huge preoccupation with the Scottish Landscape that saw him exhibit nationally and internationally. He was my Fourth Year Lecturer at Edinburgh College of Art, and definitely one of the best lecturers I encountered during my time there. He was one of the old guard of painters, along with David Michie (son of Ann Redpath), who had certainly found their own voice when it came to painting. He was always quite forthright about his opinions and although I didn’t always entirely agree with him, I always respected what he had to say.

In the years after Art College, after leaving Edinburgh and moving to Glasgow, I used to see him at Glasgow Print Studio where he would come through to make prints, quite often accompanied by his wife Elizabeth Blackadder. They were a very unassuming couple despite the success they had achieved between them, and John still liked to give me words of advice along the lines of “Stick with the painting” which I waywardly chose to ignore at that point in my life.

There are certain people whose star shines brightly while they are on this planet and maybe we take their brightness for granted while it burns. I am thinking of another artist of my own age group, Paul Carter, who died recently and who also taught at Edinburgh College of Art. Both these men have given much to the Scottish art scene through their artwork and their influence. Ironically, maybe it is only when these stars have gone out that we really realise the light from which we have all benefited.

Rest In Peace.