We were lucky to catch up with Katie Peña recently and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Katie thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Coming up with the idea is so exciting, but then comes the hard part – executing. Too often the media ignores the execution part and goes from idea to success, skipping over the nitty, gritty details of executing in the early days. We think that’s a disservice both to the entrepreneurs who built something amazing as well as the public who isn’t getting a realistic picture of what it takes to succeed. So, we’d really appreciate if you could open up about your execution story – how did you go from idea to execution?

Painting has always been a prominent passion in my life, but it wasn’t until lockdown during the start of the 2020 pandemic that I finally got a taste of what life could be like if I filled my days with just painting. I had been working in Hollywood on a Nickelodeon show that shut down suddenly in March, and the producers had told us that we’d be back up and running in 2 weeks. We didn’t get called back into the studios until safety measures were drafted into a contract, around September 2020. I had always assumed sitting at a canvas for 8 hours a day would be boring for a busybody like me, but after this experience of just painting and connecting with loved ones for the summer, I attempted to maintain some painting in my daily, if not weekly life. This proved to be next to impossible when spending 11-14 hours each day of the week working in a physically involved position on television shows. I’d come home exhausted from hauling large statues or scrabbling up and down ladders all day, and even on the weekends my free time was entirely consumed with chores to prepare for the next week and a bit of socializing. When my husband’s family invited us to Raleigh, NC, we knew it would be difficult to maintain my passion for working in the film industry back West, but we endeavored to try by maintaining a bicoastal life that would shift us from Los Angeles to Raleigh in 3 month rotations. Each 3 month block in Raleigh where I got to just paint, became heaven. The moving around, not so much. After 2 rounds packing and unpacking far too many boxes to maintain bicoastal life, I had upped my painting skills considerably, and I became more open to the idea of leaving the rigors of a dying film industry in a hot and dense city, for the lush paradise of of a welcoming Raleigh. My husband constantly reminded me that he believed in my skills and passion for painting, and that the dream of becoming a full time fine oil painter was well within my skillset. With his background in real estate marketing, he also offered to help guide me in the areas of business that previously seemed a mystery to my creative brain. In August of 2023, we made the full transition and settled in Raleigh for good. We both dove headfirst into research and supplemental education to fill out the gaps of business insight we knew we’d need- we devoured podcasts, audio library books, and online tutorials daily. For Christmas of 2023, he surprised me with a gift of having set up an LLC in my name, along with some work on my website, and my very own business email at my own domain name. While the business is still in its early stages almost a year later, we are buoyed by many signs of positive growth in the right direction. My client email list continues to grow at a steady rate, I’ve booked 10 in-person events/exhibitions for my work into 2025, we’ve launched my web store, onto which we are continuously adding new merch with my designs, commissions continue to roll in, I’ll be adding Live Wedding Painting to my services in Spring of 2025, and we’re busier than ever.

Katie, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I’m a fine oil painter who dabbles in acrylic as well, trained in the traditional glaze-layer method of the Renaissance Masters. I help folks looking to transform the ambience or mood of their home or business by bringing a splash of color, feeling and skill to their space in the form of canvas paintings or murals. I also help folks commemorate priceless moments and figures in their lives, in the form of family, wedding, pet portraits and more painting commissions. With 21 years of experience as a painter in tandem with my former career in Hollywood that taught me the art of story-telling at the highest degree of attention to detail, I have a unique perspective through which to channel my passion for light and color.

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

I knew since I was 12 that I was headed to work in Hollywood someday, to make movie magic behind the scenes. After film school, I made it out to Los Angeles where I networked my way onto sets as an Art Department PA, and quickly up to Set Painter for television, commercials and movies in Hollywood, under the mentorship of a prominent IATSE union Set Painter. Through my 20’s I worked as a Jane of all Art Department related trades, until I was fortunate enough to be invited to be a member of Local 44 under the parent union, IATSE. For years I thrived in the department of Set Decoration, climbing onto better and better gigs, until I finally found a home as a core crew member on a string of Nickelodeon franchise sitcoms, including Henry Danger and Danger Force. However, a 6-month hiatus during COVID lockdown brought me to the realization that my love of creating fine art paintings was somewhat limited by the demanding schedule of film production, and I found that work-life balance was becoming more difficult to maintain as my values shifted and matured. I was becoming acutely aware of the physical and psychological toll the film industry has on below-the-line workers.

I met my [now] husband in 2021, who had also done a stint in the industry as a successful commercial actor, but he too saw some of the same writing on the wall about working in Hollywood. We began to visit his hometown of Raleigh, NC, where I fell in love with the community and lush climate. I was amazed at the abundance of opportunities for creatives in the Triangle region, where art seemed to be celebrated everywhere I looked. We thought at the very least we could maintain a bicoastal life, and continue to fulfill my passion for story-telling in Hollywood by working a show or feature, and then taking a hiatus to paint for several months, before starting up the next Hollywood project.

I began to finally paint full time, at least during my 3-month stints on the East Coast. With the encouragement of my husband and his extensive professional knowledge of marketing, I began to consume as much ‘free’ knowledge as I could absorb, on the topic of Art Business Marketing, in the form of podcasts, youtube, and audio library books. I also networked in the community and planted ‘income’ seeds, as a fine artist. My ultimate passion is in fine oil painting on canvas using the same detailed process as the Renaissance Masters, so those seeds would take time to grow. Meanwhile, I used my experience as a Set Painter to start dabbling in murals in my neighborhood, even having one featured on Historic Oakwood’s Candlelight Tour. I also began to see inquiries come in for commissioned portraits through my website, and realized that the notion of a ‘starving artist’ as a professional, was an antiquated concept.

When comparing our quality of life to the one we encountered every time we returned to LA for me to work on a movie or show, LA was beginning to pale in comparison to the vibrant life we were building in Raleigh. We also saw a future in which we wanted to raise a family close to family, and our new home seemed like a breath of fresh air with lower crime rates, more affordable housing costs, more space, a kind and welcoming community filled with southern hospitality, and a gorgeous climate that actually came with 4 seasons. After crewing on one last movie, Atropia, just north of LA in early 2023, we made the decision to move my treasured and vast collection of houseplants to our home on the East Coast, and knew we had officially found a place to establish some real roots.

How’d you meet your business partner?

My business partner and cofounder is also my husband– I never thought I would work with my significant other all day every day; I’d previously believed that would take all the romance out of the relationship. We met on a dating app in Los Angeles and when we eventually transitioned to living in North Carolina, I knew I’d have to reboot my career somehow, considering the distance from Hollywood and its current upheaval. It was my husband who became my #1 cheerleader, propping me up to follow my passion: painting. He had been working in marketing for the last decade and had extensive experience with a smaller, design-based business from a creative venture he’d embarked on with his roommate back in California. I never believed I could make a living off sitting at a canvas doing what I love most every day all day, but eventually he convinced me that I had the talent and drive to do so, and that he could help me to discover the tools for a modern, tech-savvy interpretation on an artistic career. He was right.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.katiepena.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/the_paint_whisperer/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/katiepenaart
• Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/katie-pena-art-raleigh-2

Image Credits
Rusty Beaman