Surprise Sunrise

I didn't think I could see the sunrise from my backyard. But early one morning I peeked over the wall, between tree trunks, and spied a palm tree way in the distance surrounded by orange and violet sky colors. As the wind gently blew the palm fronds, the view changed. It was like looking into a kaleidoscope. Each moment was fresh and new. Neat!

I snapped this picture. Not a sharp image, but I did capture the shapes and colors.

original image

Then I played around with the image in photoshop, trying out different adjustments and filters. I'm not sure why it's so much fun manipulating photos. Maybe the element of surprise, and the chance to experiment with colors without having to clean up big messes.

mosaic, inverted colors

glass distortion

spin, inverted colors, paint

pinch, extrude

These last two are abstracted quite a bit and barely look like palms anymore. But I think they still the have the essence.

wave, crop, rough pastels

liquefy, crop, paint


cool september breeze
sunrise and palm colors dance
painting a new world