54
WBM june 2019
“WHERE do I
want to go?
Somewhere
really warm in
the winter. Let’s
pick Key West. Got into galleries there.
OK, it’s really hot in the summer, where
can I go that’s cool? Oh, how about Cape
Cod. Rode up to Cape Cod, got into
galleries up there, got well known up
there,” he said. The travel came with a
learning curve because, with an almost
2,000-mile route, each art culture and
community has different styles and
tastes. But Rooney took it in stride, stay-ing
true to style, but figuring out what
types of things would sell and where. He
was even featured on the cover of Cape
Cod Magazine. “Which,” he says “is pretty
good for someone who says y’all.”
While his is an exciting life, he asserts it
isn’t always one filled with sunshine and
palm trees. Most days are spent fighting
the weather and the sun, most weeks
are spent working every single day. He
rarely takes a full day off, and he has
spent hours in his car riding up and down
a concrete interstate chasing a good
coastal scene.
“If I ever had a retrospective, it would
be called my life on Highway 95,” he said.
“I made my living on 95.”
But Rooney didn’t want to do anything
else. He’d often take the good with bad.
Painting outside was his niche; he cut
his teeth there, spending nearly doz-ens
of years painting on street corners
and oceanfronts every single day. He
was never in the studio, and even had
a bunch of jokes for artists who only
painted in-studio. Although he’s recently
found an unexpected joy of painting in
his studio, his work still carries his distinct
and unmistakable voice, channeling the
dreamlike style of the great outdoors he
has developed.
He has also brought his painting
experience, techniques and knowl-edge
outside the studio and into the