18 Aug Color and Community: The Art of Jordan Ball

The first thing your eyes notice is the color. Greens and pinks rise to meet you, then blues, yellows, purples; a chorus of hues that dares you to look and keep looking. At first it’s the boldness. Then it’s the details. Every inch of space feels intentional. The work doesn’t ask for your attention. It makes you feel something. It makes you feel home.

That sense of comfort is the heartbeat behind the work of Jordan Ball, an artist from Wise, Virginia, who creates under the name J Ball. Though he didn’t fully grasp it at the time, the landscapes of his childhood planted early seeds of creativity. In college, he began reclaiming those roots, sketching the stories he’d lived and loved, pieces that reached for softness, safety, and identity. “A lot of us are just trying to find a way back to ourselves,” he says. “To hold something soft. To feel safe.” Those early seeds were shared with others, too. His younger brother has built four log homes on their grandfather’s land. 

Jordan’s work is rooted in resilience. His artistic journey took shape during a season of recovery after struggling with addiction. “I was lost,” he says. “I didn’t know who I was without the chaos.” One day, in the quiet of recovery, he picked up a pencil again. That stillness became a turning point. “Art gave me something to live for. Something to build.”

At first, he drew what he saw. He drew moments that felt familiar and grounded. His style emerged from memory and emotion, not training. What followed was entirely self-taught: bold lines, saturated color, and a sense of rhythm that moves through each piece. He paints from lived experience, using everything from cardboard to canvas to bring his vision to life. Whether it’s the curve of a back or the way light rests on a face, every detail is intentional. His art speaks gently but clearly. It represents the kind of love and connection that can be hard to find and even harder to keep.

Recognition came slowly and organically. A friend shared his work. A local coffee shop offered wall space. A stranger paused long enough to ask, “Who painted this?” One step at a time, his art found an audience.

A key moment came when Jordan was invited to a regional showcase through Round the Mountain. “That was the first time I felt like I belonged in a room full of artists,” he recalls. In that room, he found validation, community, and a shared belief that art can be more than personal. It can be transformative.

Today, Jordan Ball paints to inspire, to remember, and to give others what art gave him… a path forward. He encourages young artists to embrace their stories without shame. “Your past doesn’t disqualify your future,” he says. “Sometimes it’s the beginning of it.”

What began as an act of healing has become a gift to everyone who encounters it. Jordan’s art breathes. It creates space for joy, for memory, for softness. Each brushstroke carries a story of resilience, each scene a reminder that beauty can bloom even from brokenness. Through his work, he invites us to linger, to look closer, and to believe in the quiet strength of creation. In color, in community, and in the tender act of returning to oneself, Jordan Ball offers not just art; he offers belonging.