Heh! Just reading your notes - did you quilt the thing or what? (Patch tool....) Great color gradation, lovely clean composition, and I love that royal blue at the top.
Wow, Jeb, the color is fabulous -- not at all the average orange and black sunset silhouette. I doesn't look very natural to me, but that doesn't matter to me. I'm not one who thinks a photographic image has to be as the camera sees it. I prefer what the artist sees.
i would have preferred it is this photo didnt have the straight pole things in the background. they just seem to distract from the tangled twisty-ness of the tree. great lighting, i love the perfect after glow