Documentary to chronicle artist, linellism

A Sharonville artist who discovered a form of painting that uses only vertical lines is the subject of a documentary to be released in 2016.

Jim (J.C.) Hall calls the painting technique he discovered 15 years ago linellism. It was that art form and Hall’s compelling life story that spurred the interest of director Steve Oldfield and producer Jim Hampton.

They are creating a documentary titled “Lines of Sight,” about the artist and painting technique in which shapes are created and scenes come to life using only vertical paint strokes.

The art

So how does Hall do it?

Using acrylic paints and a canvas, he tapes off a grid, with a matching one on the photo he’s painting.

Even the grids are drawn using vertical lines.

He begins with background and larger shapes, then working in more intricate strokes and lighter colors to establish details and depth.

Each stroke is a pendulum slice, with a precise mixture of paint and water. The lines range from three inches to a 16th of an inch, and it takes about a half million vertical lines over about a month to create one painting.

Hall prefers to paint in the middle of the night, around 3 a.m., when there are no distractions. Frequent breaks help him stay focused over his two-hour sessions.

The artist

He didn’t always paint in vertical lines, though. Hall began painting at age 14, as the son of a tenant farmer in Campbellsburg, Kentucky, in Henry County.

“There was nothing pretty there,” Hall said of the tobacco farm with no electricity or running water.

He escaped life on the farm at age 17 as an ordained minister, and after that by joining the Navy.

But tough times were not behind him.

After leaving the military, he found himself homeless, living on the beach in Santa Monica.

He painted there, using water from a lifeguard stand and sleeping under it at night.

During that time, Hall attended college, though he never graduated. He applied for a job opening with a national company and it was at his job with Procter and Gamble that he met his wife, Joan.

A promotion within P&G brought the couple to Sharonville, where they raised three kids, and Hall continued to paint. Until he couldn’t.

Unlikely inspiration

In 1998, he had a stroke.

“For two years I didn’t paint anything,” he said.

Then, he was stricken with shingles, a painful virus that also affected his vision.

He was sick for three weeks, but it changed his life.

“When the shingles was over, I saw things in lines. Everything had a line through it.

“I thought I was going blind. But instead of worrying about it, I used it.”

His first painting after the illness was of a picture he’d taken when he was on vacation at the Outer Banks of North Carolina.

The scene of a screened porch with rocking chairs, overlooking the water, was a challenge and took a year to complete.

“I wanted to see if I could paint curves, using vertical lines. I almost gave up many times.”

But he didn’t, and on Sept. 11, 2001, he finished his first painting using the art form that wasn’t yet named.

Hall brought the painting to Barbara Miller, who owned Miller Gallery in Hyde Park.

“All I wanted to know is if anyone had ever done this before,” Hall said. “She said no, but it begs the question: why would anyone want to do it?”

The intrigue of the painting, aside from the fact that it was painted using vertical lines, was that it created curved shapes, and the chairs appeared to rock.

The Outer Banks piece grabbed the attention of Patrick McCabe, a businessman who bought the painting for $5,000, the highest price ever paid for one of Hall’s paintings at the time.

It was ironic, Hall said, that the painting now hangs in a home overlooking the beach on which he had lived many years before.

That painting also inspired McCabe to become executive producer of “Lines of Sight,” the documentary that chronicles Hall’s life and discovery of linellism.

Now 82, Hall continues to paint and maintains that it was determination that got him through the tough times and inspired the discovery of linellism.

Details about the documentary, “Lines of Sight,” are included on the Facebook page titled Lines of Sight, and examples of Hall’s artwork, as well as a trailer for the documentary, can be seen at www.linesofsightdocumentary.weebly.com.