Undersea #2 (1956) comes from one of the more than 200 sketchbooks that Betty Parsons filled with gouache drawings over the course of her career, at her studio on Long Island and travels around the world. Composed in layers of gouache applied with varying degrees of saturation, it reflects a number of paint handling methods. Biomorphic shapes in gold and black are surrounded by a sea of blue, which ranges from thin and fluid at top right to opaque along the bottom edge. In a further activation of the compositional surface, Parsons used the back of her paintbrush to etch into the wet pigment. The sketchbook was Parsons’ constant companion and a fundamental part of her artmaking practice. As art historian Lisa Peters has observed, it “provided a forum for Parsons to work out her visual ideas, reflect on her experiences, summon memories, and capture emotions.”