It was certainly his devotion to vivid color, and its intimacy with emotion, that inspired Hood to create an homage to Henri Matisse. Throughout her prolific career, Hood created several homages to the fathers of Modernism such as Arshile Gorky, Constantin Brancusi and the ceramicist Peter Voulkos, however, the indebtedness to Matisse feels more relevant to her best work. With his frenetic color combinations, spatial ambiguity, fluidity of motion, and an instinctive understanding of the relationship between color and the senses, Matisse proved an obvious visual mentor for Hood. Just as the decline of Fauvism did not derail the career of Matisse, by this time, Hood found herself in the delightful position of a painter whose career took off after the popularity of Abstract Expressionism had waned. Moreover, both artists, as they matured, found an economy of shape and simplicity of line that relied more than ever on the emotive power of color. Here, amorphous forms collide, emitting glowing blue halos, swimming through a pool of green. This juxtaposition of red and blue, hot and cool, sensual and pure, is one that Hood returned to many times throughout her career with marvelous results.