Forney-based artist Geoffrey Houghton was awarded Best in Show for his original acrylic painting Evermore at the National Accordion Association Conference Juried Art Show, held Saturday, March 21, 2026, at the Townplace Suites by Marriott in Forney, Texas. The show was sponsored and organized by the Forney Arts Council, with the award selected by juror Mark Gates.
The 30″x24″ painting, done in Golden Open Acrylics, features an elongated female figure riding a penny-farthing bicycle through a rolling Texas landscape. The work is characteristic of Houghton’s “Steamfolk” style – whimsical figurative painting influenced by Amedeo Modigliani, set in story-driven worlds that feel equal parts nostalgic and invented.
The painting comes with a fictional backstory rooted in real musical history. Evermore follows Eleanor Dahl, a character inspired by a real Canadian accordion player born in 1938 in Wadena, Saskatchewan, who performed accordion and bass fiddle with the band Smilin’ Johnnie and his Prairie Pals. The band’s most notable achievement was becoming the first entertainers to tour north of the Arctic Circle in 1963. In Houghton’s telling, Eleanor slips away from the band in the fall of 1962 for a solitary bicycle ride through Texas before the Arctic tour – looking for silence, but finding instead a raven on her handlebars cawing out melodies she’d never heard before. The story gets at the idea that music isn’t something you leave behind – it finds you again and again, evermore.
“I started the painting about a month ago without knowing the National Accordion Association conference was coming to Forney,” said Houghton. “When I found out, I shaped the story around the music theme – and it all just clicked.”
Houghton is a self-taught artist who creates and sells original acrylic paintings under the Wistful World brand. His work has been shown in juried exhibitions across the Dallas–Fort Worth area and beyond, including the Visual Arts Guild of Frisco’s Crème de la Crème exhibition and the 2025 Stars of Texas Juried Art Show in Brownwood, TX. He works primarily in acrylic, building detailed scenes with his characteristic elongated figures.
Other award winners at the show included Mary Ellen Gonsiorek (Cowboy Polka, Best Theme), Linda Custer (Let’s Play Some Music!, Most Creative Presentation), and Paul Taylor III (All Blues, Viewer’s Choice).
About Wistful World
Wistful World is the creative studio of Geoffrey Houghton, based in Forney, Texas. The studio focuses on original acrylic and watercolor paintings in a narrative figurative style – artwork built around characters, stories, and invented histories.
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Geoffrey Houghton
Wistful World
Email: Geoff@WistfulWorld.com
Website: WistfulWorld.com