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Mike Rooney

Mike Rooney

Mike Rooney is one of Eastern North Carolina's top impressionist painters. His work can be seen in galleries throughout eastern North Carolina and Virginia, and can also be found in private collections as far away as Colorado and New York. Mike teaches several workshops a year, and has studied with renowned plein air painters John Silver and Rick McClure. He primarily works in acrylics, which are well-suited to his fast-paced lifestyle, painting mostly near the coast. Mike can recall an early interest in art, beginning with drawing and painting as a child — a passion that has continued all of his life. A native of Alexandria, VA, he studied art at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, before joining the armed forces. The Air Force brought him to eastern North Carolina in 1977, and after three years and a tour in Korea, he opened a sign business in Goldsboro, NC. Though he made his living with a brush painting signs, his fine art interests took a backseat to building a business and raising a family. Mike rediscovered his passion for painting after seeing California style impressionism in one of his surfing magazines. He was instantly hooked. His previous style had been tight and realistic, but what he saw in the surf magazines left more to the viewers imagination. Details were left out, and it was loose and exciting to look at. So Mike picked up some oil colors, a canvas and a few books on plein air painting. In one of those books it said: "To become a proficient plein air painter you should try to block-in one hundred paintings in less than 3 months, even if they can't be finished." Mike did the hundred "starts" as they are called, and ever since then he just can't seem to shake the habit, even now creating over 150 finished paintings in a year! Quotations / Artist Statements: "I love to paint. I love to capture the essence of a three dimensional scene in two dimensions. It's my passion." - Mike Rooney

About How To Use Color to Create Form in Oils Part 2
Artist Mike Rooney explains how to use color values to create the illusion of form. For intermedi...
About Adjusting Shapes in Oils

In this Free Art Lesson, taken from his "How to Block in a Painting" DVD, Mike Rooney shows yo...

About An Easy Way To Bracket Values Before Painting

In this insightful free art lesson, professional artist Mike Rooney will demonstrate how to br...

About Basic Palette Skills in Oils

Join professional plein air painter Mike Rooney for an exciting Free Video Art Lesson on basic...

About Beauport Easel in Plein Air

Join professional plein air painter Mike Rooney for an exciting Free Video Art Lesson tutorial...

About Color 101 in Oils - Color Theory of Warm and Cool Colors

Quick guide to Color 101 in Oils - Understanding the colors and differences between warm color...

About Color Charts in Oils

Join professional plein air painter Mike Rooney for an exciting Free Video Art Lesson demonstr...

About Create a Palm Tree in Oils

Join professional plein air painter Mike Rooney for an exciting Free Video Art Lesson on how t...

About Describing A Sphere in Oils

Plein Air Painter Mike Rooney shows you how to describe a sphere on a canvas using values.

About Focal Points in OIls

Join professional plein air painter Mike Rooney for an exciting Free Video Art Lesson on devel...