Brian works primarily in egg tempera, an ancient painting medium in which raw powdered pigments are mixed with water and the yolk of an egg. The paint is then applied to gesso-coated panels or watercolor paper in thin translucent layers. The nearly instantaneous drying of the paint facilitates multiple washes of color while making other techniques, like the blending of colors on the painting surface, more problematic. It is perhaps for this reason that the egg tempera medium has had comparatively few practitioners since the introduction of oil paints in the sixteenth century.
Egg tempera is especially suited to fine detail work, however, and has a luminous quality to the finished painting that is entirely unique. In addition, egg tempera paintings are noted for their durability. The surface of the painting hardens as it ages, the colors are not prone to fading, nor is the painting surface covered with a layer of varnish that darkens over time.
