Desmond graduated in Fine Art from the University of Newcastle in 1990 and went on to complete an MA in Fine Art at the Royal College of Art London.
He has gone on to establish himself as an artist exhibiting and selling work across the UK.

He has won numerous awards including the British Institute Foundation award, Royal Institute of Oil Painters / Windsor and Newton award, Young Artist Award, Ondaatje Prize for Portraiture and the National Portrait Gallery BP Portrait Award- selected finalist.

Desmond is also a member of the Royal Society of Painters and has exhibited widely at events including the National Print Exhibition, Mall Galleries, the Peter McMillen Gallery, Cambridge, the Royal Watercolour Society Annual Open, Bankside Gallery, the Sunday Times Watercolour Exhibition National Print Exhibition, Mall Galleries, and the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition.