“One woman asked me to paint flowers on her kitchen stools and then she bought me this god-awful fabric, and I couldn’t talk her out of them,” Carroll said. “And that’s the problem with taking commissions…you just don’t feel like doing it as an artist.”

Carroll cited Thomas Kinkade as an artist who has successfully used his artwork as a business. However, while his art is quite popular in the public, he has not been accepted by museums and galleries as a true artist, which Carroll believes largely stems from the fact that his main concern lies in pleasing the public.

Ena Carroll
Larkin Woods: Watercolor on watercolor paper (13in x 12in)

 “If you are going to make money in art, you’re going to have to approach it as a business person… You’re going to have to contact Hallmark and get them to buy your illustrations,” Carroll said.

Sometimes artists can be successful without going as mainstream if they establish a strong reputation. But Carroll said even these artists struggle to remain profitable because artists often go up and down with success, one year being extremely hot and the next struggling to find any clients at all.

 “It seems like you can’t be both, and if you can’t be both, I‘d rather be the one who donates my artwork to an organization than be the one who is selling the art and doing commissions, half of which I don’t like,” Carroll said.

For this reason, Carroll said she could never really devote herself full force to making her art a business.

 “I just don’t think that it is always good art,” Carroll said. “It feels like you are selling yourself.”

It wasn’t long before Carroll realized how her work could generate a profit without compromising its quality. By selling her work for charity, she found a happy medium. Charity organizations were typically interested in art she had previously created.

 “It was something I already had… and something I was proud of,” Carroll said, “whereas if people hire me to do things, I’m not always proud of what I create.”

Since then, Carroll has been involved in a variety of organizations, mostly donating her artwork to auctions allowing the money to go straight to an organization.

 “Others heard of me and wanted me to donate art to their fundraising efforts,” she said. “Once I realized that people were asking for pieces because they thought it would bring a lot of money for their organization, that was a really big kick for me.”

Money raised from her paintings has reached thousands of dollars. The Whitefish Bay Education Foundation, the Juvenile Diabetes Association, the Milwaukee Art Museum and the Wisconsin Breast Cancer Coalition have all benefited from her creations.

Even her church has benefited from Carroll’s creativity. When they heard she had created paintings of the church, the church contacted her to see if it could receive a copy. She gladly obliged to give one of her paintings to the church—she had created a few with different perspectives.

Ena Carroll
Landscape 2: Acrylic on cardboard (12in x 14in)

Often, Carroll paints the same scene, using different colors and techniques. As a result, there are multiple paintings of the exact same thing, yet they each have a unique perspective with various coloring, lighting and textured effects. The outcome of seeing the same scene painted multiple times in a different style is captivating. Similar to looking at a change in seasons, it brings an awe for the created work and the different mode each one instills.

“I must have painted this one farm a hundred times,” said Carroll, referring to a farm that was next to her former home in Appleton. Coming from the city, Carroll said the view of this farm and the dramatically changing colors and clouds in the sky constantly compelled her to paint. It is one of many scenic paintings that would later sell for thousands of dollars in an auction for an organization.