Before his death, Bettison was increasingly known for bold, colorful paintings that combined a neo-expressionist sensibility with aspects of abstract formalism. Extremely experimental in his art, he painted on a number of different surfaces, including canvas, paper, burlap, and terry cloth; he brought intensely kinetic, assertive, and intentionally primitive qualities to his paintings. As a neo-expressionist artist, he sought to translate the urgency of the creative act itself, emotional sincerity taking precedence over the refinement of images. As a result, his work has a shamanistic quality; his images, carry the power of unanalyzed and unrefined archetypes.

A restless, relentlessly experimental, dedicated painter, James Bettison’s life and work were flaming arcs of brilliant activity, Zen-like in their qualities of creativity and destruction. In 1991, six years before his death, Bettison lost his home and most of his artwork in a fire.

In 1992, his work was represented in Fresh Visions, New Voices: Emerging African American Artists in Texas, an exhibition at the Glassell School of Art, Museum of Fine Art (Houston).

On December 1, 1998, James Bettison was honored for his artistic contributions with four other Houston African-American artists whose lives had been cut short by AIDS. This honor was part of the 10th Annual Day Without Art/World AIDS Day ceremonies in Houston.