Harold Roney was born in Sullivan, Illinois in 1899. His artistic training began at the Chicago Art Academy and was followed by training at Art Institute of Chicago. After working for a period as an art teacher in South Bend, Illinois, he moved to Houston in 1925, and moved again after three years to the Boerne hill country outside San Antonio.
Although most of his life was spent in Texas, the state that he is closest identified with, he did spend several years during the 1930s training in New Hope, Pennsylvania with John Folinsbee and Harry Leith Ross. He received further training from two Texas painters, Harry A. deYoung and Paul Schuman.
He was a landscape painter of some note, and never failed to enjoy painting the Texas landscape. A colorist of note, he primarily painted in oil with brush or palette knife. He was also known as "The Cloud Master."
In 1958, he began teaching at the Froman School of Art, in Cloudcroft, New Mexico, where he continued teaching until 1978.
He exhibited at the Southern States Art League, the Connecticut Academy of the Fine Arts, Phillips Mill in New Hope, PA, and the New Orleans Art Association. He also was the subject of several one-man shows.
His work is in the collection of the Witte Museum; the Austin, Texas Public Library; the Panhandle Plains Museum in Canyon, Texas; the South Bend, Illinois Public Schools; the Southwest Texas State Teachers College and the Austin Art League.
He died in 1986 from the devastating effects of Alzheimers disease.
