The phrase “Scottish Colourist” might have been invented to describe John Houston. Strictly speaking, he belonged to a later generation than the classic figures of that school of painters, but right from the beginning his canvases were irradiated by the strong and vibrant colours of typical Scottish painting at the beginning of the century, and his colours were always the first thing that came to mind when his name was mentioned.

Houston was born in 1930 in Buckhaven, Fife, a fact generally emphasised in his biographies, and indeed significant in that the coastal landscapes of his childhood influenced his subject matter and the way he handled it in paint throughout his career. His father was a haulier, contractor and horse dealer and Houston, as a boy, rode at Musselburgh races. At Buckhaven High School he excelled at football and won an under-21 international cap playing for Scotland against England. He went on to play for Dundee United as a part-time professional until a knee injury ended his career.

There never seems to have been any doubt that he was going to become a professional painter, and no one was surprised when, on leaving school, he entered Edinburgh College of Art at the age of 18. He was a bright and enthusiastic student, and stayed there until 1954. The attachment to the institution ran deep, and after a few months travelling in Italy, he returned to join the staff in 1955, and the following year he was married to the painter Elizabeth Blackadder, a fellow student during his studies there. Her still-lifes, especially of flowers, have become highly collectable and she was appointed Her Majesty’s Painter and Limner in Scotland in 2000 and DBE in 2003.

As a teacher Houston was dedicated and well liked: he became deputy head of the School of Painting and Drawing (his friend from student days, David Michie, was head), and held the position until he retired in 1989. But he was equally dedicated as a painter. In 1957 he helped to found the 57 Gallery in Edinburgh, where he had his first solo show the following year.

While still at art school he had developed something approaching his characteristic style, and though inevitably there was some evolution through the years, his work always remained obviously consistent and immediately recognisable.

He was best known for his landscapes inspired by the East Coast of Scotland, and especially the Bass Rock in the Firth of Forth, a recurrent theme in a way which somewhat recalls, and was possibly inspired by, Monet’s paintings depicting Rouen Cathedral or a group of grain stacks at different times of day and in different weather conditions. As well as these coastal landscapes, he also painted brilliant and often tempestuous flower pieces, and the occasional portrait: his portrait of Sir Alexander Gibson is in the Scottish National Portrait Gallery.

His dazzling colours marked him out as, in the more general sense, a Scottish Colourist, and he never objected, unlike some of his contemporaries, to the theory that Scottish painters of this persuasion adopted their colours in perhaps unconscious reaction to the granite grimness of their northern surroundings. However, in Houston’s case there may well have been other, non-Scottish influences in play.

The artist he was most frequently compared to was Emil Nolde, and it would seem that at some time quite early in his career he became aware of the classic German Expressionists. Max Beckmann and Matisse were other influences. On the other hand, he always came over as a natural painter, working directly out of his own emotional responses, so the Expressionist element may have arisen simply from the workings of his own temperament. His sea and sky compositions are not only rich in colour but in the texture of the paint, sensual and bordering on abstraction.

Houston and his wife lived in Edinburgh but they travelled a good deal; frequently to Italy and Venice in particular, and France and Japan. Both were prolific in their output. In 1969 Houston was artist in residence at the Prairie School, Wisconsin, where the wide-open landscape undoubtedly influenced his approach to composition.

Houston was honoured in his own lifetime. He won the Guthrie Award at the Royal Scottish Academy in 1964, the Cargill prize at the Royal Glasgow Institute of Fine Arts in 1965 and the Sir William Gillies Prize. He was elected to the Royal Scottish Academy in 1972, and appointed OBE in 1990. He exhibited regularly, particularly in Edinburgh and London (most especially at the late-lamented Mercury Gallery in Cork Street), and was accorded a retrospective, to mark his 75th birthday, at the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, Edinburgh, in 2005.

Other works by him are on display in Aberdeen, Glasgow, Kirkcaldy, Dundee and Perth. While he is best known for landscape painting, he began to concentrate more on the human figure in his later work.

On occasion, Houston could be bearish and candid, but also affable and always encouraging to his students. He held honorary doctorates at Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh, and Aberdeen University.

He is survived by his wife, Elizabeth Blackadder.

John Houston, OBE, painter and teacher, was born on April 1, 1930. He died on September 27, 2008, aged 78