In 1960 and 1961, as Brown began to mature as an artist, she switched from painting abstract works to focusing more on figurative imagery. These paintings began to incorporate intense colors and dramatic lighting. The energy she brought into these paintings was through the use of large brush strokes and palette knives. She would also allow paint to drip randomly on various areas of the canvas. The imagery she portrayed helped set the tone that these paintings, such as "Portrait of Bob for Bingo" (1960), were very autobiographical and helped to represent important events and objects in her life. Her painting "The Sky Blew Up in Salinas" (1960) had many abstract shapes inspired by Peter Voulkos's ceramic works and Frank Lobdell's handling of paint.