"Art...is liable to take the strangest forms"

Once in a blue moon, when I'm feeling artsy and photo-manipulative, I'll open up GIMP and make some user pics (or wallpapers, if I'm really in the mood).  I love fiddling with colors and effects; it's almost therapeutic.  ;)  Here's a handful that I did yesterday:

       

{The first three are results from Wunderkind_Lucy's tutorials, the second three are freestyle, and the last one I don't remember which.  All photos taken by me.}

There are whole blogs/journals dedicated to making user pics.  At first glance it sounds a bit extraordinary...upon closer acquaintance, it makes sense and is a pretty fascinating idea.  There are several factors involved.  For example, how much can a subtle change in scale and positioning effect the picture?  Or how can color gradients take a drab picture and turn it into a traffic-stopper?  In the end, it's all about how much art one can fit into 10,000 pixels of space, which is really quite small.

And apart from all that, it's just a time-effective way to practice photo-manipulation.  And, GIMP is 100% free, so there's nothing to lose.  ;)