Mary Weatherford’s large paintings include spontaneously sponged paint backgrounds on huge linen canvases, often topped by one or more neatly shaped and positioned coloured neon tubes. The canvas is made using flashe paint, a highly pigmented yet rapidly diluted emulsion that allows for astonishingly varied colour applications. White gesso mixed with marble dust was used to prepare the canvas. The surface of the paint might be smooth and matte, or transparent and translucent. The density of the canvas varies, reading as artistic continuity at moments; at others, it changes colour from edge to edge; and at yet others, it has clusters of marks set in sparse surrounds.
Weatherford draws inspiration from the California environment, transforming its brilliant and dark colours, tangled flora, and battered shoreline kissed by the shifting sea into expressively painted abstract and realistic landscapes, asserting that her paintings are about mortality. She use these environments to explore form, space, and colour, as well as to act as a trigger for deep sentiments and transcendental experiences. She paints on canvas and occasionally incorporates shells, neon tubing, and starfish into her works.