There is a poetic feeling in this work, where the woman is consumed by her labour (carrying a faggot of wood across the open fields) enveloped by the wintery conditions. Often Brian's work in chalk allows a blurring of detail which contributes to the atmospheric effect. Brian seems to have been inspired by the artist Jean Francois Millet. He had a small book on Millet which illustrates many images connected with his interest in the plight of the peasant workforce in the rural community in the mid 19th century.