PPF: Outside my Box

Welcome to Paint Party Friday - a wonderful gathering that encourages bloggers to take out their paints at least once a week and share their results.  You can find the rest of this week's party at this link. As for me, today, I'm sharing a couple of pages that took me outside my box.  The first one is a simple watercolor of a local pier. What makes it different for me is that I started by loosely painting the shapes and then followed later with pen and watercolor pencils to add definition.  I almost always sketch first and then paint.  It was a little scary, but I'm reasonably happy with it. I especially like the water.  Here's a photograph of the pier which I found on the web at this link:

I'm lucky enough to live near this pier, and I often have this view during my morning workout.
The other thing I want to share is an abstract work in progress:

I've been so impressed by the abstracts I've seen during PPF that I decided to try one of my own. This is the first layer, and I'm happy with where it's going. 
Have you tried anything outside your box lately? You should - it's scary fun!