In The Sky by Jose Favian Sosa

What do you see when you glance at this picture? Most likely, your depiction of this watercolor painting will be different from any other. That is what is so freeing about abstract artwork -- you can have your own perception of it. It can either be a simple form of artwork, to a more complex even exaggerated one. It also helps remind you that everyone is unique in their own opinions and views of everything; no one is truly the same.

Let me give you a little bit of history and background information on the origins of abstract art. Abstract art started a little bit after the 19th century, where during the Renaissance, realism was at it's peak. No one responded or thought of abstract artwork as acceptable since they were so used to the detail with realism and not the barely recognizable colors and shapes in abstract works. Then up until the late 19th century did people start to give abstract artwork a try. They finally recognized that realism is not the only way of "authentically" expressing and doing things.

In my opinion, it looks like a floating castle in the sky during a sunset (hence the warm hues of orange, yellow and pink). The areas of this painting that helped me come up with that perception was the fact that the watercolors are shaped like castle towers at the top, and the colors cover more paper at the bottom -- making me think of the ground of the castle. As I mentioned before, the color scheme is the reason why I depicted the castle as a floating one and not just a castle on the ground.

Untitled by Jose Favian Sosa

What about this watercolor painting? Although it is less "abstract" as the first, it is still a blend of different colors that help give the viewer a different view of it. In this one, he used the colors in a more concentrated way, putting them specifically in certain areas. In fact, this looks like a blurred out watercolor painting compared to the first.

In my opinion, (and I'm pretty sure I'm not alone on this one) this looks like a watercolor painting of flowers, that has a little bit of an abstract touch. The fuchsia and purple-red blend of colors look like flower petals, the green splotches being the leaves/greenery and the darker strokes being the branches/stem. This goes to show that various artworks can have a differentiating level of being abstract, if that makes sense. What I'm trying to say is that compared to the first picture where the possibilities of perceiving that painting are endless, this picture narrows them down.

To view more of Jose Favian Sosa's works: http://www.flickr.com/photos/joses_artwork/