Mick Rooney RA - A6 Art on a Ukulele Print

'The Matelots Tale'

Medium: Oil on wood

Ukulele: Tenor Boat Paddle

printed on Giclée Hahnemühle German Etching

Mick Rooney RA (British, b.1944) studied at Sutton School of Art from 1959 to 1962, Wimbledon School of Art from 1962 to 1964, and subsequently at the Royal College of Art, London from 1964 to 1967. Here he was awarded the Austin Abbey Major Scholarship to study at the British School of Rome from 1967 to 1968, where he was commissioned by the Franciscan Order to create a wall mosaic for a new Basilica in Nazareth, Israel. Between 1968 and 1982 he taught part-time at various art colleges. He is a member of Royal Academy and presently resides in W.Oxfordshire.

Artist statement:

'Auntie Mary's mandoline

A small gessoed harp but to the flames

Perfumed wood-a Spanish guitar, my first,

a dark shop in Madrid.

Skiffle music with banjo and tea chest bass

Trad jazz guitar badly played

More guitars through pop and folk

A sepia postcard of uke strumming man

A banjolele man not the same

The end of the pier. The trenches of World War One

Palm tree dusky Maiden caressing Uke

Now the finesse of The UOGB

And painted ukulele masterpieces played.'