James' paintings are finalists in a portrait prize with a twist

So when the Aberglasslyn resident discovered the Bald Archy Prize, a portrait competition for satirical art, it was a match made in heaven.

Mr Brennan has entered the prize every year since 2004, and has won the competition four times in 2008, 2009, 2017 and 2018.

This year he has three paintings which have been named finalists in the prize, of Matildas star Sam Kerr, champion golfer Cameron Smith and Australian cricket captain Pat Cummins.

His portrait of Pat Cummins Like taking Ashes from a Baby, which depicts Cummins holding the ashes, looming over English cricketer Jonny Bairstow and presenter Piers Morgan as they 'spit the dummy', has garnered some international attention.

Mr Morgan saw the painting, and posted "I may have to buy this to stop some cocky Aussie putting it on their loo wall," on X (formerly Twitter) on February 4.

Mr Brennan said he is drawn to the Bald Archy Prize because of the style of art it promotes.

"I've always loved that style of art, as a kid I loved cartoons and comic strips in the newspaper, and I loved doing caricatures as a kid, and when I saw that there's a competition about it I thought I'd love to go in it and throw my hat in the ring," he said.

A big sports fan, Mr Brennan's portrait entries often feature sporting stars, but not always.

In 2008 his winning painting was of the Danish royal family, in 2009 it was of horse trainer Bart Cummings, in 2017 it was of cricketer David Warner, and in 2018 it was of comedian Anh Do.

Mr Brennan, whose paintings are acryllic on canvas, is primarily self-taught. When coming up with inspiration for the Bald Archy, he said each painting starts with a funny idea.

"Sometimes the idea just jumps out at you in your head from nowhere, and other times you might be painting something and you go no, it's not working and you change midstream, so I guess initially you just come up with an idea that you think is funny, and then you put the pieces together how it might work," he said.

He began working on the entries in November, and submitted them in January.

The Bald Archy Prize is currently on display in Canberra, and the winner will be announced mid-March.