Ballinger was born and raised in Gloucestershire, where he trained first as a draughtsman and engineer at Gloucester College, before taking classes at the Stroud School of Art.  In Gloucestershire he was an art projects teacher and also a founder member of the Co-Optic Studios near Stroud. In 1999 he came to live in Cornwall, since which time he has exhibited widely in the USA and London, at RA Summer Exhibitions and with the NSA locally, of which Society he is an elected member.

Richard lives in Mousehole, and in 2010 he was an art tutor on a Baltic cruise ship with colleague Jesse Leroy SMITH. The tutorial assignment enabled visits to northern museums and galleries along the way, notably in Oslo where he viewed Munch's recently returned The Scream. 

His exhibition, 'The Man Who Fell to Earth', was on show on the Ramp Wall of The Exchange, Penzance until 31 December, 2010. His work, Improvisation, is mentioned in Ruhrmund's review of the 2011 NSA show, 'Uncharted Landscapes', at the Mariners Chapel, St Ives.

 In early 2012 he was part of a four-artist collaboration TAap-Chuan Xin with Sam BASSETT, Jesse Leroy SMITH and Chris PRIEST, exhibiting at Cornwall Contempory, Queens Square, Penzance.

Two of Ballinger's constructions were due to be installed at Goonhilly Earth Station in 2016.