Love of painting turns into business for Apex mom

Karen Campbell likes to say she was her first client.

As she decorated the nursery for her first son, she noticed she didn't have any artwork to match the Pottery Barn bedding she'd purchased. So she got to work, painting scenes to match the bumper and decorations. She'd give her artwork to friends and family as gifts too.

But her hobby turned into a business three years ago when the family moved to the Triangle.

Now, the mom of three does everything from large-scale paintings to custom growth charts. People come to her with ideas. And her work also is on display at GreenPea Baby in Apex and The Eclectic Furniture Garden in Raleigh.

Her work can be found in nurseries and children's rooms across the Triangle and beyond.

Campbell isn't a life-long painter. She took it up as a graduate student and kept doing it on the side as she worked by day in architecture.

Now the job allows her to stay at home with her kids.

Campbell doesn't sell her work as high art, she says. But she's game for any challenge, whether your child loves princesses or monster trucks or sting rays. And she works to be reasonable in her pricing, charging no more than what she would pay for it.

"I'm not high art," she says. "This is fun, affordable."