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  • Dawn Crothers



    Dawn Crothers is one of the few lucky artists to hit the ground running in the early days of her career. With her first solo exhibition in October 2008 being such a massive 'sell-out' success, she's quickly established herself as a household name in Northern Ireland. In fact, as Dawn's popularity has...

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  • Ailsa Friel
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  • Brian Ballard
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  • Gavin Lavelle
  • Eddie Millar
  • Carl Newman
  • Dawn Crothers
  • Lisa Ballard
  • Simeon Stafford
  • Stephen Whalley

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Born inĀ Belfast, Brian Ballard trained firstly at the College of Art, Belfast and then at the College of Art, Liverpool. He still lives in Belfast but spends long periods of time livingĀ and working in his house on the remote and rugged island of Inishfree, off the coast of Donegal.


Brian Ballard enjoys painting and is constantly inspired by his response to the ordinary things, such as a vase of flowers, an old iron, a figure, a landscape, a model in his studio. He tends to work in intense bursts of creativity; surges of self-expression that often punctuate periods of restless inactivity. Once started, he may paint the same subject several times, a change of light, of weather, another viewpoint, a difference of scale or proportion of canvas being sufficient to prompt another exploration of the theme. The landscapes he paints are often harsh and untamed such as those off the coast of Donegal or Kerry. He paints the same scenes repeatedly in order to gain the confidence to express its many moods in paint. These landscapes are painted 'en plein air', in front of the subject.

Ballard prefers those moments when the sun infused the landscape with colour and chiaroscuro.

Ballard is a rich colourist and is interested in the contrasting colours and textures in simple subjects. Painting directly onto the canvas with vigorous brushstrokes, he uses bold slashes of rich colour across a solid and heavily laden with fluid paint in which the bristles always leave their mark of speed and pressure, they are subject to a structural order, as well as a pictorial depth.


He strives for balance in his work and his struggle is always centred on a concern to create a subtle harmony of colour and form, a search for the 'structure of a painting' and a desire to entice and lead the eye where he wants it to go.

Brian Ballard handles a paintbrush with confidence and a sense of purpose, suppressing details in order to capture an object in bold, decisive strokes. Ballard is concerned with the essence he sees in things. His subjects are always comfortable recognisable, but his strokes with courage and audacity; for this is his way.treatment of them is invariably painterly and not an alternative to a photograph. He admires artists like Bonnard, Matisse, Picasso, who painted in hardarch for the 'structure of a painting' and a desire to entice and lead the eye where he wants it to go.

Some Collections

Ulster Museum

Crawford Municipal Gallery, Cork

An Comhairle Ealaion

Arts Council of Northern Ireland

Great Southern Hotels

Haverty Trust

AIB

Saltzburg Seminar

National Trust

Ulster Television

Belfast Education and Library Board

Royal Bank of Scotland

Waterford Wedgwood plc

Conrad International Hotel

Irish Intercontinental BankU2

  • Irises with Iron
    Oil on Canvas

    By Brian Ballard
    Original £3,950.00
    Status: For Sale

A little about us

The Whalley fine art framing has evolved out of a love and passion for Art and Design. As creative thinkers we constantly strive to change the way we do business everyday and grow the Group over the coming years. Please feel free to contact us with any questions you have about how we can help or advise you.

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