in 1919 mudie-cooke came to the attention of the women's work sub-committee of the newly formed imperial war museum which acquired a number of her paintings for its fledgling collection. this purchase included her most famous picture, "in an ambulance:a vad lighting a cigarette for a patient". in 1920 the british red cross commissioned her to return to france to record the activities of the voluntary aid detachment units who were still providing care and relief there. her paintings from this visit include examples of war damage, the shattered landscapes of the former battlefields and women tending graves in a cemetery. she worked mostly in watercolours, painting in a fluid style but often with a somewhat murky palette of colours.