About

About my Art

About Karen Ball, Artist. Based in Perth Australia. Photograph by Studio Noah, www.studionoah.com.auSince retiring and moving to Australia I have been inspired by the landscape, and the vivid colours all around me. I love the deep blue sky and crystal clear turquoise sea, the colour of the sand and richness in the red soils found in the Kimberley and Pilbara. The clarity of the colours never cease to amaze me how they run through the landscape and change from area to area.

About me

I was born and educated in the home counties of England and whilst I had a huge interest in art at school, I was unable to expand on this until coming to Australia in 2005.

On leaving school I worked as a gentleman’s hairdresser for a few years and then moved to London in the early eighties. I spent the next twelve years in recruitment for the Royal Institute of British Architects, placing Architects and technical staff in offices all over the UK and abroad. During the downturn in the economy I moved to the RIBA’s trading company and spent the next twelve years as the Administration Manager on various technical publications.

I wanted to use my interest in art during this period but unfortunately, bills have to be paid. So I studied specialist decorating at evening class, this included wood graining and marbling. I successfully completed many projects during my study time. Amongst my projects were a major high street cosmetic retailer, a hairdressing salon, a film directors home, a health club in Kensington and an Indian restaurant in Covent Garden. I also renovated several of my properties in London and Hertfordshire. In 2005 moved to Perth Western Australia and renovated our current home.

I decided I needed a change of direction and took up a different kind of painting. I have gone from painting walls to painting on canvas. As an Artist I have been exploring lots of different techniques including acrylic, watercolour, pastels, drawing in charcoal and pencil, and encaustics, but I have chosen oils as my preferred medium.

Please have a look at my gallery. I hope you enjoy my paintings as much as I enjoyed creating them. I have so many ideas I want to put on canvas, you will notice I can’t stick to one style or theme – this should keep me interested and occupied for the rest of my life.

Karen