Within months of arriving in Sydney in 1835, Conrad Martens became a frequent traveller, in search of picturesque subject matter and new patrons. He made regular visits to the outer limits of settlement, illustrating the unique features of the Australian bush. His most important clients were landowners willing to pay for pictures of their properties. 

Brush scene Brisbane Water was painted in 1848, and offered as a raffle prize. It appears to have been created from a number of drawings he made in Brisbane Water in 1835. By the late 1840s most of Martens clients had been seriously affected by the financial crash of the mid-1840s, and were no longer commissioning works from him. This painting was an attempt by Martens to look to other ways of promoting his work.