About

Donna Ham, Tulsa, OK

Donna Ham is an artist located in Tulsa, Oklahoma creating abstract, mixed media and still life paintings. She is also an avid amateur photographer and enjoys writing poetry.

Her compositions exhibit splashes of bold, luxurious color. Each canvas is filled with rich flavors and textures inspired by her love of nature. The brilliant colors and dynamic themes endeavor to evoke an emotional response in all who view her paintings.

“I paint with my heart open and seek to touch another human being’s soul with a new idea, a new possibility, a new hope…to bring joy or comfort into their heart.” One of Donna’s favorite quotes is by Emily Dickenson, “Hope is the thing with feathers, that perches in the soul, and sings the tune without words, and never stops at all.”

Almost every painting in her collection evolves from a spiritual theme. “I pray before I begin a painting. It’s just something I began to do a long time ago. As I pray, ideas emerge, and I just start to paint. It’s always a delightful mystery to me the depth of meaning that can emit from one of my paintings. I can‘t explain how a painting can mean so many different things. One viewer may see something totally opposite of what I was thinking when I was painting, but that is what’s so wonderful AND personal about each painting.”

Whether Donna is immersed in creating an abstract painting with bold colors on deeply textured canvases or involved in the intricacies of a still life painting, she inserts her own passion for the process of creating that means
something deeper than herself. She exudes the joy of painting.

Donna has searched the web as a source of learning from many talented artists. She has taken courses from famed portrait artist Mark Carder and classically trained artist Daniel Edmondson. Her favorite teacher of all time,
however, was a high school teacher in Houston, and she derived her encouragement and determination to succeed from her father.

Donna began her love affair with art at a young age. She still has most of the drawings and paintings that she created while at school in Dallas and Houston. She dreamed of majoring in art in high school and furthering her art
education in college. That was not to be, however, that never swayed her from her self-studies of many art forms including drawing, watercolor, batik, embroidery, crewel and quilt making. Her expertise in layout and design led her
to work on major advertising and design campaigns for an international aerospace company and non profit agency. She has designed many websites, ads, flyers and newsletters. However, her first love is painting.

The freedom to express herself is one of the most important part of the creative process for Donna. “When I paint, I get paint everywhere. I even saw a splatter on the ceiling the other day. Kind of a departure from the little girl who wouldn’t color outside the lines. Sweet freedom from restrictions in order to create anything I want!”

My favorite quote:
"Hope is the thing with feathers, that
perches in the soul, and sings the tune
without words, and never stops at all.”
- Emily Dickenson