Garden in Saint Denis 1980

Betty Parsons made this painting, Garden in Saint Denis, with oil on canvas, and I'm imagining her, brush in hand, totally vibing in her studio. The canvas is covered in these bold, gestural marks – electric blues, earthy browns, vibrant greens. It's like she's capturing the raw energy of nature, not just what it looks like, but what it feels like, you know? I can almost feel the texture of the paint, thick in some spots, thin in others, building up a topography of feeling, and I wonder what it might have been like to be in her head while she made this. I'm reminded of other painters like Joan Mitchell and Lee Krasner who were pushing boundaries in their own way. You can see how they're all in conversation, riffing off each other's ideas and paving the way for new ways of seeing. To me, paintings like this are about process, intuition, and embracing the unexpected.