DONNA BALLMAN

Donna Ballman is a retired employee-side employment attorney who has used oil painting as a means to destress for the past 7 years. She claims it is better and cheaper than therapy. While she has always engaged in creative endeavors, it was her daughters who got her started in oil painting. She had always told them to live without regrets, and she mentioned that her one regret in life was when she had to choose between art and chorus in 9th grade. She has no regrets about choosing to sing, but she regretted giving up art classes, especially after winning her 8th grade art award. Her daughters bought her a package of classes at De Vita Academy in 2018, and she has been painting ever since.

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While she has not won any art awards since that 8th grade award, she has had three paintings selected for juried art exhibitions: Dragonfly Surprise was selected for exhibit in the 19th Annual Art Competition at Studio 18 in Pembroke Pines in 2024; Jurassic Parrot was selected for the Nova Southeastern University “Mirrored Realities” exhibition in the Cotilla Gallery in 2025; and Iguana’s Winter Fantasy was selected for the Galleria Mall’s Bloom exhibition in 2025.

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Donna loves to paint animals. She has created a series of animal fantasy paintings where she imagines what animals would prefer to be doing. She has also created a series of what she calls her “colorful paintings,” and which her art history major friends have called “neon primitive with maximalist tendencies,” meaning they don’t know what the heck to call them. She loves to use bright colors and beautiful settings similar to the Haitian paintings she enjoys collecting.