Brendan Kelly was born in Edinburgh in 1970. Studied at Camberwell College of Art 88-89 (Foundation) and then at The Slade in London 89-93 (BA Hons Fine Art). He has won a number of National Art Awards, including various prizes in the BP Portrait Award and the de Lazlo Award for the best portrait by a young artist at the Royal Society of Portrait Painters. Brendan spent time in Afghanistan in 2006 as a war artist and has more recently been commissioned to paint a portrait of General Sir Mike Jackson for the National Portrait Gallery.