Romana A. Rainey was born in Rohatyn, Ukraine in 1940. Rainey lived in New York City from 1949 until 1995 when she retired from teaching art after 30 years and moved to Nantucket Island. Her lifelong interest in watercolors has made her a consummate practitioner of the medium.

Rainey has participated in group and solo exhibitions in galleries in Nantucket, New York City, upstate New York and Staten Island. She was awarded by the Artists Association of Nantucket in 2001 and in 2007 for outstanding work in watercolor. Her work is part of the permanent collection of the Artists Association of Nantucket, and is found among private collections across North America and Europe.