#ashleythompson

Vergil sat at the desk adjacent to his brother’s empty one, wrist deep in paper work when he heard the door to the shop click open, the bell tinkling quietly to alert that someone had come in. He half expected it to be his brother at first, or perhaps Lady or Trish, so he didn’t raise his head immediately. But when there was a small silence and Vergil was able to catch the scent of the newcomer from the breeze stirred by the ceiling fan, he finally looked up, startled that there was a stranger in the shop in the middle of the afternoon. Usually people came early, or when they were already closed.

He straightened, placing his pen down carefully on his paper so as to not mark it up, and offered the stranger a simple, polite upturn of the corners of his lips. Not quite a smile, but not enough to make them feel uncomfortable. Dante always told him he was too overbearing of a presence to humans. Bad for business.

Ashley is a recent graduate of Kenyon College. She has a meticulous painting style with an absence of visible brushstrokes. Ashley is greatly influenced by Chinese propaganda posters. According to the artist, “Looking at Chinese propaganda posters, it would seem that communist China was a paradise. Women smile serenely as they perform hard labor under a rainbow. Little girls with bows in their hair fill canteens while butterflies flutter around them. A happy, chubby boy holds his rifle while getting a haircut from a PLA soldier.”

See more images and read about her here.