Richard Balash, artist and portrait painter, still-life painter and landscape painter, has experienced a lifelong and abiding drive to paint and draw, which is unabated by the passage of time.

Richard's earliest 'art' memories are of creating a wall length mural of the Resurrection, drawn for the Sisters of Charity in the second grade at St. James Parochial school in his home town of Bay City, Michigan.

Untutored drawing continued through the elementary and secondary school years; a Masters Degree in Studio Art, from Central Michigan University, added formal training to those early, self-developed, skills.

The first few years of painting resulted in numerous regional awards in Michigan for large studio compositions and figurative paintings. After attending several National Portrait Seminars, in NYC with John Howard Sanden, the late seventies, he became focused on the art of portraiture.

In Houston, a ten year friendship with the late, renowned portrait painter, J. Anthony Wills, whose thousand-plus portraits included three official Presidential portraits (Truman, Eisenhower and Nixon) helped to hone and sharpen his eye and hand in the are of portrait painting. Workshops with Burton Silverman and Jose Perez further enhanced his abilities.

Many years and hundreds of portrait commissions later, Richard continues to quietly deliver portrait paintings to his clients, who come to him from across the country: Alabama, Illinois, Louisiana Michigan, Mississippi, Tennessee, and Texas. The oft-repeated reason that patrons give for choosing Richard Balash to be their portrait painter is that, after extensive looking and diligent searching, it was apparent to them that he was the right artist.

From his studio in Pflugerville, Texas (on the western edge of Houston) he currently delivers portraits to clients in Colorado, Texas, Tennessee, Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi.

Representation includes:

Meredith Long and Company, Houston,Texas
Portrait Brokers of America, Birmingham, Alabama
The Portrait Source, Hendersonville, North Carolina

In the Memphis area, he is represented by Frances Montgomery (901) 761-1053