Awakening the artist within

Art supplies used to be Christmas presents Carrie Pittman requested and then never used. Now, art supplies are used to pay the bills.

About three years ago, Pittman picked up her art supplies and started mixing colors and making things up.

“I went through what I would say for me was a very difficult time and just felt like, instead of resorting to other things, I just decided to really tap into what I was feeling and just start painting,” Pittman said.

She said she never planned for people to see her work, but one day Mountain Brook-based decorator Virginia Volman asked her to paint something for one of her clients and for her own home. 

“I just said, ‘I can’t do that,’ because I didn’t want to do it,” Pittman said. “I didn’t want the pressure; I didn’t know how to handle any type of business transaction.”

Volman eventually encouraged her to hold an art show out of Volman’s home, and Pittman stayed up about three nights straight to create 45 paintings for her first show. She made about $4,000 that night.

“I realized I loved doing it, and there were people who were interested in purchasing it,” Pittman said. “So that was the first person who saw my art and liked it and believed in me.”

Even after realizing art could be more than just a part-time hobby, Pittman remained in her job as a financial planner for more than two years. She worked for the family business,

Pittman Financial Partners. Pittman said stepping away from that job was a difficult decision.

“I’m very close to my father; he’s a very good friend of mine, and I felt like I was letting him down,” she said.

Over those two years, she said she struggled with juggling her clients in the 9-to-5 world and the art world. Her heart was with art, she said, and she found herself wanting to talk about painting or art rather than wanting to be in the office.

“I think when the light went off was when my company had goals for me to reach, and I realized that I could reach them, and I wanted to reach them,” Pittman said. “But if I did whatever I had to do to be in that job, I was going to have to give up painting completely. I was going to have to give up my artwork and creating, and I can’t imagine not being an artist.”

At the end of 2015, she stepped away from her secure job and out on a limb to pursue art full time. “Even though I didn’t know how I was going to support myself, I knew just if I loved what I was doing and I worked hard at it, it would work out,” she said.

After about six months of being a full-time artist, Pittman said she has been “humbly overwhelmed” by the amount of support she has received. In addition to commissioned pieces, her work is on display in several galleries, including at the Grand Bohemian Hotel in Mountain Brook, and she entered a partnership with At Home Furnishings in May. The store in downtown Homewood now carries many pieces of her artwork.

The future for Pittman carries more than just canvases. She is working to develop a line of paper, pillows, fabric and apparel with her artwork. Stepping into a world outside of traditional media is another way to share her artwork, and it opens her work to a wider range of people, she said.

“In working with a lot of decorators, I do think there’s a lot of ways to incorporate art into a room other than just a painting,” Pittman said.

After 15 years of changing jobs and not feeling fully satisfied, Pittman said she is grateful to be able to create for a living and share her art. She said she hopes people through her experience see that they should pursue what is fulfilling to them, even if that first step is scary.

“I think more than anything, I love encouraging people to figure out what they love to do and to believe in themselves,” she said. “I have good days and bad days like anybody, but if you really love what you do and you believe in who you are, that can become a platform for people.”