Tell us a little about your hobby.

I paint with acrylics on canvas, using a combination of abstract and representational styles. Some designs involve mathematical precision and others are more free-flowing swirls.

Photos by Duane Tinkey

When did this hobby start for you?

I’ve always enjoyed creative pursuits and took a lot of art classes as a child. I took a long break when I went to college and entered the workforce, and started painting again about eight years ago when I felt I needed to be able to immerse myself in something and embrace the process rather than being obsessive about the end result. It’s a paradox of creativity that in order to create something wonderful, you often have to be willing to create something ugly first. 

What’s something this hobby provides you that applies to your job? 

Painting is a metaphor for technology because to be a true master of the craft, you have to spend a great deal of time just learning the parameters of the medium. What does it do well? What pushes its limits? What tricks does it have? Learning to express the fullest potential of the medium is the true art. It’s also true that the most successful paintings, like successful user interfaces, start with a plan for what I want the audience to focus on. Then the choices made about proportion, colors and shapes all follow that plan.

Tell us a tip or fun fact about your hobby. 

Contrast level heavily influences the emotion. To simulate the emotion, imagine what real-life situations would create such contrast. Low contrast (like sunrise and sunset) is calm and soothing, high contrast is energetic (like the bright highlights and deep shadows in the middle of the day) and very high contrast can even imply conflict in some cases – think explosions during an armed conflict at night. You can use this principle to create the mood you want in a variety of situations – from deciding what to wear to decorating a room.