Contemporary american realist painter James Michael Bonner received his formal training in art at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock primarily under the late Al Allen. Born in 1959 in Little Rock, Arkansas, James still considers himself to be a self-taught artist believing the process of trial and error to be essential for artistic development. Citing the painters Andrew and Jamie Wyeth as major influences of his art, James taught himself how to paint with egg tempera and drybrush watercolor eventually developing his own identifiable style. In addition, Jamie Wyeth’s proclivity for combining different mediums influenced him with incorporating acrylics, casein, and gouache into his own work