Ashley Corbello Art

Englewood Arts District and Christmas Commissions

2011-12-28T11:04:00.003-06:00

I'm back! Finally. Like 100 years later, but it's the thought that counts right. :) So, that means it's time to catch you up on what's been going down.

Englewood Arts District
For the past two months most of my work has been hanging in The Boxcar Gallery in Englewood. Englewood is a really nice, cute little neighborhood in Independence, MO. I am embarrassed to say that this growing arts district was right in my back yard and I had no idea. But now I have been there and seen all it has to offer.

Englewood is really just a couple of blocks of retail shops and art galleries near Winner Rd and Sterling. It has that old time, small town charm that I just love. It is actually zoned an arts district so there are several galleries, some artist studios, retail, restaurants and an old time theatre with a 50ft screen. The place is amazing! If you have never been I highly recommend it. The people are all so nice and welcoming.

Englewood has 3rd Friday art walks all year long from 5:30 to 9:00 pm every third Friday of the month. I was lucky enough to be invited to participate for the past two months thanks to a fellow artist friend of mine Kent Davis who was kind enough to recommend me to the gallery owner. Kent makes amazing lighted sculptures, you can check them out here.

My work was displayed in The Boxcar Gallery, it's down towards the end of the arts area and it's a really nice place. Here are a couple of pictures of my work in the space.

Inside the gallery are these two large jewelry cases. Perfect for showcasing smaller works or custom toys

Unfortunately I didn't get any outside pictures of the area because it gets dark so early these days. But I will definitely be back, so I'll share pictures of the area later. Someday I'd love to open a gallery/studio there.

Christmas Commissions!

It's that time of year! Well, at least it was, which means Christmas time commissions for peoples gifts. If you don't already know I offer custom paintings of people, flowers, and pets so if you have any interest in those check out my site. Most of my commissions for gifts are of people's pets, which is fine with me because I love doing them! Here are a couple of paintings I completed this month. I apologize in advance for the image quality. I took these with my camera phone so they are not the best. I have better ones on my real camera, but they are not with me. Stay tuned to my facebook page for better quality images soon.

Above is Lady and Sam. Lady is the Chocolate Lab and Sam is a German Shepard\Lab mix. Both beautiful dogs. This was back when Sam was a puppy. Evidently she decided that laying on Lady while riding in the truck was more comfortable than the seat.

To the right is Lilly, an adorable French Bulldog. Her family are MU fans hence the color scheme in the back. This pooch just oozed personality even through her photos. I just want to squeeze her cute face!

Things to come

I'm currently working on a gallery show for January, so hopefully I'll have some news and full details for you all soon regarding that. Regardless of how things work out with that show I will have a booth at the Spectrum Live show at Bartle Hall in May. If you are a sci-fi, fantasy or comic fan you won't want to miss this one. There are several big name artists attending as well as several locals, such as myself. Event info can be found here. I've been busy preparing new works for the show and I certainly hope to see some of you there.

I'm also beginning the process of applying for art fairs for next year, so if there is one in your town you would like to see me at drop me a line and let me know. This year I'm applying to some of the higher profile shows, which means they are extremely hard to get into. Fingers crossed that I make it in to at least one!

Until next time-

Ashley

Art Shows and Dog Adoptions

2011-10-03T20:06:00.002-05:00

So, I realize that I'm already off to a bad start as a blogger since it's been almost a month since my last update. But...(prepare for the excuses)... I've been really busy doing art fairs and such. :) Anyhow, I thought I'd share a little bit about them now that I finally have time for a breather.

Let's start from the beginning. I started off the month with the Steve Tolbert Adoption event. Hosted at the local Suzuki dealership, Steve graciously agreed to pay all on-site adoption fees for those that chose to adopt a dog that day. It was a great event and 40 dogs got new families. Yay! My favorite pic of the day was this pit bull sporting his super sweet sunglasses. I just may have to turn this into a painting someday. Doggles part 2 perhaps.

Next I did the Zona Rosa Art Fair. It was my first time at this event and despite the rain it turned out pretty well. But, lets talk about the rain first.

It seems that anytime a do an event, especially an outdoor one, it either rains or huge thunderstorms come through and blow everything away. No joke. If you are experiencing a drought, give me a call and I'll bring my tent and take care of it. At one point in the show the rain was so heavy that it was starting to fill up the tent. Thank goodness I carry my prints in a plastic bin!

Fortunately the rain cleared off by the evenings, so the show wasn't a total loss. Plus this was my first show that was open after dark so I got to test out a new lighting system in my tent. Not to mention Zona Rosa has these cool lights in the streets. It made me feel like I was in the movie "Big Fish".

I also managed to sell a couple of originals at this show, which hasn't happened for me in some time.

Below are the Stephens' who purchased my Vietnam Remembered painting and their son picked up one of my custom toys! If you all are out there and reading this, thank you very much for stopping by my tent. You made the show worthwhile.

Okay, on to the UnPlaza Art Fair. I had never attended this show before I participated in it (not the best idea by the way - I would recommend at least walking a fair before you participate) so I had no idea what to expect. I was hoping it would draw some of the crowd from the prestigious Plaza Art Fair a couple blocks away and be a good place for me. However, it was not. I think the best thing about this show was the cute dogs that stopped by my booth.

This was a dwarf pit bull that came by. I had no idea there was even such a thing, but he was really cute, so I had to take his picture.

Then there was Lucy. This cute, cute, cute Dachshund who just happens to look identical to half of my "2 of a Kind" diptych. Fortunately her parents were kind enough to humor me and let me get a photo of her next to my painting.(that is her mom trying to hide behind my painting) No folks, the painting was not actually based on her but dang, it looks like her. :)

There you have it. A very brief run down of the shows I've been doing lately. Coming up in October I'll be doing a "vinyl art" show in downtown KC. All of the art will be created on or using vinyl records. If you are local stop by. We'd love to see you there. I also realize that the event is not clear, so to clarify - the actual show is October 21st from 7:30-9:30.

Until next time-

Ashley

Welcome To My Blog!

2011-09-06T15:43:00.000-05:00

Hi there -
I am glad you stopped by. I have decided that as part of my new updated web design/upgrade that I should launch a blog as well. I plan to use this space as a way to share my experiences on my journey with art and to share some of the shows I travel with to you.

I will warn you now that I am neither a writer, nor a blogger so bear with me. This is going to be a learning experience. :)

I'm thinking that since this is my inaugural post as an art blog I should share some pictures. Because that's what art is about right?

So here are some pictures of some really rad convention goers and the portraits I painted of them. I love characters and these are two of the best I've met!

This is Stephen aka Sweeney Todd as you can see behind him. Absolutely one of the nicest people I've met traveling to conventions.

This is Erica aka Steampunk Princess, or at least that's what I call her painting. She had one of the best reactions to her portrait. Of course that could be because she had no idea I had painted her so it was probably a little bit of a shock! Anyhow, another super cool person and of course a great subject to paint.

Thanks for stopping by!
Until next time -
Ashley