Michael de Bono is a contemporary realist oil painter working in the tradition of the Italian and Northern Renaissance. Michael is fascinated by the Flemish Masters and Carrvaggisti whose work inspired him to begin painting in 1997. Michael’s compositions are crafted with meticulous attention to detail and with an oil technique which creates very elusive yet vivid light effects. Michael’s paintings have been selected by the Royal Academy of Art in London in four of its summer exhibitions, a rare accomplishment. In 2009 Michael was awarded two prizes by the Worshipful Company of Lynn Painter Stainers for his painting titled ‘Natural Philosophy’. He is the first artist to have received a dual prize in the history of the award. In 2013 Michael was presented at the Mall galleries with the RBA Arts Trust Award. Michael has also exhibited his paintings with many eminent institutions including the Royal Society of Portrait Painters, the Royal Institute of Oil Painters, the Royal British Artists and the Royal West of England Academy.

Art has been a journey which has lasted all my life, but which took on a new importance when I moved to Wales in the late 1970s. Since that move, I have worked mainly outdoors, initially on local farms then eventually further afield around Gwynedd and Anglesey. I am aware of the complex pattern hidden in my surroundings and have been lucky enough to see parts of Wales not many people have access to; the far corners of fields, lost little lanes, into farmyards and into peoples’ lives. I know the cold, I know drenching rain, I know summer heat, I know weather, I know the seasons, I know the light, I know the trees, I know what stone looks and feels like, I know the countryside and the lay of the land.