Anyone up for ice skating?

This morning was the first frost of autumn, and I finished this picture just in time. I love chilly mornings with frost, especially when the sun is just rising and everything glitters. I also love fall with all its colors.

This is actually looking out the window of the cottage in Cwm Solitude. You can just make out the path heading out of the cwm, and the steam fog coming from the river in the foreground.

“We three kings of Orient are
Bearing gifts we traverse afar.
Field and fountain, moor and mountain,
Following yonder star.

“Born a king on Bethlehem's plain,
Gold I bring to crown Him again,
King forever, ceasing never
Over us all to reign.

“Frankincense to offer have I.
Incense owns a Deity nigh.
Prayer and praising all men raising,
Worship Him, God on high.

“Myrrh is mine: its bitter perfume
Breaths a life of gathering gloom.
Sorrowing, sighing, bleeding dying,
Sealed in the stone-cold tomb.

“Glorious now behold Him arise,
King and God and Sacrifice.
Alleluia, alleluia!
Earth to heav'n replies.

“O star of wonder, star of night,
Star with royal beauty bright,
Westward leading, still proceeding,
Guide us to thy perfect Light.”

This was part of a three-part color series I created back in 2011. The backgrounds are from fractals, put together in Paint Shop Pro.
Green As the Grass
Blue As the Sea

This was part of a three-part color series I created back in 2011. The backgrounds are from fractals, put together in Paint Shop Pro.
Blue As the Sea
Red As the Flame

This was part of a three-part color series I created back in 2011. The backgrounds are from fractals, put together in Paint Shop Pro.
Green As the Grass
Red As the Flame

I originally made this nice chilly abstract to start out 2012.

I took the fractal I used in Storms of Life and played with it, rotating, recoloring, adding layers, etc., and ended up with something that looks rather like a combination between a gravity well and a lightning storm.

This was an exercise in color symbolism. Purple often indicates royalty and wealth. Because it's (relatively) rare in nature, and purple dyes used to be difficult to make and therefore expensive, only the wealthiest could afford to dress in purple.

“Her clothing is silk and purple.…”
- Proverbs 31:22

“And Mordecai went out from the presence of the king in royal apparel of blue and white, and with a great crown of gold, and with a garment of fine linen and purple: and the city of Shushan rejoiced and was glad.”
— Esther 8:15

“There was a rich man who was clothed in purple and fine linen and who feasted sumptuously every day.”
— Luke 16:19

“They put a purple robe on him, then twisted together a crown of thorns and set it on him. And they began to call out to him, ‘Hail, king of the Jews!’”
— Mark 15:17-18

This was the result of playing around with gradient overlays and an old Apophysis render that had been calling for me to find a use for it. The jewel is actually the first one I ever designed in 2008 following a tutorial, but for some reason I missed the part about how to add the shine and couldn't figure out why it looked so flat . Three years later I finally revisited it and came up with this.