Besides being a serious decoy dealer and avid collector, Homer Ballard is avid outdoorsman, hunter and fisherman. In his retirement, the unassuming Ballard is also a self-taught folk artist who works part-time in his garage woodshop crafting stylized shore and migratory birds as well as handsome fish decoys. His work is sought out internationally, yet still reasonably priced. Homer has works displayed in galleries throughout the USA and his carvings have even found a home in an elegant apartment overlooking the Seine River in Paris.

Homer lists His influences as: nature via hunting/fishing experiences in the upper Chesapeake Bay of Maryland & Delaware, the flora and wildlife of Virginia's rivers & the Chesapeake Bay and North Carolina Outer Banks. Although of the traditional coastal Virginia School of carving, his original style is also similar to the Coastal North Carolina School of carving blending them into his own individual signature style.