Balfour-Browne specialised in the painting of sporting subjects set in dramatic Scottish landscapes. He lived mainly in Dumfriesshire and was a keen deer-stalker for many years. There is a tale, quite possibly apocryphal, that he and his contemporary Archibald Thorburn (1860-1935) made an agreement that Balfour-Browne would not paint birds if Thorburn agreed not to paint deer.