Joanne Corbaley began her artistic career by painting on site, en plein air, and continues to do so often. A Californian since early childhood, she has loved the golden hills, ocean edge and working inland waterways, mountains and desert, of her environment. She also often paints still lifes of everyday items from her household , always attempting to express her perception of the beauty she sees. Paul Klee, Swiss artist (1879-1940) best expressed her belief: "Art does not reproduce the visible; rather, it makes it visible."

While her love of fine art is lifelong, her participation in it is relatively short, begun just five years before she retired from business. She has studied with institutional and private art instructors on an ongoing basis. Her work is shown at galleries in the Bay Area, and is included in many private collections, locally and worldwide. Umpqua Bank has its collection of her work on permanent display at its Benicia Branch.