It can be said that all art involves some degree of abstraction. What an artist chooses to emphasize, ignore or reimagine is a kind of abstraction. But using shapes, color, layers, and line purely for the sake of creating, without recognizable subject matter, brings a whole new set of challenges. Rather than copying or interpreting from what is 'real', you are pulling from somewhere deep inside, where mistakes aren't as obvious and the finish line isn't always clearly marked. You are creating something that is completely your own in the hope of communicating all that excitement to others.