Art seemed inevitable for Julia Whitney Barnes. The colors of the Hudson Valley have inspired her since she was a child.

“I can’t imagine my life where I am anything but an artist,” Whitney Barnes says.

Whitney Barnes started her career as early as high school, when she practiced screen printing, making fabrics, and designing clothing. Being a part of a family where her father is a poet and her mother a lifelong musician, creativity has always been encouraged. By the time she moved to New York City to attend Parsons School of Design, she soon found a new love for art. She avoids constraints in her work, experimenting with a variety of new techniques and mediums, including watercolors and oil paintings, which she still uses today.

It seems simple to start one project, finish it, and move on to the next, but that’s not how most artists operate. In a given week, Whitney Barnes works on oil paintings, stained glass, and installations. She enriches all of her projects with a piece of the Hudson Valley.

Read the full profile online in Hudson Valley Magazine.