houston studied in paris with the french artists jules lefebvre and gustave boulanger at the julian academy. she also lived in italy for a short time. she married william c. houston, a boston businessman. after her marriage she took classes at the school of the museum of fine arts in boston where she took the classes of thomas dewing. dewing and houston would remain close for the remainder of her life. dewing painted a portrait of her which is currently on view at the smithsonian american art museum. dewing would later encourage houston and her husband to move to cornish, new hampshire, where dewing had a summer home. at this time cornish had a thriving art community which included augusutus saint-gaudens, george de forest brush, and charles platt, among others. houston had a summer home in cornish from 1891 to 1906. she was popular among the other members of the community, praised for her genial and kind personality. houston often painted portraits of other cornish residents.